COSMOLOGICAL REDSHIFT ALTERNATIVE: Spontaneous reddening of starlight

Big Bang Cosmology

Big Bang Cosmology:
Getting back to the question of birth

The following rather expansive speculation concerns how the light from an astronomical object can spontaneously shift to lower frequencies during its travel through empty space.

Although the idea stems for me from my view of the photon, it may not be crucially dependent on that view.

LIGHT

Let us discuss the optical region of the spectrum, and for clarity, let us discuss light of a “single” frequency ν. If a star has a spectral luminosity L_ν, then the intensity of this light at a distrance R from the star is I_ν:

I_ν = L_ν /4π R**2 (1)

The spectral energy density u_ν at this location due to the star is

u_ν = I_ν /c, (2)

c being the velocity of light.

PHOTON

The photon in my view has a size (just physical size). The photon is a structure made of magnetic field in empty space, and this structure at a given frequency is defined by an inverse length parameter α. I will now say that the length is typically the wavelength λ (~ 1/α ~ c/ν). So – not surprisingly – the photon occupies a volume of the order V ~ λ**3. By superposition, the same volume of course can simultaneously be occupied by an unlimited number of photons in a continuum of frequencies.

LIGHT-PHOTON LINKAGE

I am also interested in how the photons constitute light (the way – as a very simplistic example – vehicles constitute a convoy). I believe there is some type of a linkage in the sense of classical physics, but I have no specific ideas in this regard thus far. For now just accept this proposition which should not be found too objectionable: Whatever the photon-makeup of light is, it must always hold for ligh to remain light. If adjacent vehicles in a convoy move a mile apart, then it is no longer a convoy.

LINK FAILURE

When the distance R equals R_ν, a distance so large that

u_ν Δν V ~ h ν, (3)

i.e, the stellar energy available in the volume occupied by the photon is the same as the photon energy hν, a critical juncture is reached. At greater distances there is not enough energy available for photons to exist in a connected continuum. The light-photon linkage fails when the intensity falls below a threshold.

PHOTON BANDWIDTH Δν

The bandwidth Δν which we are forced to introduce above is in fact exactly what is called for from any view of the photon as a free-standing magnetic structure. Consider (in principle) translating such an isolated structure at the velocity c past a light detector connected to a suitably fast oscilloscope. Then an electromagnetic pulse will be recorded – a pulse which begins at zero amplitude and ends in zero amplitude. When this time-domain pulse is fed to a spectrum analyzer or is digitally transformed, one obtains its corresponding frequency spectrum. This gives the dominant frequency ν and the badwidth Δν.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Driven by the light-photon linkage “mechanism” the light spontaneously moves to lower frequencies and maintains the condition (3). I cannot see that this is forbidden in Electromagnetic Theory. This process need not violate any conservation laws – when integrated over a large volume.

So past R_ν, light from a star begins to redden, and any obsever at a distance greater than this will see this “reddening” of light. Such reddening clearly would be detectable only with reference to spectral lines of known original frequencies.

Tags: Cosmological Redshift, Expanding Universe