Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:33:25.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

L. A. Barnes
L. A. Barnes
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life has received a great deal of attention in recent years, both in the philosophical and scientific literature. The claim is that in the space of possible physical laws, parameters and initial conditions, the set that permits the evolution of intelligent life is very small. I present here a review of the scientific literature, outlining cases of fine-tuning in the classic works of Carter, Carr and Rees, and Barrow and Tipler, as well as more recent work. To sharpen the discussion, the role of the antagonist will be played by Victor Stenger's recent book The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe is Not Designed for Us. Stenger claims that all known fine-tuning cases can be explained without the need for a multiverse. Many of Stenger's claims will be found to be highly problematic. We will touch on such issues as the logical necessity of the laws of nature; objectivity, invariance and symmetry; theoretical physics and possible universes; entropy in cosmology; cosmic inflation and initial conditions; galaxy formation; the cosmological constant; stars and their formation; the properties of elementary particles and their effect on chemistry and the macroscopic world; the origin of mass; grand unified theories; and the dimensionality of space and time. I also provide an assessment of the multiverse, noting the significant challenges that it must face. I do not attempt to defend any conclusion based on the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. This paper can be viewed as a critique of Stenger's book, or read independently.

Keywords

cosmology: theoryhistory and philosophy of astronomy
Type
Regular Papers
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , 2012 , pp. 529 - 564
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2012

References

Adams, F. C., 2008, JCAP, 2008, 010Google Scholar
Agrawal, V., Barr, S. M., Donoghue, J. F. & Seckel, D., 1998a, PhRvL, 80, 1822Google Scholar
Agrawal, V., Barr, S. M., Donoghue, J. F. & Seckel, D., 1998b, PhRvD, 57, 5480Google Scholar
Aguirre, A., 1999, ApJ, 521, 17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aguirre, A., 2001, PhRvD, 64, 083508Google Scholar
Aguirre, A., 2005, ArXiv:astro-ph/0506519Google Scholar
Aguirre, A., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. Carr, B. J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 367CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aitchison, I. & Hey, A., 2002, Gauge Theories in Particle Physics: Volume 1 — From Relativistic Quantum Mechanics to QED (3rd edition; New York: Taylor & Francis)Google Scholar
Arkani-Hamed, N. & Dimopoulos, S., 2005, JHEP, 2005, 073Google Scholar
Arkani-Hamed, N., Dimopoulos, S. & Kachru, S., 2005, ArXiv:hep-th/0501082Google Scholar
Barnes, L. A., Francis, M. J., Lewis, G. F. & Linder, E. V., 2005, PASA, 22, 315CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, S. M. & Khan, A., 2007, PhRvD, 76, 045002Google Scholar
Barrow, J. D. & Tipler, F. J., 1986, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford: Clarendon Press)Google Scholar
Bekenstein, J. D., 1973, PhRvD, 7, 2333Google Scholar
Boltzmann, L., 1895, Natur, 51, 413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bousso, R., 2008, GReGr, 40, 607CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bousso, R. & Leichenauer, S., 2009, PhRvD, 79, 063506Google Scholar
Bousso, R. & Leichenauer, S., 2010, PhRvD, 81, 063524Google Scholar
Bousso, R., Hall, L. & Nomura, Y., 2009, PhRvD, 80, 063510Google Scholar
Bradford, R. A. W., 2009, JApA, 30, 119Google Scholar
Brandenberger, R. H., 2011, ArXiv:astro-ph/1103.2271Google Scholar
Burgess, C. & Moore, G., 2006, The Standard Model: A Primer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahn, R., 1996, RvMP, 68, 951Google Scholar
Carr, B. J. & Ellis, G. F. R., 2008, A&G, 49, 2–29Google Scholar
Carr, B. J. & Rees, M. J., 1979, Natur, 278, 605CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, S. M., 2001, LRR, 4, 1Google Scholar
Carroll, S. M., 2003, Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity (San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings)Google Scholar
Carroll, S. M., 2008, SciAm, 298, 48Google Scholar
Carroll, S. M. & Tam, H., 2010, ArXiv:astro-ph/1007.1417Google Scholar
Carter, B., 1974, in IAU Symposium, Vol. 63, Confrontation of Cosmological Theories with Observational Data, ed. Longair, M. S. (Boston: D. Reidel Pub. Co.), 291CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clavelli, L. & White, R. E., 2006, ArXiv:hep-ph/0609050Google Scholar
Cohen, B. L., 2008, PhTea, 46, 285Google Scholar
Collins, R., 2003, in The Teleological Argument and Modern Science, ed. Manson, N. (London: Routledge), 178CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csótó, A., Oberhummer, H. & Schlattl, H., 2001, NuPhA, 688, 560Google Scholar
Damour, T. & Donoghue, J. F., 2008, PhRvD, 78, 014014Google Scholar
Davies, P. C. W., 1972, JPhA, 5, 1296Google Scholar
Davies, P., 2003, in God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science, ed. Manson, N. A. (London: Routledge), 147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. C. W., 2006, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? (London: Allen Lane)Google Scholar
Davies, C., et al. , 2004, PhRvL, 92, id. 022001Google Scholar
Dawkins, R., 1986, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W. W. Norton & Company)Google Scholar
Dawkins, R., 2006, The God Delusion (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)Google Scholar
De Boer, W., 1994, PrPNP, 33, 201Google Scholar
De Boer, W. & Sander, C., 2004, PhLB, 585, 276Google Scholar
Donoghue, J. F., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. Carr, B. J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 231CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donoghue, J. F., Dutta, K., Ross, A. & Tegmark, M., 2010, PhRvD, 81, id. 073003Google Scholar
Dorling, J., 1970, AmJPh, 38, 539Google Scholar
Dürr, S., et al. , 2008, Sci, 322, 1224CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durrer, R. & Maartens, R., 2007, GReGr, 40, 301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyson, F. J., 1971, SciAm, 225, 51Google Scholar
Earman, J., 2003, in Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections, ed. Brading, K. & Castellani, E. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrenfest, P., 1917, Proc. Amsterdam Academy, 20, 200Google Scholar
Ekström, S., Coc, A., Descouvemont, P., Meynet, G., Olive, K. A., Uzan, J.-P. & Vangioni, E., 2010, A&A, 514, A62Google Scholar
Ellis, G. F. R., 1993, in The Anthropic Principle, ed. Bertola, F. & Curi, U. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 27Google Scholar
Ellis, G. F. R., 2011, SciAm, 305, 38Google Scholar
Ellis, G. F. R., Kirchner, U. & Stoeger, W. R., 2004, MNRAS, 347, 921CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldstein, B., Hall, L. & Watari, T., 2005, PhRvD, 72, 123506Google Scholar
Feldstein, B., Hall, L. & Watari, T., 2006, PhRvD, 74, 095011Google Scholar
Freeman, I. M., 1969, AmJPh, 37, 1222Google Scholar
Garriga, J. & Vilenkin, A., 2006, PThPS, 163, 245Google Scholar
Garriga, J., Livio, M. & Vilenkin, A., 1999, PhRvD, 61, 023503Google Scholar
Gasser, J. & Leutwyler, H., 1982, PhR, 87, 77Google Scholar
Gedalia, O., Jenkins, A. & Perez, G., 2011, PhRvD, 83, id. 115020Google Scholar
Gibbons, G. W. & Turok, N., 2008, PhRvD, 77, 063516Google Scholar
Gibbons, G. W., Hawking, S. W. & Stewart, J. M., 1987, NuPhB, 281, 736Google Scholar
Gingerich, O., 2008, in Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning, ed. Barrow, J. D., Morris, S. C., Freeland, S. J. & Harper, C. L. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 20Google Scholar
Gould, A., 2010, ArXiv:hep-ph/1011.2761Google Scholar
Graesser, M. L., Hsu, S. D. H., Jenkins, A. & Wise, M. B., 2004, PhLB, 600, 15Google Scholar
Greene, B., 2011, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos (New York: Knopf)Google Scholar
Griffiths, D. J., 2008, Introduction to Elementary Particles (Weinheim: Wiley-VCH)Google Scholar
Gurevich, L., 1971, PhLA, 35, 201Google Scholar
Guth, A. H., 1981, PhRvD, 23, 347Google Scholar
Guth, A. H., 2007, JPhA, 40, 6811Google Scholar
Hall, L. & Nomura, Y., 2008, PhRvD, 78, 035001Google Scholar
Hall, L. & Nomura, Y., 2010, JHEP, 2010, 76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harnik, R., Kribs, G. & Perez, G., 2006, PhRvD, 74, 035006Google Scholar
Harrison, E. R., 1970, PhRvD, 1, 2726Google Scholar
Harrison, E. R., 2003, Masks of the Universe (2nd edition; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartle, J. B., 2003, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity (San Francisco: Addison Wesley)Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W., 1975, CMaPh, 43, 199Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W., 1988, A Brief History of Time (Toronto: Bantam)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawking, S. W. & Mlodinow, L., 2010, The Grand Design (Toronto: Bantam)Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W. & Page, D. N., 1988, NuPhB, 298, 789Google Scholar
Healey, R., 2007, Gauging What's Real: The Conceptual Foundations of Gauge Theories (New York: Oxford University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, C. J., 2000, RvMP, 72, 1149Google Scholar
Hogan, C. J., 2006, PhRvD, 74, 123514Google Scholar
Hogan, C. J., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. Carr, B. J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 221CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollands, S. & Wald, R. M., 2002a, ArXiv:hep-th/0210001Google Scholar
Hollands, S. & Wald, R. M., 2002b, GReGr, 34, 2043CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iwasaki, Y., 2000, PThPS, 138, 1Google Scholar
Jaffe, R., Jenkins, A. & Kimchi, I., 2009, PhRvD, 79, 065014Google Scholar
Jeltema, T. & Sher, M., 1999, PhRvD, 61, 017301Google Scholar
Kaku, M., 1993, Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
King, R. A., Siddiqi, A., Allen, W. D. & Schaefer, H. F. I., 2010, PhRvA, 81, 042523Google Scholar
Kofman, L., Linde, A. & Mukhanov, V., 2002, JHEP, 2002, 057Google Scholar
Kostelecký, V. & Russell, N., 2011, RvMP, 83, 11Google Scholar
Laiho, J., 2011, ArXiv:hep-ph/1106.0457Google Scholar
Leslie, J., 1989, Universes (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Liddle, A., 1995, PhRvD, 51, R5347Google Scholar
Lieb, E. & Yau, H.-T., 1988, PhRvL, 61, 1695Google Scholar
Linde, A., 2008, in Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. 738, Inflationary Cosmology, ed. Lemoine, M., Martin, J. & Peter, P. (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer), 1Google Scholar
Linde, A. & Noorbala, M., 2010, JCAP, 2010, 8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linde, A. & Vanchurin, V., 2010, ArXiv:hep-th/1011.0119Google Scholar
Livio, M., Hollowell, D., Weiss, A. & Truran, J. W., 1989, Natur, 340, 281CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynden-Bell, D., 1969, Natur, 223, 690CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, J. & Mullan, D. J., 2009, PhRvD, 80, 043507Google Scholar
Martin, S. P., 1998, in Perspectives on Supersymmetry, ed. Kane, G. L. (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing), 1Google Scholar
Martin, C. A., 2003, in Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections, ed. Brading, K. & Castellani, E. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Misner, C. W., Thorne, K. S. & Wheeler, J. A., 1973, Gravitation (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co)Google Scholar
Mo, H., van den Bosch, F. C. & White, S. D. M., 2010, Galaxy Formation and Evolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagashima, Y., 2010, Elementary Particle Physics: Volume 1: Quantum Field Theory and Particles (Wiley-VCH)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, K., 2010, JPhG, 37, 075021Google Scholar
Norton, J. D., 1995, Erkenntnis, 42, 223CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oberhummer, H., 2001, NuPhA, 689, 269Google Scholar
Oberhummer, H., Pichler, R. & Csótó, A., 1998, ArXiv:nuclth/9810057Google Scholar
Oberhummer, H., Csótó, A. & Schlattl, H., 2000a, in The Future of the Universe and the Future of Our Civilization, ed. Burdyuzha, V. & Khozin, G. (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing), 197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oberhummer, H., Csótó, A. & Schlattl, H., 2000b, Sci, 289, 88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Padmanabhan, T., 2007, GReGr, 40, 529CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, D. N., 2011a, JCAP, 2011, 031Google Scholar
Page, D. N., 2011b, ArXiv e-prints: 1101.2444Google Scholar
Peacock, J. A., 1999, Cosmological Physics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Peacock, J. A., 2007, MNRAS, 379, 1067Google Scholar
Penrose, R., 1959, MPCPS, 55, 137Google Scholar
Penrose, R., 1979, in General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, ed. Hawking, S. W. & Israel, W. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 581Google Scholar
Penrose, R., 1989, NYASA, 571, 249Google Scholar
Penrose, R., 2004, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (London: Vintage)Google Scholar
Phillips, A. C., 1999, The Physics of Stars (2nd edition; Chichester: Wiley)Google Scholar
Pogosian, L. & Vilenkin, A., 2007, JCAP, 2007, 025Google Scholar
Pokorski, S., 2000, Gauge Field Theories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polchinski, J., 2006, ArXiv:hep-th/0603249Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, J. C. & Beale, N., 2009, Questions of Truth: Fifty-One Responses to Questions about God, Science, and Belief (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press)Google Scholar
Pospelov, M. & Romalis, M., 2004, PhT, 57, 40Google Scholar
Price, H., 1997, in Time's Arrows Today: Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time, ed. Savitt, S. F. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 66Google Scholar
Price, H., 2006, Time and Matter – Proceedings of the International Colloquium on the Science of Time, ed. Bigi, I. I. (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing), 209Google Scholar
Redfern, M., 2006, The Anthropic Universe, ABC Radio National, available at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2006/1572643.htmGoogle Scholar
Rees, M. J., 1999, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe (New York: Basic Books)Google Scholar
Sakharov, A. D., 1967, JETPL, 5, 24Google Scholar
Schellekens, A. N., 2008, RPPh, 71, 072201Google Scholar
Schlattl, H., Heger, A., Oberhummer, H., Rauscher, T. & Csótó, A., 2004, ApSS, 291, 27Google Scholar
Schmidt, M., 1963, Natur, 197, 1040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrödinger, E., 1992, What Is Life? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, D. & Barrow, J. D., 2011, PhRvD, 83, id. 043518Google Scholar
Smolin, L., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. Carr, B. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 323CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinhardt, P. J., 2011, SciAm, 304, 36Google Scholar
Strocchi, F., 2007, Symmetry Breaking (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer)Google Scholar
Susskind, L., 2003, ArXiv:hep-th/0302219Google Scholar
Susskind, L., 2005, The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design (New York: Little, Brown and Company)Google Scholar
Taubes, G., 2002, Interview with Lisa Randall, ESI Special Topics, available at http://www.esitopics.com/brane/interviews/DrLisaRandall.htmlGoogle Scholar
Tegmark, M., 1997, CQGra, 14, L69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tegmark, M., 1998, AnPhy, 270, 1Google Scholar
Tegmark, M., 2005, JCAP, 2005, 001Google Scholar
Tegmark, M. & Rees, M. J., 1998, ApJ, 499, 526CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tegmark, M., Vilenkin, A. & Pogosian, L., 2005, PhRvD, 71, 103523Google Scholar
Tegmark, M., Aguirre, A., Rees, M. J. & Wilczek, F., 2006, PhRvD, 73, 023505Google Scholar
Turok, N., 2002, CQGra, 19, 3449CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vachaspati, T. & Trodden, M., 1999, PhRvD, 61, 023502Google Scholar
Vilenkin, A., 2003, in Astronomy, Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, ed. Shaver, P., Dilella, L. & Giméne, A. (Berlin: Springer Verlag), 70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vilenkin, A., 2006, ArXiv e-prints: hep-th/0610051Google Scholar
Vilenkin, A., 2010, JPhCS, 203, 012001Google Scholar
Weinberg, S., 1989, RvMP, 61, 1Google Scholar
Weinberg, S., 1994, SciAm, 271, 44Google Scholar
Weinberg, S., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. B. Carr, J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, J. A., 1996, At Home in the Universe (New York: AIP Press)Google Scholar
Whitrow, G. J., 1955, BrJPhilosSci, VI, 13Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 1997, in Critical Dialogues in Cosmology, ed. Turok, N. (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing), 571Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 2002, ArXiv:hep-ph/0201222Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 2005, PhT, 58, 12Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 2006a, PhT, 59, 10Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 2006b, PhT, 59, 10Google Scholar
Wilczek, F., 2007, in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. Carr, B. J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 43CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zel'dovich, Y. B., 1964, SPhD, 9, 195Google Scholar
Zel'dovich, Y. B., 1972, MNRAS, 160, 1PCrossRefGoogle Scholar