Non-standard cosmology

Scientific Theory
Name	Non-standard cosmology
Type	Umbrella term for cosmological models outside the mainstream consensus
Author(s)	Many — see the models and researchers listed below
Keywords	cosmology, Big Bang, steady state, plasma cosmology, electric universe, redshift, non-expanding universe

Non-standard cosmology is the umbrella term for any model of the universe proposed as an alternative to the prevailing consensus — today the Lambda-CDM model, in which the universe began in a Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago and is composed largely of dark matter and dark energy.

The label is relative rather than absolute: it marks only what departs from the current consensus, and the consensus itself shifts. A non-zero cosmological constant was non-standard in 1990 and is orthodox today. On this wiki the term covers the substantial and continuing research tradition that regards the standard model as resting on contestable interpretations — above all the assumption that redshift measures distance and recession — and that seeks better-founded alternatives.

Why the standard model is disputed

The critical case is set out in detail elsewhere on this wiki rather than repeated here. The central lines of objection are:

• Redshift may not measure distance. The expansion of the universe is inferred from the redshift–distance relation. If redshift is produced wholly or partly by other processes, that inference fails. See Redshift and Intrinsic redshift.
• Discordant associations. Objects of very different redshift appear physically connected, most famously in the work of Halton C Arp. See Quasar.
• Quantized redshifts. Redshifts cluster at preferred values rather than varying continuously, which is difficult to reconcile with a simple velocity distribution. See Redshift quantization.
• Reliance on unobserved components. Dark matter and dark energy together account for most of the mass-energy of the standard model, yet neither has been detected directly.

A fuller catalogue of objections — covering the microwave background, the singularity and inflation, fine-tuning, and age paradoxes — is collected at Big Bang § Criticisms.

Alternative models documented here

• Plasma Cosmology — the tradition of Hannes Alfvén and Anthony Peratt, in which electromagnetic forces and plasma dynamics, rather than gravity alone, shape cosmic structure.
• Electric Universe — a related programme emphasising electric currents in space, associated with Wallace Thornhill and David Talbott.
• Steady state and quasi-steady state — the Hoyle–Bondi–Gold model of continuous matter creation in an unchanging universe, later developed by Hoyle, Burbidge and Jayant Narlikar as the quasi-steady-state cosmology.
• Non-expanding and infinite universe models — see An Infinite Non-Expanding Universe in Dynamic Equilibrium, Nature of the Non-Expanding Universe, and the work of Paul Marmet.
• Tired-light and photon-energy-loss cosmologies — including Ashmore's New Tired Light and Brynjolfsson's plasma redshift; see Tired Light.
• Autodynamics — Ricardo Carezani's replacement for special relativity, with cosmological consequences.

On this wiki

Several thousand papers and biographies bearing on cosmology are catalogued here; see Category:Cosmology. Researchers with pages include Halton C Arp, Paul Marmet, Ari Brynjolfsson, John W Kierein, Amitabha Ghosh, Lyndon E Ashmore and many others.

See also

• Big Bang
• Redshift
• Intrinsic redshift
• Quasar
• Plasma Cosmology
• Electric Universe
• Category: Cosmology