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E. V. Linder (Berkeley Lab)
Astronomy and ``theories of everything" in physics are becoming more closely intertwined than ever before. Extra dimensions, gravity beyond Newton and Einstein, and physics at the highest energies all make bold predictions for what our universe might be like, while astronomical observations test, constrain, and rein in the wilder speculations. But astronomy also makes astonishing discoveries such as that the expansion of the universe is not slowing down under normal gravity but accelerating due to an unknown, gravitationally repulsive ``dark energy." This has revolutionized physics. Surveying astronomy on solar system, galaxy, and cosmological scales, we explore these new frontiers and the prospects for uncovering what makes up the still unknown 95% of our universe and determines its fate.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.