On the Coordination of the Riemannian and Kinematic Techniques in Theoretical Cosmology. With Particular Reference to the Shift-Distance Law in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 116, 1957, pp. 335-350

London: Royal Astronomical Society, 1957. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF WOLFGANG RINDLER'S 'EVENT HORIZON' PAPER, a concept Alan Guth cites and employs as an important part of his 'Inflationary Universe' theory. Guth needed to solve what was known as 'the horizon problem' in order to further his theory. Guth explained the problem in his seminal 1981 paper: "The standard model of hot big-bang cosmology requires initial conditions which are problematic in two ways: (1) The early universe is assumed to be highly homogeneous, in spite of the fact that separated regions were causally disconnected (horizon problem) and (2) the initial value of the Hubble constant must be fine tuned to extraordinary accuracy (flatness problem)" (Guth 1981, 347).

"By simply examining the horizon as a function of epoch, Rindler showed that as we go back in time, a smaller and smaller fraction of all of the photons in the universe could be observed... none was within the horizon. Thus as we go back in time a larger and larger fraction of the universe was unobservable, and since the particles could not communicate, there was no way to smooth out any irregularities. Thus we are forced to the conclusion that if the universe is homogeneous and isotropic now as we believe it is, this is because it was created this way. This... means that we must believe that this initial condition is a metaphysical construct. Many physicists reject metaphysical arguments, and this is where Guth's inflation comes in" (Iyer, Highlights in Gravitation and Cosmology, 230).

By supposing the inflationary event lasted from 10 36 seconds after the Big Bang to sometime between 10 33 and 10 32 seconds, Guth was able to explain both flatness and isotropy (the flatness problem and the horizon problem). CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Royal Astronomical Society. Octavo (10.75 x 6.75 inches; 269 x 169mm). Full volume. Bound in blue cloth; gilt-lettered at the spine. Tightly and very solidly bound. Bright and clean inside and out. Underlined date on title page. Near fine condition.