Would the existence of Dark Matter affect Hubble’s laws and our understanding of evolution of the universe?
In the article “What is Dark Matter?” Sept 10, 2007 it was shown that assuming space is composed of a continuous field of energy/mass would give an explanation for the gravitational component of Dark Matter that is consistent with all observations. For example it would be undetectable by modern scientific instrumentation which are only calibrated to detect mass in its particle or discontinuous form. However, because is made up energy/mass it would exert gravitational force.
Therefore the gravitational forces associated with that component of Dark Matter would be “dark” or invisible to our scientific instruments.
However, if Dark Matter or a continuous non-quantized field of energy/mass did make up a significant percentage of the universe’s mass, as observations suggest it does it would have an effect on our understanding of the evolution of the universe for two reasons? The first is because its attractive properties would affect the evolution of the large scale structures of the universe such as galaxies and galactic clusters. The second is because of the effect it would have on the propagation of light.
Most scientists are aware that light is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum when it passes though interstellar dust clouds like those found in the Orion Nebula. However they do not share the same awareness of the effects the existence of a continuous field of energy/mass would have on it.
Yet before we begin to address the reason for those effects it would be beneficial to discuss some other observations that support its existence.
For example in 1927 by Davisson and Germer confirmed Louis de Broglie theory that all particles have a wave component. This is observational proof of the existence of a continuous field of energy/mass because waves are by definition a continuous form of energy and therefore the existence of a continuous field of energy/mass is necessary to support the internal wave component of particles.
However one of the strongest arguments that can be made for its existence when combined with four *spatial* dimensions instead of four dimensional space-time is that it allows one to theoretically derive the quantum mechanical properties of energy/mass and electromagnetic waves by extrapolating classical observations of a three-dimensional environment to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
In the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” Oct. 4, 2007 it was shown that one can derived the quantum mechanical properties of energy/mass and a photon in terms of a resonant “system” formed in the continuous field properties of energy/mass in four *spatial* dimensions by extrapolating the laws of classical resonance in a three-dimensional environment to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
Briefly it showed the four conditions required for resonance to occur in a classical three-dimensional environment, an object, or substance with a natural frequency, a forcing function at the same frequency as the natural frequency, the lack of a damping frequency and the ability for the substance to oscillate spatial would occur in one consisting of four *spatial* dimensions.
The existence of four *spatial* dimensions would give the continuous field of energy/mass (the substance) the ability to oscillate spatially on a “surface” between a third and fourth *spatial* dimensions thereby fulfilling one of the requirements for classical resonance to occur.
These oscillations would be caused by an event such as the decay of a subatomic particle or the shifting of an electron in an atomic orbital. This would force the continuous field of energy/mass to oscillate with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension at the frequency associated with the energy of that event.
However, the oscillations caused by such an event would serve as forcing function allowing a resonant system or “structure” to be established in a continuous field of energy/mass.
Classical mechanics tells us the energy of a resonant system can only take on the quantized values associated with its resonant or a harmonic of its resonant frequency.
As the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” showed these resonant systems in a continuous field of energy/mass are responsible for the quantum mechanical properties of a photon and energy/mass.
However, it is also possible to use the existence of a continuous non-quantized form of energy/mass as is required by the wave properties of the resonant system defined in that article to explain the internal electromagnetic wave properties of a photon in terms of the matter wave that is responsible for its quantum mechanical properties.
Briefly a wave on the two-dimensional surface of water causes a point on that surface to be become displaced or rise above or below the equilibrium point that existed before the wave was present. A force will be developed by the differential displacement of the surfaces, which will result in the elevated and depressed portions of the water moving towards or become “attracted” to each other and the surface of the water.
Similarly a matter wave on the “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension would cause a point on that “surface” to become displaced or rise above and below the equilibrium point that existed before the wave was present.
Therefore, classical wave mechanics, if extrapolated to four *spatial* dimensions tells us a force would be developed by the differential displacements caused by a matter wave moving on a “surface” of three-dimensional space with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension which will result in its elevated and depressed portions moving towards or become “attracted” to each other.
This would define the causality of the attractive forces of unlike charges associated with the electromagnetic wave component of a photon because it tells us a force would be developed by a differential displacement of a point on a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
However, it also provides a classical mechanism for understanding why similar charges repel each other because observations of water show that there is a direct relationship between the magnitudes of a displacement in its surface to the magnitude of the force resisting that displacement.
Similarly the magnitude of a displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension caused by two similar charges will be greater than that caused by a single one. Therefore, similar charges will repel each other because the magnitude of the force resisting the displacement will be greater for two similar charges than it would be for a single charge.
One can define the causality of electrical component of an electromagnetic wave in terms of the energy associated with the “peaks” and “troughs” that is directed perpendicular to its velocity vector while its magnetic component would be associated with the horizontal force developed by that perpendicular displacement.
However, Classical Mechanics tells us a horizontal force will be developed by that perpendicular or vertical displacement which will always be 90 degrees out of phase with it. This force is called magnetism.
This is analogous to how the vertical force pushing up of on mountain also generates a horizontal force, which pulls matter horizontally towards from the apex of that displacement
The reason electromagnetic energy is observed to be made up of discrete quantized units called photons and not a continuous wave is because, as mentioned earlier article “Why is energy/mass quantized?“ showed the energy of a matter wave forms resonant “system” formed in four dimensional space. Therefore, its energy will propagated in the quantized resonant systems called photons.
Yet if it is true that electromagnetic waves are propagated in a continuous field of energy/mass it would affect our present understanding of the evolution of the universe because most of them are based on the fact that light does not interact with space.
In 1929 Edwin Hubble observed the characteristic colors, or spectral lines emitted by the stars in the galaxies do not have exactly the same wavelengths observed in the laboratory; rather they are systematically shifted to longer wavelengths, toward the red end of the spectrum.
He correctly assumed this change in the observed frequency of light occurs in part because its source i.e. galaxies and observer are in motion relative to each other, with the frequency increasing when the source and observer approach each other and decreasing when they move apart. Therefore, he assumed the red shift he observed in the spectrum of galaxies meant that they were moving way.
However, he also found the further a galaxy is away from the Earth the larger its redshift and therefore its recessional velocity form the Earth is proportional to their distance from it. Astronomers still use the formula called Hubble law he derived from these observations to predict the rate at which the universe is expanding. It states that it is directly related to distance times a constant known as the Hubble Constant.
Yet, as mentioned earlier the existence of Dark Matter or a continuous non-quantized field of energy/mass would affect our understanding of the evolution of the universe because it would interact with the wave properties of a photon causing them to be red shifted thereby reducing the magnitude of the distance predicted by that law.
This “Tired Light” concept of the energy loss associated with the red shifting of photons by its interaction with space has been dismissed by many because no Compton scattering is observed in them.
Compton scattering is a type of scattering that X-rays and gamma rays undergo in matter. The inelastic scattering of photons in matter results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of an X-ray or gamma ray photon, called the Compton Effect. Part of the energy of the X/gamma ray is transferred to a scattering electron, which recoils and is ejected from its atom (which becomes ionized), and the rest of the energy is taken by the scattered, “degraded” photon.
Many feel it demonstrates that light cannot be explained purely as a wave phenomenon. Thomson scattering, the classical theory of an electromagnetic wave scattered by charged particles, cannot explain low intensity shifts in wavelength (Classically, light of sufficient intensity for the electric field to accelerate a charged particle to a relativistic speed will cause radiation-pressure recoil and an associated Doppler shift of the scattered light, but the effect would become arbitrarily small at sufficiently low light intensities regardless of wavelength.) Light must behave as if it consists of particles to explain the low-intensity Compton scattering. Compton’s experiment convinced physicists that light can behave as a stream of particle-like objects (quanta) whose energy is proportional to the frequency.
The reason why many astronomers believe the entire redshift of a star is the result of its movement away from an observer is, as just mentioned classical theory of charged particles interacting with an electromagnetic wave, cannot explain any shift in wavelength.
Therefore, if the red shift was caused by a particle interaction one should observed Compton scattering in red shifted light. Since no Compton scattering is observed in light coming from a star it is assumed by many astronomers it can only be caused by the movement of an object away from an observer because as mentioned earlier it is the only way they can explain it.
Yet one can show why low intensity shifts in wavelength of photons can occur when they interacted with a continuous non-quantized form of energy/mass in terms of Classical wave mechanics if one assumes as was done in the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” that their quantum mechanical properties are a result of a matter wave in a continuous non-quantized field of energy/mass. This is because the velocity of electromagnetic energy is constant while that of an electron is not. Therefore, the only way to alter the energy, direction or momentum of light is by “degrading” or changing its wavelength. Yet, if the electromagnetic and particle properties of both a photon and electron are a result of a matter wave is as suggested by that article then classical wave mechanics could define their interaction in terms of the interference of their electromagnetic wave properties. However this also tells us their scattering at very low light intensities could take on any arbitrarily small value for both an electron and a photon regardless of wavelength.
In other words if it is true that photons do interact with Dark Matter them we will have to reevaluate the distances calculated by Hubble’s law and our understanding of the evolution the universe which is based on it.
Later Jeff
Copyright Jeffrey O’Callaghan 2012