This article was originally published by Magnolia Scientific Research Group of Starkville MS as Technote 1- 88. It was placed on the world wide web as a HTML document on August 3, 1997. (A number of unnecessary quotation marks have been removed from the text and the phrase red shift, in the original, has been replaced with redshift wherever occurring .) The article may be reproduced with appropriate referencing for non-profit educational or research purposes without contacting the author. The "Related Articles" section at the end of the page are added to or modified on a continuing basis.

1. Introduction.

When we use Hubble's redshift law to compute distances to remote galaxies, we do so under the assumption that the original light, coming to us from thousands of millions of years ago, was emitted at essentially the same wavelengths as observed in local present-day equivalent stellar processes. Because of this underlying assumption, we have to hypothesize some mechanism such as the recessional velocity Doppler effect, to shift the light's spectrum to the less energetic longer wavelengths that we detect. The apparent size and radiated power output of Quasars, as determined by using currently viable redshift ideas, seem ready to shake the very foundations of physics. This note offers a new hypothesis dealing with cosmological redshift that may leave our foundations intact or at least modify them only slightly.

2. Galactic density dependent electrical charge.

If galaxies are condensates from a primordial soup, then their material densities should be increasing with time. We hypothesize that the unit electrical charge is proportional to the "local" galactic material density. That is, the electrical charge of any given electron or proton is related to the total number of other protons, electrons, etc., that are close enough to influence it via direct electrodynamic elementary interactions. A distance of five light years may suffice for our estimated limit for direct electrodynamic influences. This figure is adapted from the extinction theorem wherein charged particles in an intervening medium absorb and re-radiate electromagnetic energy thus extinguishing the original energy.(1)

We propose that, if the unit electrical charge within galaxies has been increasing down through cosmological ages, then the strength of electrical interactions between their constituent atomic nuclei and their atomic electrons has also been increasing. The sizes of atoms should have been decreasing and the energies of their electrons in orbit should have been increasing as side effects of the basic galactic condensation process.

According to this approach, the orbital electrons in the atoms of stellar atmospheres back in our earlier universe, would have been less energetic than those of electrons of the same present-day atoms. The energy differences between their electron shells would have also been smaller in comparison to those of present day. Thus, photons emitted by stars, made up of the less energetic atoms of long ago, would have carried away smaller amounts of energy and would have had longer wavelengths than those emitted by corresponding present day atoms in this corner of our galaxy.

Redshifts associated with increasingly distant galaxies may not be related to an ever-increasing speed of recession, with respect to us, or to a gravitational energy loss, or to "tired light." The light may have simply been emitted at longer wavelengths. According to this viewpoint, redshift may still be used, in general, as an indirect measure of distance but it should be considered as a galactic material density effect. The redder shifted the light the younger the source at the time of emission.

A word of caution! If we rigidly translate redshifts to distances, then newly condensing cosmological objects, (late bloomers) could conceivably be mis-labeled as being much further away and thus much more energetic that they actually are. Quasars may have already fallen into this category.

(1) John G. Fox, Evidence Against Emission Theories, American Journal of Physics, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp.1-17, January 1965.

Galaxy Redshifts Reconsidered - Sten Odenwald and Rick Fienberg , 1993
[Thanks to Robin Whittle for the new URL - 14 Feb 2005.]

Quasars: Near versus Far - Tom Van Flandern, Jan 13, 1994

Galaxy-quasar 'connection' defies explanation - Dr. Andrew A. Snelling, Dec 1, 1997

Alternate Approaches and the Redshift Controversy - Bill Keel, October 2000

Further Evidence for Cosmological Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant - J. K. Webb, M. T. Murphy,   V. V. Flambaum,   V. A. Dzuba,   J. D. Barrow,   C. W. Churchill, J. X. Prochaska, and A. M. Wolfe, Physical Review Letters 87, 27 August 2001, 091301 (electronic version). [Abstract is available at no charge.] There is a New York Times story on these findings titled Cosmic Laws Like Speed of Light Might Be Changing, a Study Finds Science, The New York Times, August 15, 2001. [Thanks to Leon Feng of the International Pansystems School for this link.]

Emission-Absorption-Scattering (EAS) Sub-quantum Physics - R.S. Fritzius -
[The GIGO function for the absorption and emission of force carrying particles by electrons and protons, etc. in this model permits electrical charge to be considered as a variable whose value is proportional to what was called the "local galactic material density" in the article above. "Local matter density" (LMD) might be a better phrase. Added 18 July 2002.]

Cosmology's Missing Mass Problems (1)Thumbnail sketch of the missing-mass/dark-matter ideas and proposed solutions. (2)Scale of the universe considerations, starting with the Curtis-Shapley debate, with emphasis on van Maanen's evidence for local spiral nebulae. (3)Author's cosmological redshift (this article) applied as a further scale of the-universe factor. - Robert Fritzius, 27 June 2003

Plasma Redshift and the Astrophysics of the Non-Exploding Universe - Robbin Whittl, 12 May 2004
Similar to (but distinct from) Ari Brynjolfsson's theory, with Big Bang (BB) critiques, theories and links.

Hubble constant from lensing in plasma-redshift cosmology, and intrinsic redshift of quasars - Brynjolfsson, Ari, Nov 2004
eprint arXiv:astro-ph/0411666. Abstract only. Article may be purchased.