Quintessence: The Mystery of Missing Mass in the Universe

by Lawrence M. Krauss

Will the universe continue to expand forever, reverse its expansion and begin to contract, or reach a delicately poised state where it simply persists forever? The answer depends on the amount and properties of matter in the universe, and that has given rise to one of the great paradoxes of modern there is too little visible matter to account for the behavior we can see. Over ninety percent of the universe consists of "missing mass" or "dark matter" - what Lawrence Krauss, in his classic book, termed "the fifth essence."In this new edition of T he Fifth Essence , retitled Quintessence after the now widely accepted term for dark matter, Krauss shows how the dark matter problem is now connected with two of the hottest areas in recent the fate of the universe and the "cosmological constant." With a new introduction, epilogue, and chapter updates, Krauss updates his classic for 1999 and shares one of the most stunning discoveries of recent an anti-gravity force that explains recent observations of a permanently expanding universe.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Popular Science, Astronomy

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1967

About the author

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is a Canadian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who taught at Arizona State University (ASU), Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project in 2008 to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and served as the project's director.
Krauss is an advocate for public understanding of science, public policy based on sound empirical data, scientific skepticism, and science education. An anti-theist, Krauss seeks to reduce the influence of what he regards as superstition and religious dogma in popular culture. Krauss is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek (1995) and A Universe from Nothing (2012), and chaired the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Sponsors.
Upon investigating allegations about sexual misconduct by Krauss, ASU determined that Krauss had violated university policy, and did not renew his Origins Project directorship for a third term in July 2018. Krauss retired as a professor at ASU in May 2019, at the end of the following academic year. He currently serves as president of The Origins Project Foundation. Krauss hosts The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss and publishes a blog titled Critical Mass.

Reviews

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Quintessence: The Mystery of Missing Mass in the Universe by Lawrence M. Krauss. The shelf life of a book about an active search in Physics is usually not very long and this was last revised in 2001 however, sadly for the world but happily for readers of this book, there have not been any definitive discoveries since that time. Krauss does an excellent job of presenting the history of the search for missing matter and how the current experiments seeking to validate the competing theories evolved. The reader is well prepared to follow experiments such as Lux , CRESST many more as they unfold. He is engaging and does not underestimate the ability and desire of the reader. I am rooting for axions while recognizing that my support may pass right through them unnoticed.

[Richard Buro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The short version first:

Quintessence The Search For Missing Mass In The Universe by Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss is a review of the search for a substantial part of our universe which is "dark" to us at this time. By "dark," physicists like Dr. Krauss mean that the matter and energy is currently unassessed by our best scientific instruments, although there is clearly a good deal of evidence that something must exist that makes up what appears to be missing matter and energy which would result in the visual and instrumental indications about what is currently assessable, and the fact that it does not add up to the available evidence for what should be measurable based on theory and observational data.

Dr. Krauss begins with a review of historical information about a fifth state of matter (the quintessence or aether) that has been discussed since Classical times by the Greeks and other philosophers. The fact that there was something in space beyond the sun, moon, planets, stars, and other observable phenomena has been proven by the application of theory and observational data from centuries of Earth-based observations, and several decades of observational data from research probes either in orbit around the Earth or on interplanetary (and in a few cases, interstellar) space.

Based on observations, theoretical analysis, and data analysis from the observational data available all appear to point to the fact that the universe has been expanding for some time. In fact the expansion has been theoretically postulated for about a century, and observational data both Earth- and space-based have confirmed what theory has predicted, the universe is expanding. The problem is that even with all of the observations we have (and those which are continuing even now) there is not enough mass in all the stars, planets, galaxies, and other observational phenomena to explain the observed expansion. In fact there is only about 4-5% enough mass to explain things as they apparently are. So what makes up the missing 95-96% of the universe?

Based on all available evidence, it appears that about 20-30% of the mass is not directly detectable by our available instruments and probes. Additionally, the 60-70% of the remaining material appears to be a type of energy which is also not directly detectable by our current instrumentality. Dr. Krauss provides the evidence for the current estimates of the observable mass and detectable energy, as well as providing some interesting theoretical postulations on the nature of dark matter and (to a lesser degree)on dark energy. He categorizes the nature of the dark matter and devotes the majority of this revised edition to the best "candidates" for near term assessible items that might be the source of the dark matter at least.

Dr. Krauss refers to numerous reports, papers, books, and research articles about the search and the theory behind his best "candidates" as well as what might be forthcoming in the near term (the next decade or so) in the way of possible detection and examination of these "candidates" by our best scientists and engineers. While the seminal works are cited in Notes at the end of the book, and names of principal researchers and their associated institutions are contained in the text and index, there are more mentioned than are included in the notes as citations which might be reviewable. The lack of a complete bibliograahy or more detailed notes is a significant missing feature in this work.

While no definitive "candidate" for dark matter is forthcoming, the fact that there is detailed discussion about the search and type of instrumentation being considered for this search is covered in great detail at a general level. Appendices help the layman to understand orders of magnitude as well as basic units of measure as discussed in the text. The index at the end is also helpful and fairly complete. There are areas of the work where discussions are a bit technical, but none is beyond the grasp of an educated reader with just a general understanding of high school math. Dr. Krauss has an engaging, enthusiastic writing style which makes the work a good read and worthy of your attention, if you are interested in the topics of dark matter, search for new and exciting space-based information and/or cosmology. The reading level is relatively high so I would recommend it for high school level readers with a grasp of geometry, algebra, chemistry, and physics. It is a good solid work with few if any editorial errors where reading is affected due to spelling or grammatical errors.

If dark matter and energy, universal expansion, or science discovery and exploration is your cup of tea, you will probably find Dr. Krauss' work an enjoyable read that needs to be on your To Be Read (TBR) list.

[Randall Scalise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Krauss does not understand virtual particles. They do not violate energy conservation for a short time.
https://profmattstrassler.com/2022/09...

Page 130: "If the Universe has existed for 10 billion or so years since the initial Big Bang, and no information can be transferred faster than the speed of light, the farthest distances we can learn about -- even in principle -- are now about 10 billion light years away from us."
Nope. The furthest distance is about 3 times that far. If the time since the Big Bang is 14 billion years, then the radius of the visible Universe is about 42 billion light years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observa...
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310808

Page 178: "In fact, since the neutrinos decoupled earlier than photons, one can show that their number density is actually about one-tenth that of photons today."
No. The number of neutrinos is 9/11 the number of photons.

Page 333: "Thus, the effect of a vacuum energy will be to cause all objects farther than a certain distance away from us to be receding from us faster than the speed of light. Put another way, such objects could not be seen."
This is completely, totally wrong. The cosmic microwave background is receding from us at about three times the speed of light and it is certainly visible.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading the introduction and the preface (having already read The Physics of Star Trek, by this same author, the mentor and teacher of Stephen Hawking) knowing he was captivating even when doling out dry facts; he can make them fascinating.

So far, I am NOT disappointed with this one either.



I am nearly finished with this....it gets a bit on the heavy side towards the middle and end.

Although this is technically my second reading it is much clearer now....and again, despite it being a bit dated, it has enough information to quell those that feel the universe was created by pixies.

[Huyen]

I started this book last december when I was in Siding Spring (the telescope area of Aussie) so I was greatly motivated. it started off very fascinating but then somehow my interest just wore out. i stopped at page 248: "soon after Wilczek and Weinberg announced their theoretical predictions (of the existence of axions), experimentalists began searching for this new particle. while the theory led to definite predictions in most cases for what they should see, all results were negative. by the early 1980s it looked as if the axion issue was dead."

and so was my interest. the book starts off with solid empirical data and evidence of dark matter and then just gets more and more technical and speculative. i've picked it up about 10 times ever since I stopped, and I always seem to forget what I'd read, so I'd reread this chapter from page 232, this paragraph and everything always seems to sound new. So don't even ask me what is in page 1 to 231. i don't even dare to look. but I'll reread this book after my general relativity course, hopefully it will make more sense.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a report in college and really liked it - then, as a senior Physics major, I got to meet Lawrence Krauss! He came to my college to give a talk, and after meeting him he signed a copy of the book for me! He's my science geek idol, right up there with Carl Sagan. *swoon*

[Stefano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seppur di natura divulgativa il testo affronta l’argomento in modo preciso e dettagliato. Non sono citate formule matematiche né dimostrazioni, ma i contenuti sono intensi e richiedono una certa preparazione tecnica: è’ necessario conoscere almeno a grandi linee processi come la fusione di Idrogeno in Elio o la curvatura dello spazio-tempo, per poter seguire il filo del discoros. Ai lettori armati di queste conoscenze vengono presentati i diversi temi che suggeriscono l’esistenza della materia oscura, quali ad esempio: la velocità orbitale delle stelle attorno alle galassie (troppo lenta, se non ci fosse un alone di materia attorno alla galassia), le velocità relative tra gli elementi di un ammasso di galassie (che suggeriscono materia persino tra una galassia e l’altra) oppure l’effetto lente che presenta immagini deviate in modo tale da suggerire una massa molto maggiore di quella visibile.

Krauss osserva che tali giustificazioni sono in qualche modo correlate, perché assumono tutte l’espansione di Hubble e usano tutte la spettografia come strumento d’indagine principale, per cui ci potrebbe essere un errore di fondo. Ma la teoria della massa mancante è confermata anche da approcci completamente indipendenti, quali ad esempio la teoria dei Big Bang: assumendo per buona la nucleosintesi, e tenendo conto che le osservazioni cosmologiche suggeriscono un universo pressoché piatto, dalla nucleosintesi può derivare solamente l’1% della massa richiesta per giustificare un universo piatto. Questa considerazione è fondamentale, perché conferma il mistero della massa mancante anche dal punto di vista della micro-fisica.
Inoltre, il fatto che secondo la micro-fisica la massa barionica è solo l’1% di quella necessaria, mentre dal punto di vista cosmologico la materia oscura è stimata attorno al 90% di quella attesa, siamo davanti ad un altro mistero: perché queste stime sono tanto diverse? Cosa ci sfugge? Possibile che il 99% della materia nell’universo sia diversa da quella barionica?

Ho amato e odiato questo libro. L’ho amato perché mi ha permesso di capire in in modo esaustivo il tema della massa mancante. L’ho amato perché mi ha spinto a riesumare conoscenze di fisica che credevo ormai dimenticate. Vent’anni dopo la laurea mi sono ritrovato a ripassare l’interazione a distanza per mezzo di particelle virtuali, l’effetto Joule-Thomson, il teorema del viriale, la nucleosintesi, il modello standard e la rotture di simmetrie.
L’ho odiato perché in alcuni passaggi, e in alcuni casi addirittura per interi paragrafi, riporta esempi fuorvianti che producono più confusione che altro. Mi è capitato di restare basito davanti alle spiegazioni di concetti semplici enunciati in modo contorto. Argomenti che conosco bene, ma che spiegati da Krauss sono di difficile comprensione. Che si tratti di un problema di traduzione?

Al di là dei contenuti, la lettura è comunque ostica. Il testo manca di un filo conduttore chiaro e preciso. E’ difficile capire dove l’autore ci sta portando, di pagina in pagina. A volte si ha l’impressione di sfogliare il Conoscere degli anni ‘70, dove ogni pagina affrontava un aspetto della conoscenza da un punto di vista diverso, senza un chiaro filo logico. Spesso i singoli periodi sono poco chiari persino dal punto di vista linguistico. Mi è capitato spesso di rileggere una frase cinque o sei volte, per capire chi era il soggetto, chi il complimento oggetto. L’astrofisica è già un argomento difficile, se ci mettiamo anche un’esposizione poco chiara e disordinata, la lettura si fa tormentata.

Consigliato solamente ai duri e puri.

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

[...]Το φως που εκπέμπει η οθόνη του υπολογιστή μου καθώς γράφω αυτό το κείμενο, θα χρειαζόταν πάνω από 100.000 χρόνια για να φτάσει στην άλλη πλευρά του Γαλαξία, ο οποίος είναι ένας σχετικά αντιπροσωπευτικός σπειροειδής γαλαξίας με μεγαλοπρεπείς βραχίονες γεμάτους από έναν «λεπτό» δίσκο αστέρων, που περιφέρονται γύρω από ένα κεντρικό πυκνό εξόγκωμα το οποίο εκτείνεται σε περισσότερα από 5.000 έτη φωτός. Οι σπειροειδείς γαλαξίες είναι μόνο ένα από τα διάφορα είδη γαλαξιακών συστημάτων. Υπάρχουν τεράστιες, ελλειπτικές συσσωματώσεις αστέρων, ορισμένες από τις οποίες είναι δέκα φορές μεγαλύτερες από τον Γαλαξία. Εναλλακτικά, υπάρχουν «μικροί» γαλαξίες νάνοι, τουλάχιστον εκατό φορές μικρότεροι από τον δικό μας, οι οποίοι περιέχουν λιγότερους από περίπου 100 εκατομμύρια αστέρες. Αυτές είναι οι «συμπαντικές νησίδες» που μας προκαλούν δέος.[...]

[Voyt · Rating 3 out of 5]

POSTED BY ME AT AMAZON 2005
"Quintessence" is elegant, very complete but not easy cosmology textbook. Properties of particles (to explain Inflation and early stage of Big Bang) connect here with properties and expansion of large space, while observational astronomy serves as a background. It is somehow comparable to "Extravagant Universe by Robert Kirshner. Lawrence Krauss was first, in the spirit of Aristotle, who used name "quintessence" discussing dark matter. This should not be confused with quintessential Universe proposed by Paul Steinhardt, where energy field (coined by him as quintessence) is responsible for accelerated expansion of space. In his book professor Krauss, leading expert in "weighing" our Universe, concentrates mostly on "dark matter", but describes and explains importance of vacuum energy field as well. More about vacuum energy can be found by taking excellent "The Book of Nothing" by John Barrow. Yes, we have a nagging cosmology problem: our two estimates of the amount of matter and energy in the Universe. These estimates/calculations come from particle physics research and separately, are based on long distance observations. Results are not equal, and this is the hub of "Quintessence".

[Alex Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of the science was pretty beyond my full comprehension. Nonetheless, in this book Krauss is able to distill fairly complex ideas into really packed language. Much of the ideas here are fairly inspiring, such as how physicists can use the sun as a radar, or use the earth as a way of detecting dark matter.

I thought this was a pretty great book, although I think I need to read it again.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The explanation of phonon detection, as a technology to detect nucleus excitation by dark matter was fascinating. As Lawrence emphasized, even if nothing is detected, the technology developed will be significant.

[Wyktor Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too boring, I couldn't finish it.

[Joe White · Rating 5 out of 5]

goodreads review : The Fifth Essence : The Search for Dark matter in The Universe
published 1989
Lawrence Krauss
5 stars

Although published almost 25 years ago, this book has in my opinion a very high value for the historical display of the search for dark matter up to the point of publication. I'm not up to date on the latest information in this search, but I think that everything expressed in this text is still relevant.

It gives the background for the postulation of theories of what dark matter may be, and demonstrates experiments to find it. The book clearly discusses how some searches for dark matter set bounds on what ranges a specific type of matter should fall into, and consequently the possibility of ruling out some theories if experiments fail to find particles or energy.

The book is written in a narrative qualitative form. It does not provide rigorous mathematical proofs, (so page after page of high level calculus and differential equations are avoided.)

Although directed to the layman, it would help the layman to polish up his/her review of college level nuclear particle physics, college level astrophysics, ant to re-read some of the earlier discoveries in Newtonian mechanics and electro-mechanical physics.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

....for school....

[Nathan Shumate]

Well, I got enough out of it to spin a pseudo-convincing scientific fantasy in something I'm writing. That's all I needed it for.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vähän turhankin "tieteellinen" näin maallikolle. Mutta pureutui aiheeseen erinomaisesti ja kärryillä pysyi. Onkohan tästä tullut uudempaa painosta jotta voisi seurata miten ala on kehittynyt.

[Steven Lawrie]

Krauss has written better books. Not the best purchase for a non-scientist.