Cosmology, cosmic dust, and stellar dimming

摘要

A cosmology model is derived, forming an expanding, curved, unbounded, and finite universe resembling a three-dimensional hypersphere with positive curvature. Growth, curvature, and the expansion rate are forced by the initial conditions accompanying the emergence of space and time from the "big bang" singularity. The model generates several variables (past and present stellar distance, luminosity distance, time of emission, photon path, recession velocity, radiation temperature, universe circumference, and Hubble parameter) that are sole functions of redshift, z (readily measured by spectroscopic or photometric means). The model also presents two concepts that replace the need for cosmic inflation and dark energy. Equations for luminosity distance, d(L), and Hubble parameter, H, compare extremely well with 28 values of baryon acoustic oscillation measured data over the redshift range 0.07 < z < 2.3. A second data set, compiled by NASA, consists of 27 000 type 1a supernovae measurements of luminosity distance and redshift (0.001 < z < 10). Although the data are extremely scattered, within the scatter is a narrow, well-defined core whose distance, d(L)*, exceeds the model value, d(L), as redshift increases. The larger distance, d(L)*, resulting from a weaker than expected optical signal, is commonly explained as due to an acceleration of universe expansion. Alternatively, if the photons are assumed to be partially quenched by cosmic dust, in proportion to the distance travelled, the weakened core signal can be described by a radiative transfer equation. The resulting equation for d(L)*, with an extinction coefficient of 0.000 345 Mpc(-1) (or a photon mean free path of 2900 Mpc), fits the core data perfectly.