Re: Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

2014-01-30 Thread LizR
Shu's idea is that time and space are not independent entities but can be
converted back and forth between each other.

I thought SR already did that? (Combined them, I mean). So they are already
not independent entities...? (Brent? :)
Also, I thought GR explained why energy isn't conserved on the scale of the
universe, tho I may have this wrong (Brent!!)

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Re: Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

2014-01-30 Thread Russell Standish
As I wrote as an answer on my final astrophysics exam, "Some 13
billion years ago, the universe was very much hotter and denser than
it is now. This is a problem for any theory that assumes the past was
always like the present, such as the Steady State cosmology."

There is also the question of nucleo synthesis. If the present
distribution of nucear abundances of the lightest elements was not due
to them being created in primordial fireball, it is one hell of a
coincidence that the abundances match the prediction of a model that
assumes one.

Indeed, the main reason for postulating dark matter and energy is that
the nuclear abundances are only correctly predicted when the total
baryonic matter is around 4% of the critical value required to make
the universe flat, yet the extreme eveness of the CMB intails that
the universe must be flat, or almost so.

However we explain the origin of the universe in the future, its clear
that it must feature a primordial fireball state some 10-13 billion
years ago, in which most of the baryonic matter was forged.

Cheers

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 08:52:16AM -0800, Gabriel Bodeen wrote:
> Good luck to Shu.  I occasionally chat over dinner with a local 
> professional physicist who disbelieves in the Big Bang.  His alternative 
> also stumbles over the CMB, though.  I suspect that a good heuristic for 
> inventing alternative theories is to not bother much to plumb their depths 
> unless they (1) make a new or better prediction than the current consensus, 
> and (2) also predict the major evidences of the current consensus.  At 
> least that way, when we tell people about our alternatives, we get 
> disproven for less embarrassing reasons. :)
> 
> Gabe
> 
> On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 5:41:17 PM UTC-6, Edgar L. Owen wrote:
> >
> > All, again a post FYI, not  because I necessarily believe it. Edgar
> >
> > Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe
> >
> > A new cosmology successfully explains the accelerating expansion of the 
> > universe without dark energy; but only if the universe has no beginning and 
> > no end.
> >
> > As one of the few astrophysical events that most people are familiar with, 
> > the Big Bang has a special place in our culture. And while there is 
> > scientific consensus that it is the best explanation for the origin of the 
> > Universe, the debate is far from closed. However, it’s hard to find 
> > alternative models of the Universe without a beginning that are genuinely 
> > compelling.
> >
> > That could change now with the fascinating work of Wun-Yi Shu at the 
> > National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Shu has developed an innovative 
> > new description of the Universe in which the roles of time space and mass 
> > are related in new kind of relativity.
> >
> > Shu’s idea is that time and space are not independent entities but can be 
> > converted back and forth between each other. In his formulation of the 
> > geometry of spacetime, the speed of light is simply the conversion factor 
> > between the two. Similarly, mass and length are interchangeable in a 
> > relationship in which the conversion factor depends on both the 
> > gravitational constant G and the speed of light, neither of which need be 
> > constant.
> >
> > So as the Universe expands, mass and time are converted to length and 
> > space and vice versa as it contracts.
> >
> > This universe has no beginning or end, just alternating periods of 
> > expansion and contraction. *In fact, Shu shows that singularities cannot 
> > exist in this cosmos.*
> >
> > It’s easy to dismiss this idea as just another amusing and unrealistic 
> > model dreamed up by those whacky comsologists.
> >
> > That is until you look at the predictions it makes. During a period of 
> > expansion, an observer in this universe would see an odd kind of change in 
> > the red-shift of bright objects such as Type-I supernovas, as they 
> > accelerate away. It turns out, says Shu, that his data exactly matches the 
> > observations that astronomers have made on Earth.
> >
> > This kind of acceleration is an ordinary feature of Shu’s universe.
> >
> > That’s in stark contrast to the various models of the Universe based on 
> > the Big Bang. Since the accelerating expansion of the Universe was 
> > discovered, cosmologists have been performing some rather worrying 
> > contortions with the laws of physics to make their models work.
> >
> > The most commonly discussed idea is that the universe is filled with a 
> > dark energy that is forcing the universe to expand at an increasing rate. 
> > For this model to work, dark energy m

Re: Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

2014-01-30 Thread Gabriel Bodeen
Good luck to Shu.  I occasionally chat over dinner with a local 
professional physicist who disbelieves in the Big Bang.  His alternative 
also stumbles over the CMB, though.  I suspect that a good heuristic for 
inventing alternative theories is to not bother much to plumb their depths 
unless they (1) make a new or better prediction than the current consensus, 
and (2) also predict the major evidences of the current consensus.  At 
least that way, when we tell people about our alternatives, we get 
disproven for less embarrassing reasons. :)

Gabe

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 5:41:17 PM UTC-6, Edgar L. Owen wrote:
>
> All, again a post FYI, not  because I necessarily believe it. Edgar
>
> Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe
>
> A new cosmology successfully explains the accelerating expansion of the 
> universe without dark energy; but only if the universe has no beginning and 
> no end.
>
> As one of the few astrophysical events that most people are familiar with, 
> the Big Bang has a special place in our culture. And while there is 
> scientific consensus that it is the best explanation for the origin of the 
> Universe, the debate is far from closed. However, it’s hard to find 
> alternative models of the Universe without a beginning that are genuinely 
> compelling.
>
> That could change now with the fascinating work of Wun-Yi Shu at the 
> National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Shu has developed an innovative 
> new description of the Universe in which the roles of time space and mass 
> are related in new kind of relativity.
>
> Shu’s idea is that time and space are not independent entities but can be 
> converted back and forth between each other. In his formulation of the 
> geometry of spacetime, the speed of light is simply the conversion factor 
> between the two. Similarly, mass and length are interchangeable in a 
> relationship in which the conversion factor depends on both the 
> gravitational constant G and the speed of light, neither of which need be 
> constant.
>
> So as the Universe expands, mass and time are converted to length and 
> space and vice versa as it contracts.
>
> This universe has no beginning or end, just alternating periods of 
> expansion and contraction. *In fact, Shu shows that singularities cannot 
> exist in this cosmos.*
>
> It’s easy to dismiss this idea as just another amusing and unrealistic 
> model dreamed up by those whacky comsologists.
>
> That is until you look at the predictions it makes. During a period of 
> expansion, an observer in this universe would see an odd kind of change in 
> the red-shift of bright objects such as Type-I supernovas, as they 
> accelerate away. It turns out, says Shu, that his data exactly matches the 
> observations that astronomers have made on Earth.
>
> This kind of acceleration is an ordinary feature of Shu’s universe.
>
> That’s in stark contrast to the various models of the Universe based on 
> the Big Bang. Since the accelerating expansion of the Universe was 
> discovered, cosmologists have been performing some rather worrying 
> contortions with the laws of physics to make their models work.
>
> The most commonly discussed idea is that the universe is filled with a 
> dark energy that is forcing the universe to expand at an increasing rate. 
> For this model to work, dark energy must make up 75 per cent of the 
> energy-mass of the Universe and be increasing at a fantastic rate.
>
> But there is a serious price to pay for this idea: the law of conservation 
> of energy. The embarrassing truth is that the world’s cosmologists have 
> conveniently swept under the carpet one the of fundamental laws of physics 
> in an attempt to square this circle.
>
> That paints Shu’s ideas in a slightly different perspective. There’s no 
> need to abandon conservation of energy to make his theory work.
>
> That’s not to say Shu’s theory is perfect. Far from it. One of the biggest 
> problems he faces is explaining the existence and structure of the cosmic 
> microwave background, something that many astrophysicists believe to be the 
> the strongest evidence that the Big Bang really did happen. The CMB, they 
> say, is the echo of the Big bang.
>
> How it might arise in Shu’s cosmology isn’t yet clear but I imagine he’s 
> working on it.
>
> Even if he finds a way, there will need to be some uncomfortable 
> rethinking before his ideas can gain traction. His approach may well 
> explain the Type-I supernova observations without abandoning conservation 
> of energy but it asks us to give up the notion of the Big Bang, the 
> constancy of the speed of light and to accept a vast new set of potential 
> phenomenon related to the interchangeable relationships between mass, space 
&g

Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

2014-01-28 Thread Edgar L. Owen
All, again a post FYI, not  because I necessarily believe it. Edgar

Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

A new cosmology successfully explains the accelerating expansion of the 
universe without dark energy; but only if the universe has no beginning and 
no end.

As one of the few astrophysical events that most people are familiar with, 
the Big Bang has a special place in our culture. And while there is 
scientific consensus that it is the best explanation for the origin of the 
Universe, the debate is far from closed. However, it’s hard to find 
alternative models of the Universe without a beginning that are genuinely 
compelling.

That could change now with the fascinating work of Wun-Yi Shu at the 
National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Shu has developed an innovative 
new description of the Universe in which the roles of time space and mass 
are related in new kind of relativity.

Shu’s idea is that time and space are not independent entities but can be 
converted back and forth between each other. In his formulation of the 
geometry of spacetime, the speed of light is simply the conversion factor 
between the two. Similarly, mass and length are interchangeable in a 
relationship in which the conversion factor depends on both the 
gravitational constant G and the speed of light, neither of which need be 
constant.

So as the Universe expands, mass and time are converted to length and space 
and vice versa as it contracts.

This universe has no beginning or end, just alternating periods of 
expansion and contraction. *In fact, Shu shows that singularities cannot 
exist in this cosmos.*

It’s easy to dismiss this idea as just another amusing and unrealistic 
model dreamed up by those whacky comsologists.

That is until you look at the predictions it makes. During a period of 
expansion, an observer in this universe would see an odd kind of change in 
the red-shift of bright objects such as Type-I supernovas, as they 
accelerate away. It turns out, says Shu, that his data exactly matches the 
observations that astronomers have made on Earth.

This kind of acceleration is an ordinary feature of Shu’s universe.

That’s in stark contrast to the various models of the Universe based on the 
Big Bang. Since the accelerating expansion of the Universe was discovered, 
cosmologists have been performing some rather worrying contortions with the 
laws of physics to make their models work.

The most commonly discussed idea is that the universe is filled with a dark 
energy that is forcing the universe to expand at an increasing rate. For 
this model to work, dark energy must make up 75 per cent of the energy-mass 
of the Universe and be increasing at a fantastic rate.

But there is a serious price to pay for this idea: the law of conservation 
of energy. The embarrassing truth is that the world’s cosmologists have 
conveniently swept under the carpet one the of fundamental laws of physics 
in an attempt to square this circle.

That paints Shu’s ideas in a slightly different perspective. There’s no 
need to abandon conservation of energy to make his theory work.

That’s not to say Shu’s theory is perfect. Far from it. One of the biggest 
problems he faces is explaining the existence and structure of the cosmic 
microwave background, something that many astrophysicists believe to be the 
the strongest evidence that the Big Bang really did happen. The CMB, they 
say, is the echo of the Big bang.

How it might arise in Shu’s cosmology isn’t yet clear but I imagine he’s 
working on it.

Even if he finds a way, there will need to be some uncomfortable rethinking 
before his ideas can gain traction. His approach may well explain the 
Type-I supernova observations without abandoning conservation of energy but 
it asks us to give up the notion of the Big Bang, the constancy of the 
speed of light and to accept a vast new set of potential phenomenon related 
to the interchangeable relationships between mass, space and time.

Rightly or wrongly, that’s a trade off that many will find hard. Let’s hope 
Shu sticks to his guns, if only for the sake of good old-fashioned debate

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1007.1750: Cosmological Models with No Big Bang

 

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