Science
Related: About this forumStudy finds possible alternative explanation for dark energy
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As the universe gets larger, cosmological objects, such as galaxies, move more rapidly away from each other in a process known as Hubble expansion. The Absolute Lorentz Transformation indicates that increased velocities induce directional time dilation. Applying this to the increased velocities associated with Hubble expansion in the present universe suggests a scenario in which the present experiences time dilation relative to the past. The passage of time would therefore be slower in the present and faster in the past.
Supernovas that explode with the same intensity are used as "standard candles" to measure cosmological distances based on how bright they appear. Supernovas that are relatively close to the Earth line up on a plot of distance (based on the redshift of light) and brightness. However, in 1998 and 1999, the observation that supernovas at greater distances are fainter than would be expected provided evidence that the rate of universe expansion has accelerated recently.
"The accelerated expansion of the universe has been attributed to the effects of dark energy," Kipreos said. "However, there is no understanding of what dark energy is or why it has manifested only recently.
"The predicted effects of time being faster in the past would have the effect of making the plot of supernovas become linear at all distances, which would imply that there is no acceleration in the expansion of the universe. In this scenario there would be no necessity to invoke the existence of dark energy."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-12-alternative-explanation-dark-energy.html#jCp
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Makes me wish I had applied myself to the higher mathematical arts in school, instead of just practicing attempts at multiplication.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I have no basis for that, it's just sort of a hunch.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)caraher
(6,278 posts)The author is a geneticist, the journal editor is at a medical school...
The interesting and perhaps correct idea is that hypothesizing an absolute reference frame may explain away the mystery of dark energy. The cost is that it requires adopting a huge array of ad hoc explanations of other phenomena that are much better-studied that standard relativity theories handle quite naturally.
It's an idea worth putting out there, but I'd bet pretty heavily against this being correct.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)The idea of a universal reference-frame is very interesting.
Satellite and Earth have velocities relative to each other, but the satellite has momentum and experiences time-dilation whereas Earth has no momentum and experiences no time-dilation. That means, there has to be some kind of universal reference-frame to measure momentum, right?
caraher
(6,278 posts)... you probably need to measure relative to some kind of center-of-mass. At least, it seems the flavor of his argument was that if you're looking at something like the tests of relativity involving atomic clocks and satellites, the preferred reference frame is basically tied to Earth.
But there are so many motions to consider - Earth's orbital motion about the Sun, the Sun about the galaxy, the galaxy relative to the Local Group, etc. It seems like you could get VERY different results depending on how you define your system, in ways that seem unlikely to be physically or even logically consistent...
I agree, it's weird.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)it claims to "solve" a mystery with a high profile in layman circles, but ignores the much larger number of problems it fails to solve that existing theories model well.