Plasma cosmology

Comparison of the evolution of the universe under Alfvén–Klein cosmology and the Big Bang theory.[1]

Plasma cosmology is a non-standard cosmology whose central postulate is that the dynamics of ionized gases and plasmas play important, if not dominant, roles in the physics of the universe at interstellar and intergalactic scales.[2][1] In contrast, the current observations and models of cosmologists and astrophysicists explain the formation, development, and evolution of large-scale structures as dominated by gravity (including its formulation in Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity).

The original form of the theory, Alfvén–Klein cosmology, was developed by Hannes Alfvén and Oskar Klein in the 1960s and 1970s,[3] and holds that matter and antimatter exist in equal quantities at very large scales, that the universe is eternal rather than bounded in time by the Big Bang, and that the expansion of the observable universe is caused by annihilation between matter and antimatter rather than a mechanism like cosmic inflation.[1]

Cosmologists and astrophysicists who have evaluated plasma cosmology reject it because it does not match the observations of astrophysical phenomena as well as the currently accepted Big Bang model.[4] Very few papers supporting plasma cosmology have appeared in the literature since the mid-1990s.

The term plasma universe is sometimes used as a synonym for plasma cosmology,[2] as an alternative description of the plasma in the universe.[1] Plasma cosmology is distinct from pseudoscientific ideas collectively called the Electric Universe, though proponents of each are known to be sympathetic to each other.[5][6] These pseudoscientific ideas vary widely[7] but generally claim that electric currents flow into stars and power them like light bulbs, contradicting well-established scientific theories and observations showing that stars are powered by nuclear fusion.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d Alfven, H.O.G. (1990). "Cosmology in the plasma universe – an introductory exposition". IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science. 18: 5–10. Bibcode:1990ITPS...18....5A. doi:10.1109/27.45495.
  2. ^ a b Peratt, Anthony (February 1992). "Plasma Cosmology" (PDF). Sky & Telescope. 83 (2): 136–141. Retrieved 26 May 2012. recount: It was described as this in the February 1992 issue of Sky & Telescope ("Plasma Cosmology"), and by Anthony Peratt in the 1980s, who describes it as a "nonstandard picture". The ΛCDM model big bang picture is typically described as the "concordance model", "standard model" or "standard paradigm" of cosmology here[permanent dead link], and here.
  3. ^ Parker, Barry (1993). "Plasma Cosmology". The Vindication of the Big Bang. Boston, MA: Springer. p. 325. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-5980-5_15. ISBN 978-1-4899-5980-5.
  4. ^ Parker 1993, pp. 335–336.
  5. ^ "Hogan and Velikovsky". www.jerrypournelle.com. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  6. ^ Shermer, Michael (2015-10-01). "The Difference between Science and Pseudoscience". Scientific American. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  7. ^ Bridgman, William T., Stuart Robbins, and C. Alex Young. "Crank Astronomy As A Teaching Tool." American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts# 215. Vol. 215. 2010.
  8. ^ Scoles, Sarah (18 February 2016). "The People Who Believe Electricity Rules the Universe". Motherboard. Vice. Retrieved 1 November 2022.