[HN Gopher] Supernovae Evidence for Foundational Change to Cosmo...
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       Supernovae Evidence for Foundational Change to Cosmological Models
        
       Author : jandrewrogers
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2024-12-23 16:44 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arxiv.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arxiv.org)
        
       | api wrote:
       | Good wikipedia article on these types of cosmologies including
       | timescape cosmology:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhomogeneous_cosmology
        
         | numpy-thagoras wrote:
         | Many advancements in science have happened because we stopped
         | for a second, and then looked to generalize our assumptions.
         | Consider,
         | 
         | e.g.
         | 
         | Euclidean geometry -> non-euclidean geometry; Classical
         | analysis -> nonstandard analysis; Linearity -> non-linearity;
         | Homogeneity -> inhomogeneity; Flat spacetime -> curved
         | spacetime; Singular probabilities -> superposition.
         | 
         | All of these were loosening of certain criteria that opened up
         | many possibilities. It is certainly erroneous to assume we
         | must, by necessity, have a homogeneous cosmology.
        
       | molticrystal wrote:
       | This paper argues that the Timescape model [0] provides a better
       | fit than the cold dark matter model when examining Type Ia
       | Supernovae. According to the Timescape model, clocks run faster
       | in voids where the gravitational field is less, and significant
       | differences exist between a galaxy floating in a void and one
       | like the Milky Way Galaxy. The Timescape model suggests that
       | other models, which fail to account for these differences, lead
       | to less accurate calculations and less plausible solutions.
       | 
       | [0]
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhomogeneous_cosmology?useski...
        
         | vlovich123 wrote:
         | If clocks run slower in the presence of gravity, wouldn't it
         | stand to reason it runs more quickly in a void where there's
         | less gravity? Or is the model saying that clocks run even
         | faster in a void than Einstein's theory predicts?
        
           | vecter wrote:
           | Clocks run at "normal" speed (i.e. "1x" speed) in the absence
           | of a gravitational field. The stronger the gravity, the
           | slower they run (i.e. less than "1x" speed).
        
             | vlovich123 wrote:
             | Right so is the paper saying that lambda CM completely
             | ignored clock differences due to heterogeneity in mass
             | distribution in the universe where isolated galaxies would
             | be experiencing less time slowing than galaxies near other
             | galaxies which would experience more time dilation?
        
         | brotchie wrote:
         | Pet theory is that our universe is run on some external
         | computational substrate. A lot of the strangeness we see in
         | quantum physics are side effects of how that computation is
         | executed efficiently.
         | 
         | The inability to reconcile quantum field theory and general
         | relativity is the that gravity is a fundamentally different
         | thing to matter: matter is an information system that's run to
         | execute the laws of physics, gravity is a side effect of the
         | underlying architecture being parallelized across many compute
         | nodes.
         | 
         | The speed of light limitation is the side-effect of it taking a
         | finite time for information to propagate in the underlying
         | computational substrate.
         | 
         | The top-level calculation the universe is running is constantly
         | trying to balance computation efficiently among the compute
         | nodes in the substrate: e.g. the universe is trying to maintain
         | a constant complexity density across all compute nodes.
         | 
         | Black holes act as complexity sinks, effectively "garbage
         | collection." The matter than falls below the event horizon is
         | effectively removed from the computation needs of the
         | substrate. The cosmological constant can be explained by more
         | compute power being available as more and more matter is
         | consumed by black holes.
         | 
         | This can be introduced into GR by adding a new scalar field
         | whose distribution encodes "complexity density." e.g. some
         | metric of complexity like counting micro-states, etc. This
         | scalar field attempts to remain spatially uniform in order to
         | best "smooth" computation across the computational substrate.
         | If you apply this to a galaxy with a large central supermassive
         | black hole, you end up with almost a point sink of complexity
         | at the center, then a large area of high complexity in the
         | accretion disk, and then a gradient of complexity away towards
         | the edges of the galaxy. That is, the scalar field has strong
         | gradients along the radius of the galaxy, and this gives rise
         | to varying gravitational effects over the radius (very MOND-
         | like).
         | 
         | Some back of the napkin calculations show that adding this
         | complexity density scalar field to GR does replicate observed
         | rotation curves of galaxies. Would love to formalize this and
         | run some numerical simulations.
         | 
         | Would hope that fitting the free parameters of GR with this
         | complexity density scalar field would yield some testable
         | predictions that differ from current naive assumptions around
         | dark matter and dark energy.
        
           | cma wrote:
           | There's a Danny Hillis talk on this but I couldn't find it.
        
       | ajross wrote:
       | Webb is turning out to be one of the most impactful pieces of
       | scientific apparatus of the last century or so. Not that it took
       | all the relevant data, but that it was the final thing that broke
       | open all the doors being held shut. We're watching a Kuhnian
       | paradigm shift in astronomy unfold in real time.
        
         | epicureanideal wrote:
         | I'll be happy to see all the dark matter, dark energy stuff
         | explained away.
        
       | PaulHoule wrote:
       | There's been a general problem in astronomy for a long time that
       | it seems like there just hasn't been enough time for objects to
       | develop
       | 
       | The oldest version of this I know of can be seen in a diagram of
       | ways that large black holes could possibly form in this book
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_(book)
       | 
       | which shows as early in 1973 people knew they had no idea how
       | supermassive black holes could possibly form. Lately these
       | problems have intensified because Webb seems to see that all
       | sorts of developments seemed to happen a lot more quickly than
       | they should of which leaves one wondering if the first billion
       | years were really the first ten billion years. Could Timescape
       | explain that?
        
         | api wrote:
         | AFAIK one possible explanation for the black hole issues could
         | be primordial black holes, which are also a candidate for at
         | least a component of dark matter.
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | Yep. There is the idea that you could get little primordial
           | black holes (that maybe weigh as much as a mountain and could
           | be evaporating now) and the idea that you could get huge
           | primordial black holes. Also the occasional strange idea that
           | the universe might be cyclic (not too fashionable but can
           | fill the hole left by inflation) and that black holes can
           | survive the crunch.
        
             | numpy-thagoras wrote:
             | Black holes can survive a Big Crunch scenario? That can go
             | a long way to explaining many things. Can you please
             | provide a paper with more references to this, and
             | potentially one with an example mechanism?
        
       | mutagen wrote:
       | So Vernor Vinge was on to something[0] with his 'Zones of
       | Thought'...
       | 
       | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep#Setting
        
       | scrubs wrote:
       | I'm surprised cosmology hasn't accounted for differences in
       | clocks given how central GR is to astronomy. Granted I am no
       | expert, but adding this dynamic was, until today, a bridge too
       | far, or thought to average out somehow and not be pertinent
        
         | itishappy wrote:
         | Huh?
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_time
        
         | codethief wrote:
         | > cosmology hasn't accounted for differences in clocks given
         | how central GR is to astronomy
         | 
         | Of course it has. Yes, LCDM's FLRW metric, by its defining
         | assumption of spatial homogeneity, doesn't allow the metric
         | (let alone the speed of clocks) to vary spatially. However, it
         | is very common to do perturbation theory on top of the FLRW
         | metric to account for density fluctuations. Besides, there are
         | also models like LTB (Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi) which give up on
         | homogeneity at the non-perturbative level (while still
         | preserving isotropy, though).
         | 
         | All in all, the idea that local voids could explain away the
         | Lambda in LCDM is anything but new. It's just that the OP's
         | timescape approach is the first one that seems to produce
         | promising results. (Disclaimer: I merely skimmed the paper.)
        
       | eximius wrote:
       | Is anyone familiar with the (ln B > x) notation being used? What
       | is this value being referenced?
        
         | the8472 wrote:
         | See section 2 of the paper.
        
       | tigerlily wrote:
       | This is the opening salvo in cosmology's Battle of Trafalgar.
       | Dave Wiltshire has lined up a set piece 20 years in the making
       | that is going to obliterate both lambda CDM and MOND and all the
       | rest.
        
         | dcsommer wrote:
         | Sounds fascinating. Anywhere I can read more about the build-up
         | to this moment? Has David Wiltshire written about this?
        
       | jandrewrogers wrote:
       | An implication is that you would expect ancient advanced
       | civilizations to form in the voids.
        
         | largbae wrote:
         | Wouldn't such a civilization slow down as it gathers?
        
       | haxiomic wrote:
       | A very compelling argument that the need for dark matter may be
       | an artifact of a in incorrect assumption about the universe; the
       | extent to which it is homogeneous and large scale structures can
       | be ignored in calculations
       | 
       | Dr Ridden, an author of this paper, has a great explainer video:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhlPDvAdSMw
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-23 23:00 UTC)