Science Based Cosmology

Caution: Please bear in mind that almost every idea and interpretation in cosmology (not astrophysics) is disputed; every idea from the Age of our Universe, through Expansion, Microwave Background, Galaxy Rotation meaning Dark Matter, Inflation, Supernovae indicating Dark Energy, to Tired-Light and Spectral line Redshift. Observations are rarely contested, but the interpretation of the data is. This conclusion is based on my decades of research leading to this 15,000 word glossary. The disputes use generally rational arguments by generally reasonable people from the many different sides of the debate. I try to present the best available evidence and reasoning here (and provide the best available science links for further research) so you can make up your own mind.

If you dispute Professor Feynman's concise threshold -- "If it disagrees with experiment, its wrong" - then you might prefer a website on Astrology. Ungrounded flights of fancy are fine for novels and Hollywood, but I do not have much patience for them when used as claims of scientific fact - even when provided by highly credentialed Theoreticians. Which is why you will also find definitions of key logical fallacies and cognitive biases possibly bearing on cosmology.

Age, Universe

Older than Cher, younger than Mick Jagger. ( ;-)    ⁽¹⁾

Big Bang supporters claim the Universe age is exquisitely precisely calculated by Planck 2013 microwave data, based on a Lambda-Cold Dark Matter model, at 13.8 billion years (plus or minus a few million years - unless you are running a bit late for tea.) . (Since far more reliable distance ladder steps, such as Parallax, are no more accurate than 10 percent, that age claim may invoke a logical fallacy called False Precision.) This age conflicts with the age of a nearby star (HD 140283) that seems to be easily almost 10 percent older, at least 14.5 Billion years old.

Other Cosmologists support cosmological models maintaining that our Universe is at least a Trillion years old to infinite in age.

There is no good (credible and persuasive) answer or explanation of how things got started or what conditions were like "before" a purported start.

Astrophysics

Astrophysics includes the study of all natural phenomena outside Earth's atmosphere including physics at the nuclear, atomic and molecular scales. Cosmology is a subset of Astrophysics which generally excludes study of phenomena smaller than solar systems, but in the 1990s greatly expanded studies of physics at the nuclear, atomic and molecular scales.

Astrology

(No evidence)

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO)

A set of complex conjectures that there is a measuring stick arising from conjectured Pressure-Density waves in the baryon-photon (matter-radiation) fluid for the first 300,000 years after Big Bang.

The idea goes like this : At about 300,000 years, photons and matter permanently separated, never to interact again. (Please remember - I'm just reporting this.) The photons became Cosmic Microwave "Background" Radiation and the matter stuck in place. Dense volumes of matter became galaxies, while thin volumes grew into voids and remained empty. The distance between the galaxies is interpreted as the wavelength (roughly 470-490 million light years today) of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. This "wavelength" is a conjecture that there is some meaningful and reliable correlation with galaxy separation distances.

(The term "acoustic" is misleading as there is no Sound physics involved.)

(This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.)

Big Bang (or Expanding Universe) Models or Conjectures

The most well known cosmology model, "Big Bang" refers to not one idea, but an assortment of a few dozen controversial cosmology models or conjectures based on an Expanding Universe idea where gravity dominates the largest scale Universe dynamics rather than electromagnetic effects and plasma. These are often collectively called the "Standard Model" or "Standard Cosmology."

I find it notable that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) does not provide a definition of, or support for, any Big Bang model. My research shows there is no definitive definition of Big Bang and my 2009 paper suggests that some astronomical body should take that responsibility. Until that occurs, let me offer the following definition of Big Bang distilled from the best available information.

All Big Bang models generally propose that all the matter, energy, forces and space of today's Universe was created instantaneously from a hot dot smaller than an electron some 14 billion years ago and expanded (not exploded) and cooled to what we now experience.

All the leading Big Bang models are ambiguous (a potentially fatal logical fallacy), lack fully defined fundamental terms, require up to half a dozen or more adjustable parameters, require undetected matter, forces, energy and phenomena, and have unstable claims or definitions (sometimes charitably called "dynamic" or "moving goal posts").

There is no single agreed upon Big Bang model. Some of the better known of the several dozen Big Bang models are Lambda-Cold Dark Matter, "Relativistic Friedman-LeMaitre" (open and closed versions), McGaugh, Einstein-deSitter relativistic, LeMaitre, Eddington-LeMaitre, and Zero-Kelvin.

The various Big Bang models have several optional amendments including Inflation and acceleration.

Big Bang's Expansion is a mathematical model (called FLRW) derived from (it is a solution to) General Relativity's field equations. It is dependent upon two assumptions: that our Universe is extremely uniform; specifically homogenous and isotropic.

Model - Not a Theory: It is not widely understood that Big Bang is not yet a theory or a hypothesis. It is notable that the most cited author of Big Bang concepts, Princeton's P. James E. Peebles, does not refer to the "Big Bang" as a "theory," he accurately calls it a "model."⁽²⁾

So despite the fact that a web search will return more than 9 million results for the term - there is no Big Bang "Theory" in astrophysics, at least not yet. However, there are several dozen Big Bang "Models."

Big Bang models have at least 6 to as many as 19 adjustable parameters.

Many popular authors, and even a few scientists who should know better, overlook this vital and enormous distinction. Any astrophysicist calling Big Bang a "theory", is either unaware of, has forgotten, or is deliberately ignoring the dramatic and important difference between a model and the bare minimum for a scientific hypothesis.

(The Big Bang set of conjectures are accurately described as a moving target. These amendments are intended to solve a few of Big Bang's problems.)

1) Inflation Conjectures (no evidence)

Inflation conjectures amend Big Bang, by claiming that the conjectured Universe Expansion underwent an astounding acceleration (magnitudes greater than light speed), and then slowed down to essentially zero (22 millimeters per second / light-year) all within the very first second. The authors propose that this was caused by gravity reversing its force due to a False Vacuum. This stretching is supposed to smooth out all wrinkles in the initial lumpiness.

The conjectures are intended to solve some of Big Bang's generally accepted problems including - Horizon, Smoothness, Flatness, Magnetic monopoles and arbitrary initial conditions.

Update July 2012: Doubt about Inflation is now widespread. "Inflation has destroyed itself. It logically self-destructed." - Max Tegmark, MIT 2012

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Inflation

2) Accelerating Universe

The Accelerating Universe conjecture amends Big Bang models by claiming the Universe is not merely expanding or stretching, but that the purported expansion has recently (~6 billion years ago) started accelerating. This concept is an interpretation of 1998 observations that claim distant supernova appear dimmer at maximum brightness than expected.

Blackbody (radiation)

However, the microwave "background" radiation hypothesis claims to provide a "perfect" thermal emission spectrum to a blackbody.

Black Hole

(Not directly observed, inherently unobservable)

A hypothetical "object" or region of physical space where gravity is so strong it prevents any matter from escaping and even light cannot escape.

While the hypothesis itself means a black hole is inherently invisible or unobservable directly, there is powerful new evidence of several stars orbiting an invisible region at the center of our galaxy that is hard to explain as something other than phenomena visibly acting as a Black hole or Neutron star would.

Graphic courtesy W. M. Keck Observatory / UCLA Galactic Center Group

Blazar

Compact energy star/source at galaxy centers, with high amounts of X-ray radiation, and jets of matter ejected at near, and sometimes seemingly many times faster than (superluminal), the speed of light. These jets can exhibit Blueshift.

Blobs - Lyman Alpha Blobs (LABs)

Huge volumes of gas and plasma as large as 400,000 light years across (4 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy).

Energy Flux: Photon energy per unit area (rate of water flowing through a hose). Sun's Flux ~ 1,367 watts / square meter at Earth's surface (on a sunny day near the Equator).

Fluence = Flux x Time: Energy / unit area over an amount of time, e.g. kilowatt hours. (Or the amount of water needed to fill a glass or a swimming pool.)

Bolometric Luminosity: Total radiant energy from a source, from shortest to longest wavelengths, from gamma-rays to radiowaves. Brightness of an astronomical object totaling all energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, independent of distance.

Apparent Luminosity means only visible light - not other radiation wavelengths (outside ~360 to ~830 nanometers; there are one million nanometers in a millimeter). Both are measured as absolute magnitude, measured in watts, or Joules, or by using our Sun's brightness as 1.0 on the Solar scale.

Magnitude: Relative brightness of an astronomical object measured in a specific wavelength or passband, usually in visible light range, using a logarithmic scale. Used to measure Flux. One hundred fold (100x) change in Flux = five (5) magnitude units.

Absolute Magnitude: The normalized brightness of stars or objects if they were all at ~32.6 light years distance (exactly 10 parsecs) from Earth. Our Sun has an Absolute Magnitude of 4.83.

Apparent Magnitude: The perceived brightness of an object in visible light from (a camera orbiting) Earth. For example: even if a dimmer star is closer - it may appear brighter.

The brighest objects have negative values (our Sun has an Apparent Magnitude of -26.5, our full moon magnitude is ~-12.7 from Earth). The dimmest objects have positive values (Polaris' apparent magnitude is about 2) and the star Vega historically anchors the magnitude scale at zero (0) for all wavelengths. The faintest object we can see with a naked eye is about magnitude 6.

Distance Modulus: The difference between Absolute and Apparent Magnitudes. The Distance Modulus for our Sun is about 31.4 (4.8 minus -26.5)

Standard Candle: An astronomical object or phenomena with a brightness that is reliable distance indicator, assumed to have constant characteristics independent of distance or age. Cepheid Variable stars and Supernova Type 1 are typically used as Standard Candles even though both have known variance.

Photon Velocity: Always the same in a vacuum - "light speed" or "c"

Cosmological Brightness Dimming: Loss of flux (brightness) due to Universe Expansion.

(This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.)

Bremsstrahlung

When electrons slow down in the electric fields of other electrons or protons they emit gamma-rays called Bremsstrahlung, Gas Reradiation, Braking radiation, or "free-free" radiation.

Burden of Proof Reversal (logical fallacy)

On this point Big Bang lacks two fundamental definitions: which definition of space it uses, and its own definition. Notably the International Astronomical Union does not maintain a Big bang definition and probably never will. Until these definitions are completed, Big Bang is not a scientific claim. Until these definitions are complete, the burden remains on Big Bang proponents, not on a skeptic.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Burden

Confirmation Bias (or MySide Bias)

The tendency to only recognize evidence or reasoning that confirms an already held conclusion - even when that judgment is overwhelmingly refuted, groundless or ambiguous.

Confirmation Bias was cited by the Columbia Space Shuttle Accident Investigation Board as a leading reason why strong evidence of danger was ignored by program managers.

Congruence Bias

Cosmic Microwave / Millimeter "Background" Radiation (also CMBR, CMB, MBR, CBR and "relic radiation.")

(One photon at 1 millimeter wavelength has the energy of 0.001248 electronVolts.)

Just like most other astronomical radiation (except Quasars and Gamma Ray Bursts) Microwave (or millimeter) wavelength radiation does not show up uniformly in every sky direction. A raw whole-sky Microwave Radiation map looks extremely smooth; essentially zero variance. Processing narrows the dynamic range, adjusts the contrast and removes a dipole bias. Then a familiar dense pattern jumps out illuminating the plane and bulge of our own galaxy.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#CMR

* Just kidding. There is no trademark on the term CMFR. Though this is the first time the acronym has appeared on the web.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#CMFR

Cosmic Microwave "Background" Radiation (CMBR) is a set of interpretations of CMR claiming that the Universe expanded and cooled from a tiny hot volume (Big Bang conjecture) leaving the faint CMR radiation that is purportedly an image of the early Big Bang Universe. It is detected as microwave radiation not emitted or associated with any known foreground matter: stars, galaxies, gas or plasma. Unlike Foreground microwave radiation, microwave "Background" radiation can not be photographed or imaged directly.

CMBR advocates claim the CMR is extremely uniform (isotropic), with an energy graph/spectrum that looks like a "blackbody," and that the radiation itself has an icy temperature peak just above absolute zero at about 2.73 degrees Kelvin.

Cosmic Microwave "Background" Radiation is composed of these claims:

Problems: While several Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work on CMR (its discovery, blackbody evidence, and anisotropy), the limitations of the evidence and rationale for "background" CMR are rarely clear or understood beyond those in the microwave astrophysics field. The CMR "background" interpretation to support the Big Bang conjecture has at least 10 severe problems with evidence, methods and rationale / interpretations.

For example the CMR "background" claim is perfectly opaque (ambiguous) on how many, if any, interactions the proposed "background" radiation photons have had with intergalactic dust, plasma, or gas in the past ~14 billion years. Leading CMR "background" advocates claim intergalactic space is vaguely "transparent" (zero? interactions with gas, plasma or dust) at least as far away as Andromeda galaxy (2.5 million light years distant). Others claim the radiation has had zero interactions with matter for ~14 Billion years .

Contrast that with the possibility of a single intergalactic photon experiencing only one interaction per year. That photon would have 2.5 million interactions coming here from Andromeda - a neighboring galaxy.

Some astrophysicists maintain that CMR is nothing more than an extremely low energy radio wave fog radiated by gas and plasma and plasma inside our galaxy called "foreground" radiation that has nothing to do with a Big Bang or expanding universe. A 2012 article explains how the angular resolution of the (COBE and WMAP) microwave "cameras" is so poor that every single "pixel" from those cameras is inextricably "infused" with microwaves from thousands of galaxies which are foreground by definition.

The discovery of this radiation is primarily credited with the decline of Steady State Models (not Static Models) and fortified Big Bang. Notably, the discovery of CMR does not interfere with Plasma or Static models. Oddly, if the Microwave Background concept ever fails it does not obviously seem to cause Big Bang's failure.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#CMBR

Laws of Physics

Theory

Hypothesis

Conjecture

Model

Laws of Physics: A scientific generalization of a physics hypothesis or theory to explain natural phenomena that has been exhaustively tested, is supported with an overwhelming set of direct evidence with no repeatable contradicting observations or a reasonable rational dispute.

Gravity, electromagnetism and the Conservation of Energy and Mass are laws of physics. Laws of physics have more scientific value than theories and hypotheses.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#PhysicsLaw

Theory, scientific: A scientific hypothesis, which has been tested in many facets and has returned replicable results with no contradictory evidence. A scientific theory has more credibility and scientific value than a hypothesis.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#PhysicsTheory

Hypothesis, scientific: An un-ambiguous testable idea. The bare minimum required for a scientific claim.

1. "Crystal Clarity" Required: No one can claim to have a scientific theory or scientific hypothesis until it is fully and un-ambiguously described; no word, term, phrase, sentence or concept may have more than one possible interpretation or understanding.

3. A hypothesis or theory must also be testable to qualify as a scientific claim.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Hypothesis

---- This line separates ideas composed with scientific rigor (above) from other ideas (below). ----

Conjecture: An idea not yet complete enough to reach the minimum criteria for a testable scientific hypothesis. It may need less ambiguous definitions, or phenomena which can be measured. A conjecture is not a scientific hypothesis or scientific theory.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Conject

Model : A tool to help understand complex phenomena by examining multiple ideas at once using adjustable conditions, assumptions and data. Models are useful for thinking through problems with many, sometimes dozens of, variables and how they affect each other. Some models are equations or formulas others are mental models. They can be physical or mathematical, static or dynamic, stochastic or deterministic, designed for optimization or simulation. Physics equations are models.

Models are best used as education tools, not as predictive tools.

Models are inherently false. Just as a map is not the landscape it depicts, mathematical or computer models never correctly mirror physical reality or natural phenomena, except perhaps for extremely simple equations (e.g. force vs distance). See Spherical Cow

A model almost never reaches the threshold of a scientific hypothesis or scientific theory because models are not required to be 1) unambiguous, or 2) to have clear definitions. Models typically include intentionally variable definitions, missing parameters and hidden assumptions. Along with their generally poor to non-existent documentation, models can too easily become "black boxes" that defy accountability.

Conservation of Energy and Mass

Two fundamental laws of physics stating that while mass can be converted into energy (e.g. an atomic explosion) and energy can be converted into mass, no energy-mass is created, lost or destroyed (all energy-mass is conserved) in any phenomena.

Some leading Big Bang advocates have claimed Conservation of Energy and Mass does not hold up at intergalactic distances - in spite of a complete lack of direct experimental evidence. ⁽²⁾

Cosmological Constant (or "Lambda") Conjecture

(Never directly observed)

The conjectured Universe wide, uniform repulsive force claimed to be pushing our galaxies apart. (Editor's note: It might be easier to remember if it were called "Cosmological Pressure.")

But it purportedly does not act upon matter - only upon empty physical space (though it was originally intended to counteract gravity to achieve a finite static universe), and it does not affect anything smaller than a cluster of galaxies. This means it can never be tested; it inherently defies observation. It also holds the record for missing its mark by the largest error in Physics -- an almost unimaginable 120 magnitudes. (That difference makes Homeopathy's "mere" 30 magnitude problem seem trivial.)

What this means is that the conjectured energy of empty space (vacuum energy) is 120 orders of magnitude more than all the energy we observe.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#CosConstant

Cosmological Principle

The assumption that on the largest scales our Universe is the same (e.g. in galaxy density and energy) from every place; that it is homogeneous and isotropic.

Cosmological Principle, Perfect

The assumption that our Universe is the same from every place and time.

Cosmologists

Cosmology Theorists primarily employ mathematics and pencils (dramatically less expensive, unless they use particle colliders like CERN's Large Hadron Collider which is the most expensive science experiment of all time.) to make up explanations for why astrophysics works.

Cosmologists are human beings who study and debate cosmology, frequently with great passion with one remarkable distinction. Cosmologists, unlike everyone else, are incapable of bias, myopia, logical or factual error or misconstructed viewpoints . . .

(While I'm just kidding there is a phenomenon which inspired the amusing bumper stickers "Cosmologists are often wrong, but never in doubt.") This may be described by the Hyper-Certainty Principle -- "Data quality and quantity is inversely related to advocacy certainty and ferocity." Thus the less and worse data available - the more certain the advocacy. This is dramatically apparent where zero data inspires huge certainty and advocacy.

Cosmology

The study of the largest scale structures and dynamics of our universe.

Cosmology includes the study of scientific hypotheses and scientific theories (as well as incomplete and ambiguous conjectures and models) which do not claim to have a beginning as well as those that do.

Our universe's largest structures are Supercluster complexes, Filaments and Walls of galaxies; Lyman Alpha Blobs of gas, Bubbles, and Voids with no galaxies. Some of these appear as large as 3.5 billion light years across. That's about a quarter of the distance to the farthest objects we can see and some 35,000 times larger than our Milky Way galaxy. How these structures move and change shape are some of the dynamics.

Cosmology involves the study of established phenomena including redshifts, galaxy surface brightness to distance ratios, diffuse microwave / millimeter radiation, supernova rise and decay curves, gamma ray burst spectrum stretching (dilation), galaxy rotation curves, Olbers paradox, and light element isotope abundances and ratios.

As of today these are measured only by observing photons (e.g. light, radiowaves, x-rays): the wavelengths, brightness, spectrum, emission and absorption lines and their widths, location and polarization and how these phenomena change over time, including short term pulses.

There is very little astrophysics study of extragalactic electrons, protons or anything except photons. Magnetization of astrophysical phenomena is studied indirectly by detecting the photons / light from the phenomena. (However, thousands of physicists are now studying particle collision dynamics, which does not involve looking into the sky, with the most expensive science experiment in human history (roughly twice the cost of the Hubble Space Telescope) as astrophysics.)

Cosmology also includes the study of conjectures of force and matter that have never been directly observed: Dark matter, dark energy (and its accomplices Quintessence & Phantom energy), Higgs bosons, inflation & accelerating Universe expansion, magnetic monopoles, curved space, cosmological constant (Lambda), Vacuum / Quantum Fluctuations, Virtual Particles, gravity waves, gravitons, strings, axions, tachyons, and "exotic matter."

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Cosmology

Cosmology, Science-based

"Science based Cosmology" is limited to cosmology ideas which meet the minimum criteria for a scientific claim - non-ambiguity, and testability.

This does not mean we cannot imagine, speculate or suggest new ideas, only that if we want an idea evaluated for scientific credibility, it must provide a complete claim by meeting the minimums required for a hypothesis.

We can accurately refer to ideas which do not meet these simple criteria as "models," conjectures, concepts or stories.

The various set of Big Bang models, often called the "Standard Model," does not yet meet the minimum threshold for a scientific claim or hypothesis.

Big Bang Models

Static Models

Steady State Models

Plasma Models

Big Bang - A set of Expanding Universe conjectures or models, constructed from math equations, collectively often called "The Standard Model" where gravity dominates the largest scale Universe dynamics rather than plasma and electromagnetic effects. The models propose that all the matter and forces we now experience as our Universe originated from a hot dot smaller than an electron some 14 billion years ago and expanded (not exploded) and cooled to what we now experience.

Big Bang, widely and vigorously disputed by a growing group of astrophysicists, is not yet a complete scientific hypothesis because not even one unambiguous version exists in spite of at least 32 versions available (including Lambda-Cold Dark Matter, relativistic Friedman-LeMaitre open and closed versions, McGaugh, Einstein-deSitter relativistic, LeMaitre, Eddington-LeMaitre, Zero Kelvin models). All versions available are inherently ambiguous models, all lacking fully defined key terms including "space."

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#BigBangModels

Static Models (Euclidean non-Expanding or ENE) - Dynamically stable (non-expanding or non-stretching Universe models, space does not "expand" with these models) galaxies and large scale structrure evolve. (Do not confuse with Steady-state models which require space expansion.)

Steady State (and Quasi-Steady-state) - Cosmology models claiming our Universe has relatively constant density, but is expanding (not static) and thus must have constant matter creation - from nothing.

The name Steady State can mislead because these models require an Expanding Universe just like Big Bang. Steady State models were weakened by observations indicating there are apparently more faint radio sources (and more recently quasars) at large distances than nearby. This would support the idea of a "sphere" of events occurring at the greatest distance from here. The rebuttal is that this is an Spectral-line Redshift anomaly. These models were also eclipsed and diminished by the work on "cosmic "background" microwave radiation."

Plasma Models - Cosmology Models where plasma and electromagnetic forces dominate the largest scale Universe dynamics rather than gravity. Plasma models rest on the fact that most of the Universe matter is plasma and how electromagnetic forces are about 36 magnitudes stronger than gravity at the scale of a proton. There are both Static and expanding Plasma models.

Under some Plasma models all of our Universe's matter, energy, forces and space are fully accounted for.

Critics claim that even though electromagnetic forces are 36 magnitudes stronger, gravity overwhelms it at cosmological distances.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#PlasmaModels

Cosmology Problems

Some of Big Bang's generally accepted problems include - Flatness Coincidence, Horizon vs Light Speed Limit, Missing Magnetic Monopoles, Excess Smoothness, Arbitrary Initial Conditions, Excess Lithium, Missing Mass, Singularity violating General Relativity, Globular Clusters are too old, and the Cosmological Constant 120 orders of magnitude problem).

Other problems include Big Bang's spectral line redshift interpretation which is contradicted by abundant evidence including Binary star redshifts, Solar center-to-limb redshifts and Quasar hyperinflated Spectral-line Redshift. CMR / CMBR's's problems include its polarization, the deletion of raw Cosmic Microwave Radiation data because it is from our galaxy ("foreground"), its reheating, and the extreme improbability that the microwave/millimeter photons are "pure"; that they have not interacted with any matter: plasma, gas or dust in the billions of years of their travels.

Critical Density

Big Bang's density threshold of space that separates the definitions of a closed Universe from an open Universe. The critical density is about 5 hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. The density of our Universe is "estimated" at about 1 hydrogen atom per five cubic meters.

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Dark Energy

(No direct experimental evidence)

(While I'm just kidding, neither Dark Energy or Dark Bulbs are scientific hypotheses.)

Dark energy is the 1990's conjecture that some unobserved energy or force permeates our Universe and accelerates its rate of expansion. Its amount is an "unimaginably low" value estimated to be about 4 electron volts per cubic millimeter - and it purportedly provides about three-quarters of all energy in the universe.

Its leading explanations are Lambda, Quintessence, or that gravity has recently (the last few billion years) acquired a new unobserved property - that it now repels as well as attracts.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#EnergyDark

Decoupling Era, or Surface of Last Scattering

The conjectured time and place when all cosmic microwave "background" radiation was produced; when the Big Bang Universe changed from opaque to transparent - some 300,000 - 400,000 years after Big Bang commenced. This is closely associated with Recombination.

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Decoupling

Definition, Types

Operational definition of Weight -- a result of measurement of an object on a newton spring scale (How to weigh)

Dipole, Microwave

One side of physical space, as we view it from here, is "hotter" in the microwave radiation frequency than the other side. This is interpreted as meaning our solar system is moving towards the hotter side.

Astronomical Unit

Astronomical Unit (AU) - approximately the mean distance from the Earth to our Sun; about 150 million kilometers (or 150 gigameters) or 93 million miles.

Co-Moving Distance: Distance between objects that stays the same with Universe Expansion. This contrasts with "Proper Distance" which increases with Universe Expansion. (This only applies to Expansion / Big Bang models.)

Emission Distance: The distance from here to the source of light at the time it was emitted. Astronomical objects have almost certainly moved since the light was emitted so are likely a different distance from us today. It is nearly impossible to establish a distance of movement (baseline to current position) to astronomical objects outside our galaxy since we have only been measuring distances that far for about one hundred years, a mere blink of time in cosmological terms.

Event horizon: The maximum co-moving distance we will ever be able to detect light from a particle. (This only applies to Expansion / Big Bang models.)

Light Year: 250 days. (. . . just kidding)

The distance light travels in a vacuum in a Julian year; almost 10¹³ (1 with 13 zeros) kilometers (or 63,000 AU). The speed of light is about 300,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles per second).

Parsec: A distance measure used in astronomy, but less used in cosmology in favor of the "light year" which is much easier to use on large scales. A parsec is about 3.26 light years. Its short for "the parallax of one arc second."

Megaparsec = one million parsecs, or 3.26 million light years.

Particle Horizon: The maximum co-moving distance a particle could have emitted light that is reaching us today; roughly 20 billion light years. (This only applies to Expansion / Big Bang models.)

Proper Distance: Distance between objects that increases with Universe Expansion. This contrasts with "Co-Moving" Distance which stays the same with Universe Expansion. (This only applies to Expansion / Big Bang models.)

Redshift Distance: Distance to cosmological objects as measured by Spectral line Redshift. See Distance Ladder for other methods of measuring distance.

Distance Ladder, Cosmic

The many overlapping methods used to measure distance to astronomical objects, primarily galaxies. All these methods have significant uncertainty which increases with distance so it is probably more accurate to describe these as distance "estimate" tools.

Tully-Fisher Relation

This provides a distance estimate using the ratio of a spiral galaxy's spin rate to its intrinsic luminosity. The Faber-Jackson relation is used for elliptical (non-spiral) galaxies.

Doppler Effect

The wavelength change of sound or movement of spectral lines of light as the emitter either approaches or travels away from you.

Doppler effect is often used to simplify the explanation of cosmological redshift, and is a genuine effect seen with redshifts from the approaching side of a galaxy compared to the receding side.

However, it is not widely understood that the well established Doppler effect is not the same phenomena as that claimed for the hypothesized recession velocity, which is then used to extrapolate the Universe expansion or stretching conjecture. To explain that, a new concept called Relativistic Doppler Effect was created. This idea cannot be examined in a lab.

To support the universe-stretching conjecture, these four concepts are often entangled, or confused:

Doppler Effect, Relativistic

The Universe Expansion conjecture does not use Doppler Effect, it employs and requires Relativistic Doppler Effect. This conjectured form of Doppler Effect was created by Big Bang advocates to explain why redshift increases with distance (why spectral lines shift). It is distinct from standard Doppler Effect by employing Special Relativity's Time Dilation.

Relativistic Doppler Equation

While standard Doppler Effect can be easily created and has been studied extensively, there is no explanation for how to physically create or study this proposed phenomena. Nor can there be until we can experiment on phenomena that does not occur on scales smaller than galaxy clusters.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#DopplerRelative

DoubleSpeak

Dynamics, Mechanics or Kinematics

We try to describe changes in cosmological structure with mathematics, but because we do not know all of the dynamics or physics, mathematics can at best, only approximate how physical reality works.

Electromagnetism / Electrostatics

The second strongest of the four fundamental forces. Thirty six (36) orders of magnitude stronger than gravity at the scale of protons. Just like gravity, electromagnetism affects things at infinite distances. Its strength decays more rapidly with distance than gravity. Gravity's strength weakens by the square of the distance, electromagnetism force (not energy) weakens by the cube of the distance.

ElectronVolt (eV)

Escape Velocity (Actually "Escape Speed")

Electrons have an escape velocity for the nucleus they orbit.

Euclidean Geometry

Flat (non-curved) geometry having 3 dimensions typically depicted by an X axis, Y axis and a Z axis. Some cosmology models use other geometries; the Lemaitre Big Bang Model uses Spherical Geometry which is used to solve problems on two dimensional spherical surfaces such as our planet.

Expansion Conjecture

Universe Expansion is not the same claim as the Recession Velocity hypothesis.

The conjecture that our Universe (other than galaxies) is stretching or expanding based on the observation that Spectral line Redshift movements correlate with distance; that it has expanded (not exploded) for some 14 billion years into what we experience today from a ball smaller than an electron - but not of zero size called a singularity.

This Expansion conjecture requires support from several interdependent ideas including at least three conjectures --

Experimenter Effect

This effect is reduced with the use of a "Double Blind" study.

Extinction

Fallacies, Logical

Hard fallacies include Ambiguity (an incomplete claim) and Burden of Proof Reversal.

Soft examples include: Confirmation bias, GroupThink, Doublespeak, Experimenter Effect, Personality Debates, and invoking Priesthoods. For example an "ad hominem" argument ignores experimental evidence and reason and can "attack the messenger". Similarly "Appeal to Authority" also ignores experimental evidence and reason but "applauds the messenger" for their position, title, celebrity or even credibility."

Fields

Warning: The Wikipedia article has many stunningly false claims. Its theme is that there are no physical fields ! - only mathematically described fields.

A Tensor has many values assigned to each point of a field. Example: A field of grass where each blade of grass has a length, a compass direction, a width, a color, an age etc.

Filaments

Filaments are sheets of galaxies forming the boundary between two or more voids. Filaments are the largest known structures in our Universe and contain almost all the galaxies, but only half the known matter. The longest filament found as of 2013 is the "Sloan Great Wall" at about 1.4 Billion light years. In January 2014, a wall appearing about six times larger is reported (~8 Billion light years across) but awaits confirmation.

Forces, Fundamental

(Abundant direct evidence, though less for the Weak force)

Strong Force or Color Interaction: holds the nucleus of atoms together - only affects Quarks (not electrons), 38-39 magnitudes stronger than gravity at the scale of a proton, (38 magnitudes is astoundingly gigantic. See note below.) and is 137 times stronger than electromagnetic forces. Strong force pushes (when less than one femtometer separates neutrons and protons) as well as pulls, and oddly has a pull that increases with distance at certain ranges. Effect only reaches out to a radius of 10^-14 millimeters.

Electric / Magnetic / Electrostatic / Magnetostatic: It is technically more accurate to say that there are four distinct Electromagnetic forces: Electrostatic, magnetostatic, electrodynamic and magnetodynamic. The two dynamic forces require a current flow, and two static forces with no current flow. Electromagnetic forces act on electrically and magnetically charged matter, at infinite range (as gravity does), but 35-37 magnitudes stronger than gravity. They have north and south poles (called dipole) and unlike gravity push as well as pull. A static electric charge is a monopole force. Electric field Force is measured in Volts / meter. Magnetic field Force is measured in Amps / meter.

Weak: (different from electroweak): affects Leptons (Electrons) and Hadrons (Protons and Neutrons), and is the only force significantly affecting neutrinos, 33-34 magnitudes stronger than gravity. Effect only reaches out to a radius of 10^-16 millimeters.

Gravity: spectacularly weaker than the other 3 forces, acts on all known matter at infinite range and even evidently affects photons / light / radiation. It is a monopole force - unlike magnetism.

Note 1: A trillion is 12 magnitudes and a quadrillion is 15 magnitudes. A rough distance (not force) reference: an atom's diameter is 30 magnitudes smaller than the distance to Virgo's cluster of galaxies.

Force Conjectures

Wholly unobserved conjectures that new forces exist (such as Dark Energy, Cosmological Constant (or "Lambda") Conjecture). See Science Fiction.

Formation, Galaxies and Structure - (Gravity vs. Electromagnetism)

The study of how matter (dust, gas, liquids, solids and plasma) organizes into galaxies.

Big Bang advocates have no reasonable explanation for how galaxies could have formed as quickly as that model requires. The only suggestion is that galaxies formed from quantum fluctuations in the aftermath of Big Bang.

Astrophysicists who prefer cosmology that is a far older than Big Bang suggest galaxies cluster from smaller particles of dust, gas and plasma, due to gravity and electromagnetic forces, since those forces exert effects at infinite distances.

The study of how galaxies, dust, gas and plasma organizes into structures, from galaxy clusters to superclusters to filaments.

Free (or adjustable) Parameters

A variable number, or formula, in an equation or a model. A free parameter is appropriate for an Educational model; a model where you are trying to understand phenomena. Free parameters are rarely appropriate for a Predictive model such as a hypothesis.

In any case, employing a Free Parameter almost always prevents a model from achieving the quality and credibility of Hypothesis due to ambiguity.

According to the most cited author of Big Bang concepts, Princeton's P. James E. Peebles, the most well known Big Bang model, Lambda-Cold Dark Matter, employs and depends upon 6 or 7 Free Parameters (e.g. Baryon Density) while ESA's Planck team now identifies 19 when employing an Inflation Amendment. Particle physics "Standard model" also has 18 or 19 free parameters.

Albert Einstein invented a Free Parameter he called the "Cosmological Constant." He added it to his General Relativity (GR) equations so they would provide the answers that fit his changing view of the universe.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#AdjustableParameters

Galaxy

A notably luminous accumulation of matter and millions to billions of stars bound by gravity and electromagnetic forces.

2. An Electromagnetic Galaxy is a luminous accumulation of millions to billions of stars and other matter bound primarily by electromagnetic forces. (This may be the first time this distinction has been defined.)

The several shapes of electromagnetic galaxies include: filaments, sheets, and walls.

Our own Milky Way, is primarily a Barred Spiral gravity galaxy, estimated to contain some 250 billion to a trillion stars. It is about 100,000 light years across, and 12,000 light years thick at its widest point - the center.

Galaxy Rotation Curves

However, new calculations (Gallo and Feng, 2010) show that the observed galaxy rotation curves are completely consistent with normal astrodynamics and Newtonian mechanics; and that the original galaxy mass distribution assumptions were incorrect. This makes the purported and undetected dark matter completely unnecessary.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#GalaxyRotate

Gamma Ray Bursts

Extremely high energy, point-source short-duration bursts of radiation with very high redshifts. They typically last only a few seconds, but can last almost as long as an hour. Soon afterwards less energetic radiation (x-rays, UV and visible light) shows up from the same locations.

Source and Distance: Unlike most other astronomical radiation, Gamma Ray Bursts show up uniformly in every sky direction - they do not show up in a dense pattern towards the center, or plane, of our own galaxy. None have low redshift values. These two things together mean that there are no close Gamma Ray Bursts. The closest recorded burst apparently occurred at about 1.6 billion light years from us, and the most distant more than 12.5 billion light years away.

One Gamma-ray burst (GRB 090423) was measured at a redshift of (z=) 8.2 making it presumably the oldest and most distant object (apparently some 13 billion light years).

There is no agreement on a good hypothesis for what causes them. Since they are so short lived it is not possible to see if they have any proper motion or to measure their distance with parallax as has been done with some Quasars.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#GRB

Gravity

Spectacularly weaker than the other 3 fundamental forces, Gravity is 35-37 magnitudes weaker than electromagnetism at the atomic scale. It acts on all known matter at infinite range and even evidently affects photons / light / radiation. Its force is a monopole - unlike magnetism. Its strength decreases as the square of separation distance.

The idea that gravity has different effects at large scales than small scales. There is no experimental evidence for this idea.

GroupThink (or Conflict Avoidance)

This is related to Bandwagon Effect, Informational Cascades, Jante law, and Herd Instinct.

Higgs Particles / Bosons

Higg's particles are hypothesized particles that purportedly provide evidence of gravity from a hypothesized "Higgs Field." They allegedly have markedly different properties from many all known particles, purportedly having zero spin. Particle physics' "standard model" says their mass should be less than 170 Gev, and researchers have looked for it at up to 800 GeV. August 2011 experiments have ruled out its mass being less than at 114 Giga-electronVolts (121 times the mass of proton) or heavier than 157 GeV.

Update: As of March 2013 a signal indicating a new particle appearing at a mass of ~ 125 GeV is now considered a Higgs boson, though not a "Standard Model" Higgs. This view is not yet endorsed by CERN in part because so far there is scant evidence the signal has any Standard Model Higgs properties.

Higgs Field

(No evidence)

Homogenous

"We're discovering inhomogenieties (lumps) on larger and larger scales. At the same time, the microwave background... remains smooth." "Another factor of 10 in the isotropy measurements of the microwave background could cause us to reach a real theoretical impasse." - Stanford Cosmologist Robert Wagoner, 1990

Hubble Constant, Hubble Parameter, or "H₀"

The conjectured recession velocity is claimed to be directly proportional to distance as measured by Spectral-line Redshift. This ratio is known as the Hubble Constant.

Hubble Distance or Hubble Length

The Expansion idea of the distance from Earth to where galaxies appear to be receding from us at exactly the speed of light; roughly where Spectral-line Redshift is about z =1.5. The current estimated value is ~ 13.75 billion light years (plus or minus 10%).

Hubble's "Law"

The linear relationship between redshift and distance coupled with recession velocity. (Recession velocity = Hubble Constant times Distance)

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Hubble Time

The age of the Universe according to Big Bang; roughly 13.7 billion years (plus or minus 10%). Hubble Time and the Hubble Constant ("H₀") are reciprocals.

InterGalactic Medium or IGM (vs. Intra-galactic or InterStellar)

Intergalactic means the spaces between galaxies. This region contains about half of all normal matter at a very low density in the form of gas, dust, plasma, cosmic rays, and electromagnetic photons of all wavelengths and magnetic fields from gamma rays to radio waves.

Intra-galactic means within, or inside of, a galaxy.

Isotropic (uniform)

An-isotropy means non-uniformity - the opposite. If the Universe were Isotropic, it would not be possible to make a map of the largest structures including Voids, Walls, Filaments - because structures could not exist; everything would be wholly uniform in every direction and there would be no phenomena such as the "Great Attractor."

Jets

Extremely powerful focused flows of plasma ejected from galactic centers or Blazars at near light speeds, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of light years in length. Some jets appear to exceed the speed of light.

Jean's Instability

The simple idea that areas with large amounts of matter will attract and collect other matter due to gravity.

Joule-Thompson Effect

Most gasses cool when expanding. Surprisingly, Hydrogen, Helium and Neon warm when expanding at room temperature due to a conversion of molecular kinetic energy to potential energy. Total energy remains the same, but the conversion results in an increase in molecule collisions causing warming. Hydrogen, Helium and Neon do not obey the "Ideal Gas Law" because that idea ignores molecular size and intermolecular attraction.

Lambda-Cold-Dark-Matter (or LCDM, a Big Bang model)

"Lambda Cold Dark Matter" is probably the most well-known and most popular of the several dozen Big Bang / Expansion models. It "assumes conventional local physics, general relativity theory, expansion from a hot big bang with initially small adiabatic gaussian near scale-invariant departures from homogeneity and isotropy, cold dark matter, Einstein's cosmological constant, and negligible space curvature." (courtesy of Princeton's P. James E. Peebles)

This model produces the remarkable claim that ~ 95% of our Universe's matter and energy is undetected, unobserved or unknown to physics. Neither the conjectured dark matter (~ 23%) or Dark Energy (~ 72%) has ever been directly observed. Lambda stands for the Cosmological Constant.

Magnetic Monopoles

(No experimental evidence)

The hypothesis that magnetic solids having a single pole exist. Normal magnets have two poles, a North and a South Pole, called a dipole object. A monopole would only have a North pole or a South Pole - but not both.

None have ever been detected (though an Electron looks suspiciously like one, except it is deemed an "electric monopole."

Magnetism or Magnetostatics

Permanent magnets exhibit magnetism with no electric current flow.

Magnetars

Stars with the most powerful magnetic fields known. Suspected to be extremely dense Neutron stars.

Magnitude

Malmquist Bias

Its similar to trying to establish the mean (average) age of residents of a distant island using a telescope, but omitting the ages of the children because they are too small to see.

Mathematics

A language or shorthand used to help understand quantities, abstractions, and scientific and logical relationships. Math can be used as models of natural phenomena. However use caution because "Models are inherently wrong."

Beyond basic trigonometry, algebra, coordinate geometry, calculus and orbital mechanics, Cosmology Theorists often use Lorenz Transforms, Riemannian Geometry, Tensor Calculus, Eigen values and vectors, Hamiltonian mechanics, Lagrangian Density, and General Relativity.

While these tools may sound daunting at first, taking each one slowly and with a bit of practice they are not hard to understand and they can be useful. (OK, I admit maybe General Relativity is seriously opaque.)

However, do not confuse mathematics with physical reality; physical reality does not care one bit about mathematics. Similar to how a wild shark doesn't care if you call him Sherman or Megan, mathematics is just a set of labels we use to help us understand how physical reality works.

"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems" - Paul Erdos

Matter (confirmed)

Anti-matter

Baryons

Anti-matter is the same as ordinary matter (electrons, neutrons and protons, and all fundamental particles: quarks and leptons having a rest-mass and volume) in every way with one electric exception.

There is nothing fundamentally different about anti-matter (it exhibits and is affected by gravity, not anti-gravity, just the same as ordinary matter). Just like plasma, it is just very rare on Earth's surface. We are familiar with ordinary matter, which is dramatically more common here on Earth. You may experience the rare anti-matter here on Earth when taking a medical PET scan where Positrons are used. Anti-matter is more common above our atmosphere in the Van Allen belts where it occurs naturally.

While it is true that combining a particle and its anti-particle will explode, there is absolutely no evidence that an explosion results when mixing pasta and antipasto ;-)

Baryons - Protons and Neutrons and other subatomic particles made up of 3 quarks governed by the Strong nuclear force.

Bosons - are Photons, gluons and other Force-carrying "particles." The W, Z and Higgs Bosons are extremely short lived, less than a microsecond.

Dark Matter: Matter which does not emit detectable radiation.

1. Real physical matter - Non luminous ordinary matter including solids, liquids, gas, and plasma, such as dust which interacts with gravity, light and other radiation.

2. A conjectured, never observed, highly speculative "missing" matter that does not interact with light, other electromagnetic radiation, other particles or even itself except for its apparent gravitational effect on galaxy rotation - making it undetectable directly. Big Bang needs gigantic amounts of this kind of dark matter. It is commonly conjectured to compose 22 percent of the Universe, with known mass composing only 4 percent. This means Galaxies must have 5.5 times more Dark Matter than ordinary real, physical matter.

This missing Dark Matter idea arose from calculations that appeared to show that galaxy rotation curves were not explainable using Newtonian and Keplerian physics. The original calculations used the Virial Theorem to estimate that a galaxy had 160 times more matter than was visually observed. Some also advanced the claim that without the gravity of huge amounts of conjectured dark matter a galaxy would fly apart.

However, a new approach and calculations (Gallo and Feng, 2009) show that the original galaxy mass distribution assumptions were incorrect and that galaxy rotation curves are completely consistent with normal astrodynamics. This means galaxy rotation curves are fully compatible with the normal observed matter; that no dark matter is necessary.

Electron (a Lepton) - A negatively charged particle usually found orbiting an atomic nucleus. Until recently considered fundamental; not composed of smaller particles. Now it seems that an electron has been separated into three parts: a Holon, a Spinon and an Orbitron.

Fermions - Fundamental particles including Electrons, Quarks, Neutrinos, Taus, Muons and their anti-particles.

Hadrons - all particles made up of Quarks and held together by the Strong force: Protons, Neutrons (Baryons) and Mesons.

Leptons - Electrons, Neutrinos, Positrons, Muons, Tauons which are not subject to the strong force, but are affected by gravity and electromagnetic forces.

Matter, Ordinary - Substance with rest-mass, volume and energy.

Mesons - Unstable subatomic particles made up of 1 quark and 1 anti-quark. Interesting, but nearly useless.

Metals - In Cosmology, all elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium are called metals.

Neutrons - a subatomic particle with no net electric charge made up of 1 up quark and two down quarks.

Neutrino - a subatomic particle with a large amount of energy, extremely little mass, but no net electric or strong force charge. They are only affected by the Weak Force and Gravity making them exceedingly difficult to detect.

Protons - Tons which have discarded their amateur status. (Pro - Tons... just testing to see if you are paying attention :-)

A subatomic particle with a net positive charge composed of two up quarks and one down quark. (Except they don't even come close to adding up correctly. A proton "weighs" some 938 MeVolts, while three quarks together don't exceed 16 MeV.)

Quarks - are considered the most fundamental particles. Protons, neutrons and electrons are composed of Quarks. Individual Quarks have never been observed.

Tachyons - Imaginary particles that only travel faster than the speed of light.

Tetraquarks - Hypothetical Meson composed of 4 valence quarks. Possibly found in 3 different type experiments.

WIMPS - Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. Never observed hypothetical particles intended to solve the missing dark matter problem, that are massive, yet not affected by Electromagnetic or Strong forces. Like Neutrinos, they are only affected by the Weak Force and Gravity.

(Note 2: Since there is no Universal Reference Frame, it is not always clear which of the several Absolute Motion reference frames are used for determining/claiming light's absolute speed.)

Peculiar Motion: Motion of a star compared to its neighbors.

Peculiar Velocity: Motion of a galaxy compared to its neighbors. In the context of Big Bang's Expansion conjecture, Peculiar Velocity is any movement of a galaxy towards or away from our sun that is not attributed to Universe expansion or stretching. It is most often used to distinguish an individual galaxy's velocity that is different from its "host" galaxy cluster.

Proper Motion: Peculiar Motion + motion relative to our Sun.

Parallax: Apparent change in location of a star due to two observation sites. A star could have a parallax, yet no motion relative to our Sun.

Nebulae

A cloud of intergalactic or interstellar gas. The Hubble space telescope has captured some spectacular (though typically color "adjusted") images of some nebulae.

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis / Light Element Isotope Abundances ("BBN")

A set of Big Bang dependent conjectures claiming that almost all of the lightest four element isotopes existing today were created in the first few moments of Big Bang including ( Hydrogen (Deuterium or H-2) and Tritium (H-3), Helium (He-3 and He-4), Lithium (Li-6 and Li-7) and Beryllium (Be-7 and Be-8) ).

This claim is disputed with the hypothesis and mounting evidence that all light element isotopes can be created / converted by normal star processes (stellar nucleosynthesis), and that the BBN idea depends upon the arbitrary and extraordinarily precise initial conditions of a baryon to photon ratio of 6 to 1.

BBN has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Occam's (Ockham's) Razor (Law of Parsimony)

The philosophical guideline (not a scientific law, theory or hypothesis) that if every thing else is roughly equal, the simpler explanation is preferred.

Olber's (or Cheseaux's) Paradox

The claim of a conflict between the apparent darkness of the night sky and the concept of a static, infinite universe. It is claimed to diminish static universe models because an infinite static Universe should radiate light from every sky direction making night bright.

However, we now know that about half the known matter (dust, gas and plasma) is spread outside of galaxies. This makes Olber's proposal that most distant star and galaxy light is absorbed by that matter and re-radiated as non visible (e.g. infrared) radiation - reasonable.

Omega (space curvature criterion)

For those who believe space has an overall curvature (separate from general relativity's space-time curvature), if Omega equals 1 it means space is flat, if greater than 1 "the Universe is closed" (like a sphere), and if less than 1 the Universe is "open" (negatively curved like a saddle !?).

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Personality Debate

A non-scientific argument about who asserts something rather than what is claimed, common with "priesthoods." A stunning and dismaying amount of Big Bang "debate," by those who should know better, is "who" based rather than "what" based. Similar to a Technology debate - which ignores principles to focus on the technology. See Logical Fallacies and Hyper-Certainty Principle.

Photons (Light and the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum -- from most powerful to least)

Photon: The smallest unit of electromagnetic energy. They have no electric charge or rest-mass. The following are in order of decreasing energy per photon.

Gamma rays: The most powerful radiation / photons: more energy than visible light, UV or x-rays. Damages DNA and can kill living cells. Most Gamma-rays are absorbed by oxygen in our atmosphere. Emitted from atomic nuclei transitions.

X-rays: More energy than light or UV. Known to damage DNA. Most X-rays are absorbed by oxygen in our atmosphere. Typically emitted by electron transitions.

UltraViolet (UV): More energy than light. Known to damage DNA. Most UV is absorbed by ozone in our atmosphere, the remaining UV that gets through can cause skin cancer.

Visible Light: What our eyes see. Most visible light gets through our atmosphere. Should not damage DNA.

InfraRed waves: Heat that we can feel with our skin. Should not damage DNA (unless your body gets hot enough to catch fire).

Microwaves: Heat also, but each photon has less energy than an InfraRed wave. Most microwaves are absorbed by our atmosphere, though some microwaves get through. (Wavelengths are 1 millimeter to 1 meter)

Radio waves: The least energetic photons, less energy than light or heat. Most radio waves get through our atmosphere. (Wavelengths are longer than one (1) meter)

Photon Echoes

The (very clever) study of timing of light from a variable star and the reflections of that light on a close cloud of relatively dense gas or dust either directly or after diffusion by the cloud. Using the variability of the star, the lengths of both paths may be compared, so that a 3D image of the system may be drawn. This was demonstrated with the Supernova SNR1987A. (explanation courtesy of Jacques Moret-Bailly)

Plasma

Although plasma is overwhelmingly the most common form of matter in our Universe few scientists and almost none of the general public are familiar with it.(Ionized liquids and solids also exist, some with extraordinary properties, but they are exceedingly rare.)

All luminous stars are made of plasma, and even the space between stars and galaxies is filled with plasma. About the only places in the Universe lacking plasma are the great Voids and the thin surface layer of planets with an atmosphere - exactly where we live.

Thin: Plasmas can also be very rarefied. A gas with only 1% of its particles ionized can exhibit high electrical conductivity and other plasma characteristics. These two phenomena together (cold and thin) are conditions common in outer space.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Plasma

Plasma "Acoustic" Oscillations

This conjecture claims that regions of plasma pulse in density, due to gravity and gas pressure, but puzzlingly not due in any part to electromagnetic forces which are 36 magnitudes stronger. (See Baryon Acoustic Oscillations)

Priesthood

The deliberate effort to make a subject (e.g. surfing, economics or cosmology) intimidating or complex as opposed to easy, approachable or understandable, implying the "insider" is superior to ordinary mortals. An easy way to recognize a Priesthood is the abundant use of unnecessary jargon or code words (including mathematics) for phenomena easily and more clearly explained with common words.

For example this glossary uses the marvelously obscure (but fun) "Furlongs per Fortnight" to spoof the silliness of the rate of the conjectured "Cosmological Constant" which is given in a similarly obscure and confusing (but gravely serious and possibly doublespeak) unit of measure -- "kilometers per second per megaparsec."

Quantum

Quasar (Quasi-stellar Radio source)

Quasars are point-sources of continuous radiation with apparently extremely high redshifts, unusual spectra with a non-thermal spectrum, broad spectral lines and almost no absorption lines. Appearing frequently as blue in color, some 200,000 have been found, most by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Although they emit continuous radiation, their brightness can vary dramatically over a period of weeks.

Recession Velocity (or radial velocity)

(Recession Velocity is not the same claim as Universe Expansion.)

Recession Velocity is a three-part hypothesis, an interpretation of Spectral line Redshift claiming that --

ReCombination

The conjecture that CMR "background" was released about 300,000 - 400,000 years after Big Bang. This is explained as when Big Bang energy had cooled to about 3,000 deg. Kelvin and condensed protons and electrons into neutral Hydrogen and Helium atoms. This is closely associated with Surface of Last Scattering.

Prior to ReCombination charged particles were so close together photons could not escape -- making the Universe opaque. However, immediately after ReCombination - photons had absolutely free rein - nothing to run into (no matter).

(The term "ReCombination" was borrowed from physics. Since there was no prior "combination" don't let the prefix "Re" mislead you.)

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Redshift, or accurately Spectral line Redshift (or "z")

Redshift occurs when spectral lines of light or other electromagnetic radiation from astrophysical objects (like galaxies) shows up in longer wavelengths than normal (compared to those in a laboratory experiment), apparently resulting in energy loss. It is the primary measuring "stick" used to estimate cosmological distances. Spectral-line Redshift is measured several ways, in several wavelength bands (but surprisingly rarely in the visible light range), has a huge variance that is not widely grasped, and is apparently caused by several independent phenomena.

Redshift, Binary Star

Several sets of co-orbiting stars called Binary stars, each of which inherently maintain equal mean distances from us, show consistently different redshifts (e.g. Binary HD193567 and several Wolf-Rayet Binaries).

Redshift, Dipole or "Spectral Transfer"

Dipole force is wavelength dependent and can be distinguished from Doppler effect. Ponderomotive force is independent of wavelength and mimics a Dopper effect.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#RedshiftDipole

Redshift, Gravitational

The hypothesis with experimental evidence that light loses energy by increasing in wavelength when leaving a strong gravitational field. Oddly, there is apparently no evidence of gravitational Spectral-line Redshift from our own sun.

Redshift, Solar Center to Limb

Our Sun's equator and poles (limbs) show consistently different spectral line redshifts even though they are not moving away from us over the course of a year (they inherently maintain equal mean velocities away from us - essentially zero kph or mph). This Spectral-line Redshift is not a reddening due to atmospheric absorption, or "Limb Darkening" (a decrease in optical brightness from Center to Limb). Some astrophysicists claim this could be explained by Bremsstrahlung or the Compton effect

Redshift, K-effect

Redshift, Companion or Child Galaxy

Redshift, Compton Effect

When high energy radiation hits an atom, photons are ejected at a reduced energy and at an angle.

Redshift, Electron Recoil

The hypothesis that whenever an electron emits a photon - it recoils by a tiny amount - making the resulting photon slightly less energetic than the one that originally hit the electron. As the number of electron interactions adds up the photons eventually lose enough energy that the loss can be detected - making "Tired Light."

ReIonization (of Hydrogen gas)

The conjectured event (at about 100-400 million years after Big Bang) that purportedly dramatically re-heated CMBR so it would not remain colder than its current temperature of about 2.73 deg. Kelvin.

If the conjectured CMBR was allowed to cool uniformly (after being created by ReCombination), it would be too cold (less than 0.1 deg K) compared to current CMR observations. Thus it could not support the CMBR-Big Bang conjecture. So the ReIonization conjecture was designed to warm up Big Bang's conjectured CMR to match the observations.

This claim has no meaning outside Big Bang / Expansion models.

Relativity, Special (or as Einstein preferred "Invariantentheorie" or Invariance Theory)

The generalization of Galileo's relativity principle that there is no absolute condition of rest, and that all uniform motion is relative. It does not incorporate gravity, or relative speeds approaching the speed of light and only applies to local (ambiguous) objects moving relative to each other.

Special Relativity was intended to solve the problem raised by the 1880s Michelson-Morley experiments that found light going almost exactly the same speed independent of the direction light speed was measured. This is taken as lack of evidence for aether. (Remarkably, even the most recent versions of these experiments have not found zero difference in the speed of light going with Earth's rotation and against it, though the uncertainty bars do include zero.)

Critics point out that laws of physics must apply universally not just locally; and that two particles approaching each other each at speeds of 99 percent of the speed of light (a standard experiment at particle colliders, and adding up to almost twice the speed of light) violate Special Relativity's speed limit.

Relativity, General

The addition of gravity to Special Relativity so it can apply to any two objects - no matter how far apart. It is also considered a framework for understanding the behavior of space-time. Its equations predict gravitational lensing, gravitational Spectral-line Redshift, gravitational waves and Mercury's perihelion precession.

Science

Science is a way of understanding fascinating natural phenomena so that it can be generalized, predicted and relied upon at other times and places. It has two parts: A way of testing hypotheses (scientific method), and the body of facts that result from those tests.

Weakest link kills or limits scientific value: No idea can have more scientific value than the weakest link in its rationale. For example -- if an idea depends on four sub-ideas where three of them are valid hypotheses or even theories, but one is an incomplete conjecture (e.g. Astrology) - the idea is not a scientific claim. The conjecture is the weakest link making the valid hypotheses irrelevant. The only way to salvage such an idea is to limit the hypothesis to the two or three remaining complete scientific claims.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Science

Science Fiction

Imagined phenomena or technology without physical experimental evidence, some contradicting a fundamental law of physics, used in novels imbued with technology and space travel. Sometimes found sneaking into mainstream science publications.

Negative Energy, Anti-(or negative)-Mass, multiverses.

Dark matter, dark energy (and its accomplices Quintessence & Phantom energy), cosmological constant (Lambda), inflation, accelerating Universe expansion, magnetic monopoles, curved space, gravity waves, gravitons, strings, axions, "exotic matter," scalar fields, tachyons, worm holes.

Essentially every important topic including Spectral-line Redshift-to-Distance correlation, Spectral line Redshift meaning Universe expansion / stretching, Tired Light, CMR as background, galaxy rotation needing dark matter, accelerating Universe expansion, nucleosynthesis, Olber's Paradox, supernova rise and fall curves.

None. Essentially every phenomena in cosmology (not astrophysics) is disputed. Perhaps the only phenomena that is generally agreed to is that Spectral line Redshift can sometimes (not always, e.g. Quasars) be used as a rough distance, not velocity, indicator.

Semmelweis Reflex

This battle led to the emergence of "evidence based medicine." (Though Bloodletting remained in mainstream Medicine until 1923)

Shapiro Gravitational Time Delay Effect

Space

2. The abstract concept of volume typically used to geometrically define physical locations and characteristics in three physical dimensions typically Euclidean space. It is used with many coordinate systems, most commonly Cartesian which uses x, y and z. This can easily be considered an Inertial Reference Frame. Similar to Newton's Absolute Space and Relative Space.

Big Bang proponents often use these two mutually-exclusive and contradictory ideas interchangeably. Big Bang models are uniformly unclear about which of these two definitions are used for Expansion conjecture: physical space or abstract space? Whether one refers to expansion of a physical volume or the coordinate system itself is a critical distinction. The failure to define this key term is a primary reason Big Bang is not yet a scientific claim.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Space

Space, Closed

Closed Space is a self-canceling phrase combining two otherwise legitimate ideas which directly contradict each other - with no physical explanation or evidence; an extreme conjecture. It is an excellent example of a violation of the second rule of a scientific hypothesis that it may not be "internally inconsistent."

Space, Curved

(No direct experimental evidence)

The conjecture that space has curvature, either positive (emerging from Einstein's General Relativity equations) or negative (that has no claimed basis). Unstated is the necessary implication that if space is curved, it must have an edge. There may be math models, but there is no physical example of a complete negatively-curved object or universe.

This is an example of a mathematics idea that has no evidence of a corresponding physical reality.

Space, Euclidean

Space-Time

A term for a set of General Relativity mathematics models which combine time with the three dimensions of volume to simplify some physics models.

It might be easier to understand this math as "Gravity-Time" since it actually deals with a force (Gravity) and Space has no forces of its own.

Most science experiments separate phenomena to examine them individually. Space-Time and Grand Unification ideas do the opposite - they generalize by combining ideas.

Spectral Lines (Emission and Absorption lines)

Absorption lines are caused by the photons going through gas or plasma clouds. If a photon has gone through many neutral Hydrogen gas clouds it has a whole set of adjacent absorption lines called a "Lyman Alpha Forest."

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#Spectralines

Spherical Cow

Standard Candle (distance measure)

Astronomical objects / phenomena used to measure the largest distances. Cepheid Variable stars, type 1a Supernovas, and even Gamma Ray Bursts have been used as standard candles. Phenomena are only used when they can be shown to have fairly reliable characteristics - independent of distance and age. However, see "Margin of Error."

Superclusters

A concentration of galaxies; large groups of smaller galaxy groups. The Shapley Supercluster is the largest one we recognize situated about 600-650 million light years from us.

Superluminal

Forbidden by Special Realtivity, yet several astrophysical phenomena, including Jets from Blazars, appear to be exceeding the light "speed limit," some almost ten times the speed of light. Big Bang's Expansion conjecture admits to exceeding light speed. Separately, Inflation claims to have exceeded the speed of light by many magnitudes. An astrophysicist who worked on the GPS satellite system provided evidence and rationale that gravity travels much faster than light.

Supernova Rise and Decay Curves

(Supernova is abbreviated as "SN")

There are three types of Supernovae. Type 1a Supernovas are used for measuring sticks or "Standard Candles." The graph of visible light increase and decrease over the few weeks as a Supernova 1a explodes are curves used to estimate distances at the farthest visible reaches of our Universe. Comparing "close" and distant supernova curves gives us some (wildly conflicting) interpretations of cosmology.

Supernova lifespan appears to increase with distance indicating space is stretching / expanding.

Tensor

A math tool to describe and handle a multidimensional field of points (like a magnetic field) through transformations such as during rotation or change of geometry. Composed of an array of numbers or functions that describe as many properties of each point in a physical system as you need.

Tired Light or Photon Decay

The hypothesis that Spectral line Redshift is caused by photons of light / radiation losing energy (wavelengths grow) in a linear fashion while traveling for millions to billions of years through space and having experienced thousands to trillions of particle interactions with matter (plasma, gas and dust) along the way.

A roughly linear increase in Spectral line Redshift (as opposed to some other function e.g. square or cube) proportional to distance is observed, though there are credible reports that some redshift values occur as multiples of a set number - more often that expected.

There is abundant strong experimental evidence that Spectral line Redshift is caused by multiple phenomena other than recession velocity or Universe expansion including observations of: Binary stars with differing redshifts, and our own Sun's solar center to limb redshift.

This is the leading concept undermining galaxy recession, Universe expansion and Big Bang. Tired Light was originally proposed by Fritz Zwicky in 1929 and supported by Edwin Hubble.

Uncertainty

There are at least Three Types of Uncertainty ⁽⁵⁾

1. "Phenomena Variability (or Process) Uncertainty" arises from natural variability of the phenomena. e.g. planets do not keep the same orbits.
2. "Measurement or Observational Uncertainty" arises from measurement and sampling errors. For example repeatedly measuring a building height and comparing the data may show different results. (Phenomena Variability and Measurement Uncertainty are compound errors so must be multiplied to establish their total uncertainty.)
3. "Model Uncertainty" reflects incomplete knowledge. For example ecological processes and galaxy forming processes are so complicated, have so many variables, that no one understands them fully and some variables are simply left out. This means the parameters for computer models are estimated from observed data leaving "estimation uncertainty."

Precision? When distances to distant phenomena were consistent to within 10 percent one cosmologist declared that we are in a new era of "Precision Cosmology." See Uncertainty.

Link directly to this definition -- http://www.CosmologyScience.com/glossary.htm#ErrorMargin

Uncertainty (or Indeterminate) Principle, Heisenberg's

The hypothesis that there is a limit to knowledge or information about a particle's location or speed. Its actually an inverse relationship - the more precisely you can measure one (location or speed) - the less precisely you can know the other.

(This is only amusingly related to the Hyper-Certainty Principle.)

Universe

Everything. All matter, forces, energy, space, and time.

Vacuum / Quantum Fluctuations, Virtual Particles

(No direct experimental evidence)

The conjecture that matter pops into and out of existence (in an untestably short amount of time - less than 10 to the minus 43^rd of a second) without anything converted from or to energy. This violates the fundamental law of physics of energy and mass conservation ("but only for short times").

This conjecture is sometimes wrongly called "Theory of virtual particles" - when it is not a 'theory' or even a hypothesis.

Some interpret Casimir Effect and Lamb Shift as support for this conjecture.

Both Expanding Universe models, Big Bang and Steady-State, claim this effect, Static Universe models do not.

Verification and Falsifiability

Verification means a hypothesis can repeatedly pass a test - under explicit conditions. Verification is not the same as falsifiability. Falsifiability means a claim can fail a test.

Verification is one of the fundamental parts of modern science. Until it is tested and verified, a hypothesis is highly suspect. The origin and reason for a hypothesis is irrelevant or meaningless, the only thing that gives it real value is independent verification.

The next step is Falsifiability. Can the claim be shown to fail a test?

Voids or Bubbles (and Supervoids)

Large volumes of physical space with very few or no luminous galaxies. Voids do contain a significant percent of the universe's gas, plasma and dust The largest studied void is about 3.5 billion light years across.

Virial Theorem

A math tool to calculate the Kinetic Energy of a number of particles in a stable system.

Walls

Walls are Filaments (the largest structures) which are significantly (that's ambiguous) larger along their largest axis than their second largest axis. The largest reported is the "Sloan Great Wall" at about 1.4 Billion light years long.

(1) "Humor" inspired by Tony Darnell at Deep Astronomy.com (He gets the credit, I get the blame.)

David Dilworth is one of only a handful of lifetime members of the organization Committee for Scientific Inquiry (formerly known as CSICOP).

His 2009 paper "Ground Rules for Cosmological Physics" was published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in the 2008 Cosmology Conference "CCC2" Proceedings.

| Home | Overview | References | News | Blog |