From the Big Bang to the Multiverse: Translations in Space and Time

Abstract

Since 2004, I have been collaborating with artist Josiah McElheny on the design of cosmological sculptures, inspired originally by the chandeliers of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. This article describes the science behind the four works that have emerged from this collaboration to date: An End to Modernity (2005), The Last Scattering Surface (2006), The End of the Dark Ages (2008), and Island Universe (2008). These works incorporate idealized representations of many fundamental aspects of contemporary cosmology, including expansion of the universe, the last scattering surface, cosmic microwave background anisotropies, the growth and morphological transformation of galaxies, the rise and fall of the quasar population, the development of large scale structure, and the possibility that our universe is one of many cosmic islands in an eternally inflating multiverse. A companion article describes the history of the collaboration.