Structure of the Universe Hans Haubold, UN Outer Space Office, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria
A. M. Mathai, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

This article is published in the Encyclopedia of Applied Physics, Vol. 23 (Page 47 - 81), 1998 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, ISBN: 3-527-29476-7

Introduction 1. Structure of the Ancient Universe 1.1 Prehistoric Astronomy 1.2 Egypt 1.3 Mesopotamia 1.4 India and Persia 1.5 The Puranas and the Brahmapaskas 2. Macrocosmos: From Anaximander to Einstein 2.1 Greek and Roman World 2.2 Aristotle's Universe 2.3 Copernicus's Universe 2.4 Newton's Universe 2.5 Einstein's Universe 2.6 Big Bang 2.7 Beyond the Big Bang 3. Microcosmos: From Leucippus to Yukawa 3.1 Atomism 3.2 Atom 3.3 Electron 3.4 Atomic Nucleus and Photon 3.5 Neutron 3.6 Fundamental Particles 4. Weak, Electromagnetic, and Strong Interactions: Structure of the Microcosmos 4.1 Fundamental Interactions 4.1.1 Gravitational Interaction 4.1.2 Electromagnetic Interaction 4.1.3 Weak Interaction 4.1.4 Strong Interaction 4.2 Classification of Fundamental Particles

4.3 How Fundamental Particles Interact 4.3.1 Graviton 4.3.2 Photon 4.3.3 Intermediate Bosons 4.3.4 Gluons 5. Gravitational Interaction: Structure of the Macrocosmos 5.1 Structural Elements of the Universe 5.1.1 The Planck Scales 5.1.2 The Universe 5.1.3 Galaxies 5.1.4 Stars 5.1.5 White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars 5.1.6 Black Holes 5.2 Evolution of the Universe 5.3 Large-Scale Distribution of Matter 5.4 Morphology of Galaxies 5.5 Quasars 5.6 Stellar Evolution 6. Mathematics and Physics and the Structure of the Universe 6.1 General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory 6.2 Macroscopic Dimension of Space 6.3 Microscopic Dimension of Space Glossary Works Cited Further Reading