“The time has come”, the Walrus said, “to talk of many things…”

Lewis Carroll

Preface: A Working Definition

Science is the open-ended investigation into the nature of physical reality employing the complimentary probes of empiricism and logic.

Empiricism in this context refers to the acquisition of direct empirical observations, detections and measurements. Logic is a human analytical tool used to evaluate and order empirically gained knowledge. Mathematics is a subset of logic. All uses of the term science in this document or any other original posting on this site are to be understood in light of this definition.

The Island Universe Framework

• Strong Relativity Theory –  the vast Cosmos we observe is not a singular, unified, coherent entity. Rather it is recognized as a vast collection of only partially overlapping matter-energy systems, inherently unknowable in extent, which does not comprise a unitary system in any physically meaningful sense. It follows that the cosmos cannot be successfully quantified as a unified system. In keeping with a fundamental tenet of Relativity Theory, all reference frames are local and there does not and cannot exist a universal reference frame with any physical meaning. 
• Complementary Reference Frames – there are two distinct and complementary types of reference frame necessary when attempting to accurately model physical reality: 

1. The three spatial dimension (3D) frame of matter.
2. The four spatial dimension (4D) frame of electromagnetic radiation.

• Galaxy Formation – takes place in the manner suggested by the astronomer Halton Arp’s observations of active galaxy/quasar associations. Quasars are nascent galaxies emitted from Active Galaxy Nuclei. Quasars mature into active galaxies.
• The Speed Of Light – varies with position in a gravitational field.

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The Island Universe Model: Structure

I. Definitions: The Fundamental States

1. The cosmos has two fundamental states, matter, and energy.
2. Matter is 3-dimensionally localized and has rest mass.
3. Energy is 4-dimensionally non-local, electromagnetic radiation.
4. Energy is produced by matter.
5. Matter is formed of energy.

II. Gravity

1. Surrounding any 3D-local gravitating body there is an electromagnetic radiation density gradient.
2. That gradient is the cause of the observed gravitational effects commonly attributed to an undetectable gravitational field.
3. On the cosmological scale the only thing that separates material bodies is electromagnetic radiation.
4. Everywhere there is no matter there is electromagnetic radiation
5. Two material bodies produce a gravitational-attraction effect by each locally curving nearby passing radiation onto their respective surfaces which is the well known behavior of light in any transparent medium with a density gradient. That inflow is part of the density gradient

III. The Variable Speed Of Light

1. Rest mass (m) is the measure of the energy (E) constrained in a unit of matter (M), such that E/M=(m/M)c².*
2. c² is the omnidirectional accelerating rate of expansion of an expanding spherical wavefront of light.
3. In accord with The General Theory of Relativity, c, the speed of light in vacuo, varies with position in a gravitational field.**
4. As the speed of light diminishes in a collapsing gravitational well, the mass per unit matter is reduced by the release of energy, in accord with E/m=c².
5. Gravitational collapse is self-limiting.
6. Quasars are the end-product of gravitational collapse.
7. Quasars are not at their redshift-inferred distance.

IV. Galaxies

1. Quasars are nascent galaxies ejected from fully-formed AGN galaxies.
2. Galaxies emit omnidirectionally expanding spherical wavefronts of light.
3. An expanding spherical wavefront of light is gravitationally redshifted by all the mass enclosed within its circumference at any given radius.
4. Galaxies absorb energy omnidirectionally from all the radiating sources within range.
5. Galaxies can be thought of as cosmological fountain-drain systems.

V. The Cosmos

1. The extent of the Cosmos is unknown and almost certainly unknowable.
2. The Cosmos is not simultaneously observable, neither by 3-dimensional observers, nor by the Cosmos itself.
3. The Cosmos does not have a universal frame, a universal age, or a universally verifiable extent.
4. The Cosmos is not a unified, coherent, simultaneously existing entity. The Cosmos we observe is not a Universe, it is a Multiverse. Individual galaxies are Universes.

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* This trivial reformulation of the standard equation E=mc², serves only to make clear that any standard unit of matter, such as an electron or proton, must have a variable mass in a gravitational field, where the speed of light varies with position.

** The following quote is from, Relativity The Special And The General Theory, 15th edition, 1952 (English translation 1954).

… our result shows that, according to the general theory of relativity, the law of the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo, which constitutes one of the two fundamental assumptions in the special theory of relativity and to which we have already frequently referred, cannot claim any unlimited validity. A curvature of rays of light can only take place when the velocity of propagation of light varies with position. Now we might think that as a consequence of this, the special theory of relativity and with it the whole theory of relativity would be laid in the dust. But in reality this is not the case. We can only conclude that the special theory of relativity cannot claim an unlimited domain of validity: its results hold only so long as we are able to disregard the influences of gravitational fields on the phenomena (e.g. of light).

— Albert Einstein

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The Island Universe Model: A Discussion

In criticizing the standard cosmological model, a common rejoinder of the model’s defenders is to demand of the critic an alternative cosmological model. In a discussion of the standard model’s shortcomings, of course, this is nothing but a transparent attempt to change the subject. As an argumentative technique it is a sign of bad-faith and desperation.

Setting aside the discussion of the standard model’s failures however, it is fair to ask what an alternative model might look like. Island Universe Cosmology is an attempt to sketch an outline of such a cosmological model in qualitative terms. The purpose of insisting on a qualitative model as a first approximation of the Cosmos is simply to avoid the flights of mathematical fantasy that are one of the main causes of the current model’s manifest failures.

The fundamental requirement of this new cosmology, the Island Universe Model, is that all of its physical features and relationships must rest firmly on observations and measurements, which is to say that the physical structure implied by the model must be subject to empirical verification. The Island Universe Model is not so much a fixed model as an approach to modeling the cosmos that insists on the primacy of the scientific method. Empiricism is understood to lie at the heart of the scientific method.

The Cosmos is a Multiverse

There is no more fundamental consequence of Einstein’s Relativity Theory than the absence of a universal reference frame. There is no more fundamental error in modern cosmology than the failure to incorporate that consequence into its standard cosmological model.

In 1921 the Russian mathematician Alexander Friedmann solved the field equations of General Relativity for what is now called the FLRW metric. That metric was in essence a universal frame. The result, the FLRW equations, are the foundation of all modern cosmological models, and they are essentially self-contradictory – a relativistic solution to a universal framework. All the incoherence of the standard model can be traced to this fundamental error. The Cosmos is relativistic; the standard model is not – it has a universal (classical) frame.

The commonly held concept of “Universe” is inherently classical in nature. Everything we have learned about the nature of physical reality since the advent of Relativity Theory argues against the “Universe” concept. The “Universe” has a singular framework which encompasses all of physical reality, yet our observations do not and cannot encompass the human concept of “all of physical reality.”

The speed of light has a finite maximum, 3×10⁸ meters per second, which inherently limits the ability of 3-dimensionally located observers such as ourselves to acquire simultaneous knowledge of the entirety of the Cosmos. This limitation is a fundamental characteristic of physical reality; it is not a technological limitation. The conceit of modern cosmologists that they have knowledge of the current state of the “Universe” is simply delusional. In physical reality such knowledge not only cannot be acquired, it does not exist.

Upon careful reflection it is obvious that in the IUM, the extent of the field of galaxies is unknowable. Consider a distant galaxy at the edge of our observable universe. An observer in that distant galaxy would see our galaxy at the edge of its observable universe.

Here we make a simple but reasonable assumption that the observable universe of the distant observer is much like our own, meaning that the observer could turn its gaze 180° and find another galaxy at the opposite edge of its observable universe. That third galaxy would lie far beyond the outer edge of our observable universe and an observer there would have an even more distant view outward away from our direction.

Knowledge of the Cosmos is also limited by the existence of the cosmological redshift which implies that given a sufficiently large Cosmos, it’s full extent is inherently unknowable. The redshift limits the range of light on cosmological scales. Regardless of the redshift mechanism, the energy of light will eventually reach equilibrium with the Cosmic Microwave Radiation at which point it will no longer contain any unique information about its source. From any 3-dimensional location the full extent of the Cosmos cannot be known. The very concept of the “full extent of the Cosmos” is essentially meaningless.

The extent of the field of galaxies in the IUM is inherently unknowable as is the extent of the four dimensional timeless sea of electromagnetic radiation against which the galaxies play out their time-bound three dimensional lives.

Modern cosmologists believe that their simplistic, classical model provides them with information about a “Universe” that does not exist. That “Universe” does not exist because it has no basis in standard physics. It is the modern day equivalent of the mythological realms of antiquity.

The Cosmos we observe is best described using Light Cone analysis. In that context the hard limitation imposed by the light-speed-maximum is readily visualized. In the Cosmos we observe, “here and now” is always a local condition. While the speed of light appears to be almost instantaneous in our Earth-bound local frame, on the currently observed scale of the Cosmos it requires more than 10 billion years for light to reach us from the most distant observed galaxies. Even our nearest galactic neighbor Andromeda (pictured at the top of the page) requires 2.5 million years for its light to reach us. On cosmological scales the maximum speed of light isn’t all that fast.

As a consequence of that maximum light speed limitation we do not have and cannot have any knowledge of the simultaneously existing state of Andromeda or of any other observed galaxy or of the Cosmos “as a whole”. That in turn means that there is no physical meaning to the modern cosmologist’s conception of a simultaneity existing “Universe”.

Our universe, in the sense of our unique view of the Cosmos is no more physically meaningful than the simple fact that it represents all we can know of the Cosmos. We are at the center of “our universe” and it follows that Andromeda is at the center of its own unique “universe” and “Andromeda’s universe” only partially and non-simultaneously overlaps with “our universe”. The same applies to every galaxy we observe. The galaxies are as the early astronomers intuited, Island Universes.

The Cosmos we observe is our unique view of a vast, notional collection of non-simultaneously existing Island Universes; the Cosmos we observe is a Multiverse. That Multiverse is not simultaneously accessible from any 3-dimensional “here and now” location. At the largest scales the Cosmos is unknowable because it is only observable as a 2.7K haze. The Cosmos we observe is a mystery, a “here and now” wrapped in the partially-known, surrounded by the unknowable.

Quasars, Galaxies & the Variable Speed of Light

In the IUM, the fundamental unit of the cosmos is the galaxy. All galaxies are at the center of their individual observable universes which is to say that every galaxy is possessed of its own individual reference frame. This is in keeping with a fundamental feature of basic relativity theory, the absence of a universal reference frame.

In the Island Universe Framework, galaxies are the fundamental unit of creation across the Cosmos. Unlike the Big Bang, the singular creation event of the standard model, creation events are distributed widely and non-simultaneously in the IU framework. The Cosmos of the IU framework consists of an ongoing process of multiple creation events. Quasars, in this model, are nascent galaxies born of fully-formed AGN galaxies. This is based on and consistent with the considerable observational evidence developed by the late astronomer Halton Arp and others.

Quasars in the IUM are the consequence of gravitational collapse. This is entirely consistent with General Relativity. The so-called Black Hole account of gravitational collapse arises only when one of GR’s principal predictions – the variability of light speed in a gravitational field – is ignored. Since this variability is an empirically observed phenomenon, there is neither observational nor theoretical justification for the Black Hole model with its metaphysical, scientifically absurd singularity.

According to GR the speed of light varies inversely with the strength of the gravitational field. This relationship, typical of relativistic phenomena, is nonlinear. The effect becomes significant in steep gravitational wells such as in the case of gravitational collapse. As the speed of light diminishes in a gravitational collapse it necessitates the release of energy according to the well known relationship E=mc², or more obviously E/m=c². As the speed of light diminishes in a gravitational collapse the matter comprising the gravitating object sheds energy, reducing its mass, and counteracting the collapse.

Gravitational collapse is, as a consequence, self-limiting. The expected result then is a compact, massive object emitting copious amounts of electromagnetic radiation. Given the gravitational nature of such a resulting object it should also have a significant intrinsic gravitational redshift. The foregoing considerations are consistent with quasar observations and their association with lower redshift active galaxies.

Cosmological Redshift and the Cosmic Microwave Radiation

The Island Universe Model of the cosmos requires a mechanism to account for the cosmological redshift. That mechanism is provided by employing standard light cone analysis to the light emitted by galaxies and augmenting that analysis with the well-known phenomena of entanglement and standard gravitational theory.

This results in a redshift-distance relationship caused by a relativistic gravitational effect on an Expanding Spherical Wavefront of light emitted by a galaxy. The term relativistic in this context refers to the fact that the gravitational effect on the wavefront is relative only to the particular ESW under consideration. This gravitational effect can be attributed to the direct interaction between the ESW and all of the matter enclosed within it.

In the IUM then, we consider an ESW of emitted light surrounding a galaxy. At large cosmological distances (>100 million light years), a galaxy can be considered a point source. We can also consider that all of the photons (wave quanta) that comprise this spherical wavefront are entangled via the same mechanism that underlies all entanglement phenomena – they share a common 4-dimensional origin and framework. This means the wavefront essentially constitutes a simultaneity – all the wave quanta (photons) of the wavefront are simultaneously connected to each other.

A calculation can then be performed using the standard GR formula for gravitational redshift, applying it to the surface area of the expanding sphere at any cosmologically significant distance, using for a mass term all of the matter contained within the sphere

It follows then that any number of years after the original calculation, say one billion, another calculation can be made for the redshift of the same expanding spherical wavefront, now 1 billion light-years in radius and employing the mass density of the enclosed sphere to determine the total mass contribution. The result is a redshift correlated with distance.

As in all large scale systems beyond the solar-system, General Relativity has to be implemented in a more complex physical model than the standard GR math is designed for.  For the purposes of this paper however we can set the GR problem aside and state that it has been established that the IUM using light cone analysis, entanglement and some corrected form of large scale gravity, can account for a cosmological redshift without invoking a universal expansion.

At large distances the results so calculated will be unlikely to agree with observation but not because the general methodology employed is wrong. It is rather that the GR equation being employed does not capture the nature of the underlying physical mechanism that produces the redshift on the scale at which it is being used.

What the GR formalism misses is that an expanding spherical wavefront becomes tattered in the expansion process. Parts of the wavefront are absorbed as it encounters intervening galaxies, producing holes that expand with the wavefront. This slow puncturing of the wavefront can be interpreted as the main cause of the cosmological redshift. The total energy of the wavefront is being depleted by these encounters, as indicated by the redshift of the remaining simultaneously interconnected photons of the wavefront.

At large cosmological distances however, the cumulative effect of this process diminishes as the expanding holes of the wavefront swallow subsequent galaxies without causing any direct energy depletion. The gravitational effect should begin to tail off.

The same line of reasoning also leads directly to an explanation of the cosmic microwave radiation (CMR). Each successive, expanding, spherical wavefront of light eventually reaches the blackbody equilibrium state that was successfully predicted by thermodynamic considerations prior to its observation in 1965 at the observed 2.7K temperature. The predictions of Big Bang theorists, by comparison, ranged over an order of magnitude (5-50K) prior to detection, and that range did not encompass the actual observation.

In the Island Universe Model the only things expanding are the expanding spherical wavefronts of light emitted by all omnidirectional emitters throughout the Cosmos. The expanding universe model of standard cosmology misinterprets that physical phenomenon as the expansion of an imaginary universe.

Gravity and Dimensions

The recognition of the 4/3 dimensional ratio is fundamental to the IUM. In the model, gravity is not a force but an effect of that 4/3 ratio. Three dimensional matter is surrounded by the four dimensional dis-continuum of the Ambient Cosmic Electromagnetic Radiation that permeates the cosmos everywhere there is no matter (mass).

Here the term dis-continuum is used to emphasize the fact that the ACER is quantized, not continuous, which differentiates it from modern cosmology’s imaginary spacetime continuum. The ACER can also be considered the source of the inertial effect that is common to all 3D material bodies.

Gravity has to be re-conceived as a direct interaction between three-dimensional matter and four-dimensional ElectroMagnetic Radiation. Surrounding every 3D material body on classical and cosmological scales is a Radiation Density Gradient. That gradient consists at minimum of the EMR emitted by a passive re-radiator in thermodynamic equilibrium with the ACER. An active emitter such as a star or galaxy would have a significantly larger density gradient. In both cases, the RDG would fall off as 1/r², which is consistent with the gravitational effect.

The gravitational effect of a gravitating body is caused by the RDG surrounding it which curves passing EMR onto the gravitating body. The gravitational effect is local to the material object and cosmologically short range. It is not a force field. In the absence of a nearby gravitating body the RDG is part of the omnidirectional inertial effect. The apparent gravitational “force” between two objects in relative proximity is the combined effect of their individually local absorption, of the ACER and of any locally emitted EMR that separates them.

When two material objects are in close proximity there is a shadow area between them. When the ACER traverses that area, the section within the shadow area is truncated at both ends by direct absorption at the two masses and also shortened as parts of the passing ACER, in close proximity to both masses, are curved inward toward the respective centers of mass. Summed over all the incoming electromagnetic wavefronts traversing the shadow, this is what constitutes gravitational attraction – a shortening of the distance between the two masses by the RDG induced curvature of the nearby passing ACER onto the gravitating bodies at either end of their separation.

The Dark Matter Error

There is a categorical error at the heart of the Dark Matter misconception that bedevils the standard model. The standard gravitational models derived by Newton and Einstein in the context of the solar system are misapplied at the scale of galaxies and galaxy clusters by treating galaxies as point masses for calculational purposes. This is fundamentally incorrect.

To a reasonable first approximation the point mass simplification works well in the context of the solar system. It does not however, work at all on larger and more complex systems such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. This is evident by the necessity of invoking a non-existent, featureless entity referred to as Dark Matter to correct the standard mathematical calculations employing point mass approximations.

Matter and Energy – Space and Time

The absence of a causally interacting ‘space’ in the Island Universe Model is simply in keeping with empirical reality. The existence of an empty ‘space’ container in which matter and energy exist has no empirical foundation and therefore has no place in a scientific theory.

What separates material objects in the Cosmos is at minimum, always and everywhere, EMR. This is neither a hypothesis nor conjecture, but an assertion of observational fact.

In a similar vein it can be stated that there is no empirical evidence for the existence of a ‘time’ independent of the material processes by which we measure it. That is to say that ‘time’ is a characteristic of the sequential nature of material processes which are themselves a consequence of the three dimensional nature of matter playing out against a 4D background of the ACER.

Physical “time’ as a free-standing entity is a reified human concept, like physical ‘space’. Since physical “time” lacks any empirical evidence to support its existence, it also has no place in the IUM except as a relational concept.

The Cosmos of the IUM then consists of two fundamental states, matter and electromagnetic energy. Matter may be considered a distinct form of 3-dimensionally bound electromagnetic energy, and electromagnetic energy may be considered a distinct form of 4-dimensionally un-bound matter. Neither view is complete in itself; only both views, held equally, constitute an accurate representation of empirical reality.

This leads to an awareness that our understanding of the fundamental physical processes of the Cosmos is deficient. We have some knowledge of the matter to EMR transformation but no real grasp of the process by which matter is generated from EMR, except for the strained mathematical conceit that something came from nothing in a myth-like creation event, far back in an imaginary, unobservable past.

Avenues of Research

The IUM provides fertile ground for observational, experimental and theoretical research.

• The quasar/active-galaxy relationship, discovered by the astronomer Halton Arp, needs to be fully investigated, with the blinders of big bang orthodoxy discarded in favor of a dedicated, close study of all the available observational evidence.
• Nucleosynthesis needs to be reconsidered in the context of of quasar formation and evolution.
• The tired, over-stretched, laboratory-derived concept of entropy needs to be set aside in cosmology. There are no closed systems in the Cosmos, and the Cosmos itself is not a closed system. What is needed is a robust theory of reciprocity in which thermo-nuclear systems alternately wind-up and wind-down. Entropy, as currently conceived, is a half-baked, half-loaf of reality resting precariously on the big bang creation myth. The quasar/active-galaxy relationship and the existence of living things suggests that the underlying dynamic may be scale-invariant and can possibly be generalized.
• For the most part electromagnetic radiation is thought of and studied as a linear phenomenon – as being composed of light rays of photons. The behavior of EMR as an omnidirectionally expanding wavefront is a neglected (on cosmological scales) area of physics that is ripe for experimental and theoretical exploration.
• A quantitative model of the gravitational effect as a consequence of the radiation density gradient surrounding gravitating bodies needs to be developed in the context of empirical observations and measurements, unconstrained by reified “spacetime” interpretations.
• A mathematical framework for treating galaxies and galaxy clusters has to be developed that does not reduce gravitational interactions to point mass or sum of point mass calculations. The point mass approximations that are adequate for the solar system simply do not work on larger, more complex systems such as galaxies and galaxy clusters.
• Some time on the LIGO “gravitational wave detector” could be more productively spent making regular measurements of hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly variations in the measured speed of light.

Summary

The Island Universe Model can account for the cosmological redshift, the cosmic microwave background radiation, even gravity, without venturing beyond the realm of empirically verifiable entities and events. The IUM also provides a long-missing mechanism for the gravitational effect.

In the IUM there is no need for the invisible entities or events (the singularity, inflation, big bang, substantival spacetime, dark matter and dark energy) that define the standard model of cosmology.

The Island Universe Model does, of course, need to be quantified. Trivially this is certainly doable because anything can be quantified as long as your quantitative model is not constrained by the empirical limitations of physical reality. The Island Universe Model does have just such a requirement however.

Any proposed quantification cannot invoke events that cannot be observed or entities that cannot be detected. All proposed physical features of a quantitative rendering of the model must be empirically verifiable and consistent with the qualitative model.

An Open Source Cosmology

This brings us to the reason why the Island Universe Model can be described as open source. Quantification of the model is hereby opened to all interested parties, who should be aware that for the foreseeable future, no funding of any sort is likely to be available for any efforts in this area. It is a project for the enthusiast, not the careerist, at least for the time being.

Island Universe Cosmology v3.0 Copyright © 2023 Bud Rapanault

This document and its intellectual content are free: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

See the GNU General Public License for more details.

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Andromeda Credit: GALEX, JPL-Caltech, NASA

All original content on this site © 2013 – 2023 Bud Rapanault

EmpiricalWarrior@gmail.com