XPost: sci.astro.research   
   From: hitlong@yahoo.com   
      
   [[Mod. note -- This article arrived at the s.a.r/s.p.r moderation   
   system on 2022-Dec-20.  My apologes for the delay in processing it.   
   -- jt]]   
      
   > [[Mod. note --   
   > It is very likely that 50 years from now our understanding of cosmology   
   > will be different than it is today. It is also very likely that 50 years   
   > from now our understanding of cosmology will in the main *refine* (as   
   > opposed to overthrow) our understanding today.   
      
   Although "refinement" has been THE process for the past half-century,   
   "overthrow happened in 1905-1916 with the advent of relativity.  It   
   happened again with quantum physics in the 1930's and the 1960's with   
   QFT.  The discovery of "island universes" seems to have been more than a   
   "refinement" and the application of GR to cosmology was, too.   
      
   The problem with GR applied to cosmology is that theories such as the   
   FLRW metric aren't the only possibilities.  If a "big bang" could happen   
   in our brane (taking a concept from M-theory), it may not have been   
   unique.  Suppose a "big bang" happened before our present one and it's   
   way, way out there and expanding faster than we are.  What would that   
   look like?  It happened long, long ago so star formation has stopped.   
   All it would consist of would be red dwarfs, whose spectra might look   
   something like the CMBR.  THAT would overthrow the FLRW model since all   
   of our big bang is not all that there is.  There's other stuff out there   
   that has a gravitational effect on us, as well as spacetime itself.   
      
   It might also do away with FLRW's need for dark energy.  GR predicts   
   that, since we are closer to this expanding side of the previous "big   
   bang," we would be dragged (accelerated) along its line of motion by the   
   Lense-Thirring effect, thus explaining dark energy.   
      
   The ekpyrotic theory of Steinhardt, Khoury, Turok and Ovrut, suitably   
   modified and verified, could do a GREAT deal of damage to our present   
   cosmological model.  Whether this flight of fancy has any semblance of   
   reality, I think FLRW is in trouble.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)