first published: 07.04.2012
corrected English text: 22.08.2013
Background information about
the error of the Big Bang hypothesis
History and handling of criticism
For many decades I have been observing the development of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Around the
60th of last century, the majority of cosmologists decided to accept the Big Bang theory as the only valid
model describing the movements of matter in the cosmos. This occurred despite well-founded objections of a large
number of recognized scientists all alluding to the fundamental contradiction to modern discoveries, and this situation
still happens today. On the other side, with the help of many theoretical constructions, which are not confirmed in any
way and are not provable, everything is done for the preservation of the Big Bang theory, without considering and
exploring other models of the cosmic mass movement. Meanwhile it is now known that the majority of today's astronomical
observations cannot find any viable explanation with the Big Bang theory. Such objections are not allowed by the
established scientific institutions. People fighting against these objections, they are suppressed, ignored, shown partly
like conspiracies, like campaign against science and excluded from any discussion. This is promoted, despite the fact
that all previous criticisms show conclusively the contradictions between the theory and observations, by saying that
they don't describe any antithesis, which would be suitable to be an alternative to the Big Bang hypothesis.
In the German magazine GEO kompakt, issue 29/2011, page 27, it is stated: "The Big Bang theory is today the most
plausible one regarding the beginning of the world - until scientists develop a new one", and then further down:
"... unless it is replaced one day by another, more compelling intellectual edifice (which currently appears, however,
difficult to imagine)". The following text describes a theoretical approach which can overcome the postulated unimaginability.
This approach is called the Rotation theory.
The German Wikipedia
Institutions, which turned against the discussion of other models of the world, also include the German-language free encyclopedia Wikipedia, that delete immediately and without notice or justification any attempts to include potential new theoretical approaches, even if they were delivered by registered users. Even the attempt, in the reference list of the chapter "Big Bang," to include the above mentioned book, was subjected to the immediate deletion.
Alternative to the Big Bang theory
This in part politically motivated handling of the legitimate criticisms of the scientific viability of the Big Bang hypothesis
motivated me to publish in 2011 a book which describes a different theoretical approach to understand the universe,
mathematically and physically grounded, and to subject the current cosmological approach to a critical consideration.
I titled the book "The Big Bang hypothesis, an obstacle to the cosmological research" (May 2011, Re Di Roma Publisher,
Remscheid, ISBN 978-3-86870-353-5). The book contains numerous popular science topics for such interested readers
for which some strictly physical-mathematical representation may be less interesting.
At this point I would like to state some basic theses of my book, which may be appropriate to raise awareness to
the reality, to disprove the viability of the Big Bang hypothesis and to show a different view of the universe that is
free of mystical transfiguration and unsustainable, not provable theoretical constructs, and that presents the cosmic
mass movements on the basis of the natural laws.
The open letter
One of the most important criticisms of the Big Bang theory is the "Open Letter to the scientific community" which was published in the American magazine New Scientist, 22-28th May 2004, page 20. This letter was initially signed by 33 scientists, being at the top of the list the American astrophysicist and astronomer Halton Arp, later at Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics in Garching near Munich in Germany. The letter deplores that research funds are provided only for works that are devoted to the support of the Big Bang theory and do not foster other lines of research. According to Eric J. Lerner, to the mathematician Michael Ibison of Earthtech.org and to many other scientists around the world, the dominance of the Big Bang theory is based on conventions rather than on scientific method. This open letter has been later on signed by more than 540 astrophysicists, cosmologists and other scientists worldwide. The letter with all primary and secondary Signers can be found online at http://cosmologystatement.org/. In the above-mentioned book is included a German translation of this open letter in Appendix 1.
The main misapprehension and conclusions from the big bang theory
The main misapprehension of the Big Bang theory in my opinion is the wrong basic assumption, that the universe would not exist eternally, but must have had a beginning. For many reasons, the most important of which are elaborated below, this is considered as an error. From this basic assumption the following conclusions are drawn, which are not only incorrect, but in some cases violate the logic. Thus, in almost of all works on this subject it is always discussed the beginning of the world, the birth of the world, the birth of time, space and matter, as if these concepts had been proven without any reasonable doubt. I will show below with the help of some essential facts and considerations, where the main error comes from and how it impacted the development of cosmology. Other arguments and details can also be found in the chapter of natural scientific contributions on my homepage www.unipohl.de
1. Lemaitre and the "primeval atom"
The basic hypothesis of the Big Bang theory, that the universe "evolved from an initial stage of unimaginable density" at a finite time, did not come from astronomers, astrophysicists or cosmologists, but from the Belgian priest Georges Edouard Lemaitre, a man of the Catholic Church. He was inspired in very young years by the idea of creating a theory, which could combine science with the Catholic doctrine of creation. From this effort, he developed his theory of a "primordial atom that produced by permanent division the entire cosmos." In 1927 Lemaitre started writing down his ideas for the expansion of the universe, which he published in 1929. In connection with these considerations, Lemaitre was intensely occupied with the question of the compatibility of the Catholic doctrine of creation with the scientific reports about Big Bang theory. The clergy was very interested in these considerations, seeing in them a striking confirmation of the idea of creation. Initially the idea of the "primeval atom" did not find acceptance among the scientists, and Lemaitre was somehow ridiculed. In December 1940 he was appointed, due to his scientific achievements, to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. From 1960 until his death he was the president of the Academy. Connected to this official position was the title of a papal prelate. Priest Georges Edouard Lemaitre became professor emeritus in 1964. The fact that his basic ideas today dominate the whole cosmology, is due in large part from the response of the clergy to this idea. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences endorsed Lemaitre's theory at a session in November 1951. Pope Pius XII spoke on November 11, 1951, to the members of the Academy and explained in the final presentation, that the beginning of the world, fixed by the Big Bang, sprang from a divine act of creation. The results of "modern science", to which Pope Pius XII referred to, have been brought together on the best way with the Church's doctrine.
2. The Big Bang singularity
As a result of this fundamental idea introduced systematically into the science, the Big Bang singularity as the starting point of the universe, has become a very controversial scientific object. It is unacceptable and contrary to reason to assume a point where it should have been no natural laws, and in which it is denied the existence of the space-time. So, for example, the time period below 10-43 sec (the Planck era) down to a supposed beginning cannot be described comprehensibly. The state of matter that should have existed in the Planck era is not describable. If, however, to adhere the Big Bang hypothesis, should the universe have a beginning, one should certainly require such a singularity. This singularity is based on speculations, cannot be proven by observations nor by laboratory simulations.
3. The false concept of matter
Another fundamental error of the big bang theory is a false concept of matter. In many descriptions and definitions of the concept of matter is the energy separated from matter, energy is not recognized as matter, is opposed to matter (Wikipedia, keyword Matter: "Electromagnetic waves such as light are not to be considered as matter"). This is a mistake with far-reaching consequences. In fact, mass and energy are two forms of representation of the same category - the matter (Brockhaus encyclopedia in 24 volumes, Mannheim, 1991, ISBN 3-7653-1100-6, Volume 14, p. 305). This follows trivially from Einstein's mass-energy relation E = m*c2. Where there is no mass, there is also no energy, and vice versa (0 = 0*c2). This also is evident from the presentation of the mass-energy relation as E/m = c2. That is, the ratio of energy to mass is a constant. The result of this consideration is that the "infinite" energy density, which was adopted in the Big Bang singularity, necessarily would also imply an "infinite" mass density. The Big Bang singularity would also imply, due to the energy concentration, also a mass concentration. Therefore, it would be the most logically conceived as a Black Hole. Therefore the Big Bang, which would thus be the expansion of a Black Hole, could not have occurred, on the basis of currently accepted definition of a Black Hole.
4. The mass-energy equivalence
This mistaken attitude related to the concept of matter allowed, on the other hand, mass to arise or to disappear, to "create" mass from energy, or even to "convert" one into the other or vice versa. This would be tantamount to say that in a fictitious process, the appearance of energy would mean the disappearance of mass, or in a process in which the "disappearance" of energy would mean the "origin" of mass. However, this is not the statement of the mass-energy equivalence. Mass and energy cannot arise out of nothing nor disappear, they can only change their forms of appearance. That is also the basic message given by one of the most important principles of natural science, the conservation of energy: The total energy in a closed system cannot change with time, it is constant. The origin of the universe out of nothing is therefore an assumption that is far from the scientific method. Mass and energy - and these both constitute matter - exist eternally and are in permanent motion in the eternally existing space-time.
5. The rotation of the cosmic objects
In the universe there are no objects that not are spinning. But if the universe begins from a Big Bang, only radial forces can exist, other directions of force are not available. Each type of rotation would then miss the initial force, all objects would be subject to their inertial motion and gravitation only, which would limit the duration of their existence. Here we put aside the most mystical notions about the so-called "dark matter" and "dark energy", in which it is stated once again that the energy does not belong to the matter. Consequently, it remains the imperative belief that the universe itself is spinning. Only under this precondition can exist those Coriolis forces that initiate the rotation of all cosmic objects. After a Big Bang, which consists indeed in the expansion of a point, such a movement is impossible. From here I have developed the idea that the universe is subjected to large scale rotations, like a cloud formation, in which everything rotates, but without forming a central axis of rotation. All movements have a chaotic nature and can be expressed only locally and approximately in mathematically comprehensible laws of motion. As a result of this general chaotic rotation, a general centrifugation arises. This centrifugation is the repulsive force, which is believed to be found at the current theory in the "dark energy". The general centrifugation forms with the universal gravitation a dynamic equilibrium of forces. This is the reason for the dynamics of the universe and its permanent change. Unexplained fictions such as "dark energy" or "dark matter", from which the separation of the energy from the matter is already suspect, are not required for the explanation of this movement. Finally, these fictions are not discovered or confirmed, they were introduced in order to confirm, for example, the differences between the age of stars, especially the Earth, and the supposed age of the universe. Without these fictions, we obtain contradictions, which cannot be explained with the Big Bang theory. For example, the Earth would be older than the universe. Also, by ignoring these rotations, orbital velocities of cosmic objects, which in rotating parts of the universe are dependent from the Coriolis forces, cannot be explained. With "dark energy" and "dark matter" these differences are presented as a pseudo-explanation, which, however, contradict the facts.
6. Motions found in the cosmos which are against the Big Bang
Objects were found in the universe which cannot be explained by the Big Bang theory. For example, it has been confirmed by astronomical measurements that the galaxy Andromeda, which is situated at approximately 2.5 million light years from us, has a radial velocity of -114 km/sec relative to the Milky Way galaxy. The minus sign tells us here that the Andromeda galaxy is moving towards us, so that it will reach in a few billion years the Milky Way and both galaxies will collide with one another. This fact is not explainable by the Big Bang theory, because under the premise of the expansion of the universe, all galaxies have to recede from each other. In 1980 it was discovered beyond the constellation of Virgo an enormous star cluster, approaching the other galaxies, including our Milky Way, with a speed of 444 km/sec. The diameter of this supercluster is, according to NASA, about two billion light years. As NASA scientist George Smoot said, "this cluster suggests that the matter of the universe can never have spread explosively and uniform" (see item 4).
7. The Big Bang hypothesis limits the universe
By assuming a big bang, the date of the beginning of the universe is assumed to be known, and the expansion velocity is finite. So the universe must have an outer limit beyond which there is no matter. Such an outer boundary has not been found, and certainly it does not exist.
8. The expansion of the universe
When Edwin Hubble in 1929 observed the redshift of the radiation spectrum of the cosmic objects in all directions of
observation, the expansion of the universe has been considered as proved, which, however, must be limited to the
part of universe of our observation. However, this point of view is not due to Hubble himself, who did not consider
there was a proven correlation between redshift and expansion. But for the big bang theorists, this observation led
to almost absurd conclusions. It was assumed without limitations, that this direction of movement of the cosmic matter
applied at all times and at all distances for the entire universe. However, two logical considerations contradict these
conclusions:
a. The time period in which the universe has been observed by humans is negligibly small compared with
the time periods in which cosmic motions have been taking place. To assume from the data from human observation,
that this motion have always existed, and afterwards with that to carry out a relentless extrapolation backwards until
a zero point, is absurd and unjustified. The probability of the correctness of this assumption is practically zero.
b. The part of the cosmos, which the human observed, is tacitly accepted as the entire cosmos. That shows,
in my opinion, humans overestimation. The universe is truly endless, so that what can be said with certainty, is that the
whole universe is currently and certainly in a very long period out of our observation. We observe only a very small part
of it.
9. Stereotype argumentation
Almost all so-called evidence for the Big Bang theory have one thing in common: they use cyclic calculations. The existence of a Big Bang is assumed axiomatically, the following calculations, which are based on this assumption, lead then to the Big Bang hypothesis. This result is then regarded as proof of the Big Bang hypothesis. In the above-mentioned book, I have analyzed as an example of this proof a work by Michael Ralph Pape, of the University of Karlsruhe, in 2000, from which I have worked out this typical approach. The so-called nucleosynthesis is also an example for such cyclical calculations. The composition of occurring elements in the universe, in my opinion, cannot be proved on that way. All calculations worked out for the nucleosynthesis set the Big Bang as an axiom, and so obtain what has been given. The now calculated thermal evolution of the universe, based on this assumption, is an unsustainable, unverified conjecture. The present composition of elements in the universe has certainly other causes. Likewise, the cosmic background radiation which certainly exists and has been proven, receives an entirely different explanation, if you look at the Big Bang not as an axiom. Radiation is not understood as "background" radiation, as a relict of a Big Bang, rather it is the general presently available radiation due to the spatial and structural mass motions, which spreads throughout the cosmos and in all directions. Spectral shifts occurring in the direction of the microwave range is the result of movement of matter, but hardly a residual radiation from a previous cosmic "development phase". Certainly the cosmic background radiation is not a proof of the Big Bang theory.
The Rotation theory, an alternative
From all these inconsistencies and inadequacies of the Big Bang theory, I arrived by following the work of astronomers and astrophysicists, and by logical considerations, to the Rotation theory of the universe, by which all paradoxes of the Big Bang theory are corrected, or can be resolved by other orientations in the scientific community. The Big Bang Theory has become untenable by numerous observations and measurements of the modern sciences of astronomy and astrophysics. Today there is no way to ignore this. It is necessary to allow research in other directions and also materially to support them. To deny this knowledge is tantamount to a rejection of all science, it is an obstacle for the scientific community.
Science and Clergy
I am aware that the Rotation theory is contrary to the official representations of the clergy, who knew how to win the cosmological science for his views on the creation of the world and to remain tied to it up to now. But I think it must yet be allowed to ask if the words of the Bible "In the beginning God created heaven and Earth" (Old Testament, First Book of Moses, Genesis, Chapter 1, The Creation) can be viewed today still as a viable basis for cosmological research. All serious scientists know that things did not happen this way. Even the scientific areas in the Vatican, which deal with these issues, arrive at different conclusions.
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Albert Einstein presented a phrase that have here certainly a very practical meaning: "Two things are necessary for
our work: untiring perseverance and the willingness to discard something for which you have put a lot of time and
effort."
May the human mind have the ability to overcome incredible fictions and to turn toward rational considerations.
April 2012
Dr. Manfred Pohl
Acknowledgment
Manfred Pohl wishes to thank Prof. Dr. A. K. T. Assis for the large work to correct my English text.