From: ericf@central.co.nz (Eric Flesch)
Subject: Cosmological Red-Shift and the Flow of Time
Date: 1997/02/03
Message-ID: <32f66cf5.15422316@mcrcr6.med.nyu.edu>#1/1
organization: Internet Company of New Zealand
newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.astro



It is said that any explanation of the Red-Shift other than galactic
recession would require "new physics".  Here I give an alternate
explanation which needs NO new physics.

General Relativity explains gravity in terms of variable shells of
time near large masses.  The gravitational red-shift is caused not by
light slowing, but because the light was slower to begin with, viz,
time was running slower near the massive body.  The relevant point is
that our universe and our physics *work* when you vary the flow of
time.

Have you ever witnessed a band's practice session when the drummer was
not keeping correct time?  The band inevitably speeds up its beat.
The question here is, what is keeping the Universe's flow-of-time
steady?  Why should the flow of time be the same now as it was 5
billion years ago?  Also, why should the flow of time be the same
everywhere?  

In the absence of a Cosmological Time Enforcer, we must say that there
should be natural variations in the flow of time from place to place
(on the macroscopic scale), and as the aeons go by.  Thus, in the
absence of an Enforcer, the flow of time may simply be speeding up as
the aeons go by (like the undisciplined band) and the cosmological
red-shift may be nothing more than the observation that in times gone
by, the flow of time ran slower.   

This will also explain the odd variations in red-shift that one sees,
such as that in any galactic grouping it is seen that the smallest,
youngest galaxies are more red-shifted than the large old ones.  It
could simply be that the flow of time speeds up faster in the presence
of a lot of mass -- like smokers who "relax" with a cigarette even as
in the long run the habit makes them more nervous.

Existing physics postulates no Enforcer which keeps the flow of time
uniform everywhere and everywhen, but does postulate that time varies
with mass and motion.  It is therefore a logical extension to
postulate that time varies naturally from place to place, and shows a
general trend over time.  This is a sensible explanation for the
cosmological red-shift and the red-shift variations seen amongst the
galaxies.   No galactic recession, and no new physics, is required.

Eric


___________________________________________

"The Universe is not only queerer than we suppose,
 but queerer than we *can* suppose."  -- J. Haldane