a different view on cosmic redshift

A different view on Cosmic Redshift

Wolfgang HEBEL *

Light or photons propagate in straight line as rays from the source to the receptor in accordance with the theory of quantum electrodynamics established by Richard Feynman. The present study expounds that celestial bodies interact with cosmic rays by causing redshift, which resembles the traditional Doppler shift. However, such different redshift process does not request the Universe to expand.


Traditional theory of cosmic redshift
In 1929, Edwin HUBBLE discovered that light from cosmic stars exhibits longer wavelengths or reduced frequencies than that from similar radiation sources on Earth. All specific frequency lines in the electromagnetic spectrum of distant cosmic radiation sources appeared shifted towards the red end of the visible spectrum. His discovery therefore was called astronomic redshift defined by the redshift ratio
z = Dl / lo (1)
Of which Δl represent the elongation of a specific wavelength and lo the original wavelength of emission at the source. Frequency (n) and wavelength (λ) of the radiation are correlated by the velocity of light (c) c = n x l (2).
Right from the beginning, the astronomic redshift was attributed to the well-known Doppler Effect of wave propagation, manifest when source and receiver of waves mo[1]ve relative to each other. HUBBLE’s discovery, therefore, proved as it were that our Universe was expanding and all stars and galaxies moved apart and away from Earth. Their apparent recession velocity in radial direction away from Earth was determined according to the Doppler Effect at n / no = (1-v/c) (3)
n representing one specific frequency of the arriving light, no the corresponding frequency of emission at the source, v the recession velocity of the source and c the velocity of light in vacuum. Simultaneously, HUBBLE discovered that the apparent recession velocity of cosmic sources increases proportionally to their distance (r) from Earth,
v = H x r (4)
H representing the famous HUBBLE constant, which currently is estimated at about 70 km/s per megaparsec or per 3.26 million light-years. HUBBLE’s discoveries soon led to our current view of the Universe, assuming that it originated from a gigantic explosion, the Big Bang, which happened spontaneously out of a tiny egg of unimaginable high temperature followed up by adiabatic expansion and the condensation of matter while cooling down. Apparently, this expansion process is still going on today. According to HUBBLE’s law, the escape velocity of an extremely distant galaxy can ultimately gain light-velocity, meaning its redshift ratio equals one. Physically of course, this is impossible. However, redshift ratios of z=5 and z=7 have been observed in recent years showing supernova explosions apparently further away from Earth than the postulated age of the Universe (~14 billion light-years). In addition, as well known, various other inconsistencies jeopardize the Big Bang view and many a scientist therefore questions it.

Alternative redshift thesis
Richard FEYNMAN received the Nobel Prize of physics in 1965, for his pioneering studies on quantum electro-dynamics, explaining the interactions of light (photons) with matter. In his book published in 1985 [2], he also describes the mechanism of linear propagation of light. He shows that photons emitted by a radiation source have then the best chance of arriving at a given receptor when they move straight and in close company from the source to the receptor, i.e. when they travel this distance within the shortest possible time. All other photons taking different and longer paths need more time and are of no consequence.
A ray of photons leaving a cosmic radiation source will strike innumerable celestial bodies while propagating in straight line through the Universe before arriving on Earth. Such bodies like stars, planets, comets, meteorites, grains, etc. are swirling around in the Universe at typical velocities of some hundred kilometers per second. When they cross a given ray of photons, this ray will shortly be cut off and all photons hitting the body will be completely removed from the stream independent of their individual energy or frequency. The photons following thereafter move further and after countless interruptions, only the remaining photons will arrive with the observer on Earth. He will remark that all typical spectral lines of this ray of photons exhibit lower frequencies than ordinary, because the knocked-out photons did not show up in time. Such ray has lost a good deal of its original photons, showing a redshift ratio, which is proportional to its traveling distance through the Universe. In other words, the described redshift mechanism fully acknowledges the great significance of HUBBLE’s discovery, namely that the redshift ratio indicates how far a cosmic radiation source is from Earth.
In addition, HUBBLE’s law still discloses another context. When replacing in equation (4) the recession velocity v by the product zxc, i.e. by a fraction of the ultimate velocity of light, an interesting correlation becomes apparent: z = H/c x r (5)
The constant factor H/c can be interpreted as a modified HUBBLE constant, H*, which amounts to 0,00023 per megaparsec or 0.00007 per million light-years. This modified constant represents the loss of photons suffered by a cosmic ray that has traveled one megaparsec through the Universe. It is a very small loss of photons over such big distance, demonstrating our experience that the Universe is largely empty of solid matter. The reciprocal of the modified HUBBLE constant i.e. 1/0.00007 gives 14 billion light-years, in accordance with the postulated age of our Universe following the traditional theory. However, in this case the meaning is different showing namely that ordinary cosmic light cannot penetrate further through the Universe than 14 billion light-years. All photons directed from an ordinary cosmic radiation source toward the Earth got lost due to absorption by celestial solid matter. We usually cannot look deeper into the Universe than this distance, corresponding theoretically to the redshift ratio of unity. However, what about those bigger redshift ratios of z=5 or even z=7, which have been observed in recent time?

We know from nuclear physics that energetic radiation penetrating through a shielding medium will be absorbed according to the general correlation E = Eo x e-m r (6)
E representing the radiation energy behind the shielding medium, Eo the energy of emission at the source, m the absorption coefficient of the medium and r the traveling distance through the medium. In the present case, it makes sense to regard the modified HUBBLE constant H* as a cosmic photon absorption coefficient and r as traveling distance of a light ray through the Universe. The energy of photons emitted by a heat source corresponds to the well-known equation
E = k x T (7)
of which T represents the surface temperature of the source and k the BOLTZMANN constant. On the other hand, the energy of photons corresponds to PLANCK’s equation
E = h x n (8)
of which h is the PLANCK constant and n the frequency of the photons. From equations (6), (7), and (8) follow the correlations n/no=T/To and E / Eo = e-H* r (9)
Referring to the previous equations (1) and (2), one finds that the cosmic redshift ratio correlates to z = e H* r – 1 (10)
The distance of a cosmic radiation source can thus be estimated from its redshift ratio according to r = 1/H* x ln (z + 1) (11)
in which H*= 0.00007 per million light-year. For a redshift ratio of z=1, for instance, one finds 9.9 billion light-years and for z=5, the distance is 25.6 billion light-years.

Conclusion
In contrast to the traditional redshift theory, the present different view on cosmic redshift indicates no theoretical upper limit of z and the Universe shows no restricted age.
Referring to the aforementioned equations, the redshift ratio also correlates to z = To/T – 1 (12)
i.e. to the ratio between the surface temperature of a cosmic radiation source, To, and its apparent temperature, T, observed on Earth. The light from a remote galaxy cluster at an ordinary surface temperature of about 5800°K as our sun would show the apparent temperature of 970°K on Earth, when arriving from a cosmic distance of z=5 or r=25.6 billion light-years. Such radiation source, of which most of the photons got lost on the way to Earth, would be invisible to ordinary optical telescopes. However, cosmic radiation sources of much higher surface temperatures or bigger emission energy like supernova explosions would still be visible over such extraordinary distances, which largely exceed the postulated age of our Universe according to the Big-Bang hypothesis.
In contrast to the traditional theory of cosmic redshift, the present different view does not present any difficulty on principle to explain such observations. In addition, this view still offers another interesting perspective, namely, that the well-known cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) may be interpreted as the thermodynamic radiation background of a Universe without frontiers. Because this ubiquitous radiation noise suggests, that many more radiation sources still exist in the remote Universe far beyond the practical limits of detecting individual sources.











R e f e r e n c e s :

[1] Paul Davies: The New Physics
Cambridge University Press, New York, 1989
[2] Richard P. Feynman: “QED – The Strange Theory of Light and Matter”
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1985
[3] Craig J. Hogan: Revolution in Cosmology
Scientific American, p. 27-49, January 1999
[4] Ann Finkbeiner (ed): Seeing the Universe’s red dawn
SCIENCE, p. 392, 16 Oct. 1998
[5] Floyd E. Bloom: Breakthroughs 1998
SCIENCE, p. 2193, 18 Dec. 1998
[6] Wolfgang Hebel: The Mystery of Life – Does Science hold the Key?
German University Press (GUP), Baden-Baden, 2007




* Email: wolfgang.hebel@telenet.be Brussels, July 2008