The speed of GRAVITATION is a hoary question.

 

The problem is: We have not been able to detect any gravitation waves or gravitons, if they really exists. If we had been lucky, we could also have made detector-arrangements to determine the speed of gravitation.

I will try to make an other approach to the problem -"The speed of gravitation".

 Let us assume that my hypothesis about the universe is correct. In that case we have have got an infinite Steady State Universe that is isotropic and homogenous. But we have also got a limited range of observation by Olbers' horizon R₀.

Let's start with formula for the light-speed C derived in Cosmopolite No 2.

Light-speed expressed in cosmological constants.

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We now have the possibility to calculate Olbers' horizon R₀.

Let's do that.

If we chose following units: light-speed in kilometers per second and Hubble's constant in kilometers per second per Megaparsec we will get an answer in Megaparsec. R₀ = 8571 Megaparsec. We know that one parsec: 1 pc = 3.26 light-year. Now we get the final answer R₀ = 27.9 Billion light-years (Bly). We know that we today is making observations in deep space with Hubble telescope etc. in the range of half that distance.

This calls for an interpretation. We have to decide between either of following alternatives:

We are observing 1/8 of the volume of the observable universe. But the remaining 7/8 of the observable universe has lost 50 to 100 % of its energy, which means that the observations to come will be very faint and obscured.

The other alternative is: There is a transfer of a calculation or derivation error of the integer TWO. If this is the case the calculation and observation range R₀ will coincide closely to 14 Bly. It should be observed that the mainstream opinion about the Age of the Universe is 13.7 Billion years. The figures are the same but a Distance is not equal to a Timespan.

I leave the alternatives as such for future investigation and correction.

Suppose that my model of the universe is correct. Which are the consequences? First of all 14 Bly is a very small distance compared to infinity. This means that light traveling to us in every possible direction will be leaving infinite masses behind.

This raises two questions: 'How comes that we don't have an infinite gravitation everywhere in the universe continuously pulling all masses together?'

The second question is strongly connected to the first. 'Could the answer be that gravitation between mass-particles does not take place momentarily?'

Suppose that it will take some time for the gravitation to reach out and establish itself as a gravitation force. Any change of masses or the distance between them will take the time light will need to travel that distance before the change of gravitation force takes place. I don't know if this hypothesis has been tested and been found false but I assume the hypothesis could be true.

In this hypothesis the speed of gravitation force is equal to the speed of light

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This could as a matter of fact explain a lot and solve many problems in the universe. This new hypothesis is in conflict with the opinion that the force of gravitation takes place momentarily at any distance. I don't believe that this is true anymore.

Lets us begin with the problem about the Cosmological Red-shift.

I have said earlier in my issues of the Cosmopolite that the photons convert their energy into potential gravitational energy when they are heading to us with the speed of light and leaving gravitational masses behind. Now we have arrived to the real crucial question. The photons approaching us are also approaching the same amount of masses that they leave in an isotropic and homogenous universe.

Why do they not gain the same amount of potential energy that they are losing?

The answer is fundamental for my whole theory.

The answer could be that the gravitational force could not reach the photon with higher speed than light-speed. Because the gravitation ahead is reaching the photon with the same speed the photon is approaching. The photon will not experience any gravitational pull from the masses ahead only from masses left behind.

If this is true, the photon will not gain any potential energy from the masses in front of the direction of flight. The gravitation from the masses behind will reach the photon with the speed of light, which will reflect the density in the universe and not the total mass or energy in the universe.

The cosmological red-shift - in my NEW sense - will be absolute logical.

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Let's go back to "Terra Firma". Let's start with a calculation of the gravitational red-shift when a photon is leaving Earth. From the Pound & Rebka experiment (See Richard P. Feynman's book "Six Easy Pieces and Six Not So Easy Pieces", p. 136, chap. 6) we know that the photon will lose 2.3x10^-15 parts of it's energy when elevated 22 meters. This will cause visible light with the frequency 5x10¹⁴ Hz to lose about 1 Hz. This is not very much but anyhow detectable using Muessbauer-spectroscopy.

Let's now move the Pound & Rebka experiment to our sun. Because the gravitation at the sun's surface is 311 m s^-2 instead of 9.81 m s^-2 at earth' surface the photon will lose 1 Hz  if elevated 0.65 meter. How much will the light be red-shifted if it has traveled from the sun close to the orbit of the earth?

Calculating the gain of potential energy will give the answer 2.3x10^-6 parts compared to one. This is not very much but still one billion times more compared to the first loss of 1 Hz. The photon has also traveled about 2x10⁸ longer distance but at the same time the gravitational force has decreased about 50000 times. The photon have reached the final value of possible gravitational red-shift leaving the sun very closely. Only 0.5 % more of its original energy could get converted into more potential energy. But now the cosmological red-shift - in my sense - takes over and will cause further red-shifting of the photons entering outer space in the universe.

Let's compare this gravitational red-shift with the so called cosmological red-shift defined by Hubble's constant 70 km per second per Megaparsec. It is this figure that will shift the frequency in the red direction of spectra, We know that the observable universe has a radius about 3000 Mpc. Evaluating this will give receding speed for the galaxies - if they are receding at all - at the border of the observable universe very close to 2/3 of the light-speed.

Which distance must a photon travel experiencing the cosmological red-shift to be equally red-shifted compared to the photon taking the the trip to earth orbit?

The incremental shift of frequency due to the Hubble constant is 70/300,000 per Mega parsec =2.3^-4 per Mpc. This means that the photon has to travel only 1 % of a Mpc to get an equal red-shift compared to leaving our sun. 1 % of a Mpc is 3.084x10²⁰ meters. This is 2 billion times more than radius of the earth-orbit. This is telling us that the average density in the universe has to be extremely low compared to the density close to our sun. Anyhow traveling the distance of ~3000 Mpc or 10 billion light-years will create the shift of frequency connected to 2/3 of the light-speed.

But the reason for the red-shift of spectra is quite an other of my opinion.

The Pound & Rebka experiment raises several questions. Even if the simplified formula is corrected for calculations of the true gain of potential energy there remains questions. How to deal with the decreasing equivalent mass of the photon itself? The loss of energy must be true. Where is the lost energy contained? The energy the photon has lost must be found somewhere.

The question is: At which distance from the gravitating center will the photon have lost almost all of its original energy? The question is faulty. Never!  The photons will anyhow be undetectable when they have lost enough energy to be equal to the photons in the microwave background. When any photon have reached this energy-level, the photons will start exchanging energy with the thermal universal equilibrium. In this stage they will also be totally dispersed and start moving in arbitrary directions.

The original light has disappeared. No further observations of the original are possible.

Any photon that has traveled the distance up to Olbers' horizon R0 will be converted into a photon in thermal equilibrium and start moving isotropic.

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If the last paragraph is true we have got a very physical explanation for the existence of Cosmic Microwave Background. All electromagnetic photons will end up as CMB-photons. The CMB-photons are not very fossil at all. CMB- photons are produced continuously because The Hot Big Bang Never Happened.

Let's us make a thought experiment.

Suppose that my suggestion about the true reason behind the Cosmological red-shift is true. If true the speed of gravitation is equal to the speed of light. This could also explain why the universe not is collapsing towards a center of common gravitation.

The center of gravitation moves around in the universe unpredictable.

The configuration of galaxies will change over time and the resulting center of mass will take billions of years to establish itself. At that very moment the cause of that center of gravitation has already moved somewhere else. My conclusion is that quite alike with all known gravitation centers we have got in the universe connected to solar- systems and galaxies there are other gravitation-centers on a higher level that move around in the universe.

The energy in the universe will move around randomly statistically distributed around the average density-value.

If this is the case we have a quite simple model of the universe to handle.

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Anyhow all energy and matter has to recycled in the model of a Steady State Universe. The problem with a continues recycling of mass-energy has to solved. Most probably the remarkable particle - The Neutrino - is governing that process because neutrinos are produced in any conversion fusion process where mass is converted into energy. Nature does not produce neutrinos just for fun. The neutrinos must be involved in a recycling process performed uniformly distributed all over the entire Universe.

Will be continued...

Lars Romare

Mailto: New_cosmology@comcast.net

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