Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T21:47:30.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Expanding Space: the Root of all Evil?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Matthew J. Francis*
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Luke A. Barnes
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Rd, Cambridge, UK
J. Berian James
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Institute for Astronomy, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
Geraint F. Lewis
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
*
DCorresponding author. Email: mfrancis@physics.usyd.edu.au
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

While it remains the staple of virtually all cosmological teaching, the concept of expanding space in explaining the increasing separation of galaxies has recently come under fire as a dangerous idea whose application leads to the development of confusion and the establishment of misconceptions. In this paper we develop a notion of expanding space that is completely valid as a framework for the description of the evolution of the universe and whose application allows an intuitive understanding of the influence of universal expansion. We also demonstrate how arguments against the concept in general have failed thus far, as they imbue expanding space with physical properties not consistent with the expectations of general relativity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2007

References

Abramowicz, M. A., Bajtlik, S., Lasota, J.-P. & Moudens, A., 2006, ArXiv e-prints, astro-ph/0612155Google Scholar
Barnes, L., Francis, M. J., James, J. B. & Lewis, G. F., 2006, MNRAS, 373, 382 Google Scholar
Carrera, M. & Giulini, D., 2006 (astro-ph/0602098)Google Scholar
Chodorowski, M., 2006, Concepts Phys, 4, 17 Google Scholar
Chodorowski, M., 2006, MNRAS, 378, 239 Google Scholar
Davis, T. M. & Lineweaver, C. H., 2004, PASA, 21, 97 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, T. M., Lineweaver, C. H. & Webb, J. K., 2001, Am. J. Phys., 71, 358 Google Scholar
Dicke, R. H. & Peebles, P. J., 1964, PhRvL, 12, 435 Google Scholar
Grøn, O. & Elgarøy, O., 2006, Am. J. Phys., in press (astroph/0603162)Google Scholar
Harrison, E. R., 1995, ApJ, 446, 63 Google Scholar
Harrison, E., 2000, ‘Cosmology: The Science of the Universe’ (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Hobson, M. P., Efstathiou, G. P. & Lasenby, A. N., 2005, ‘General Relativity: An Introduction for Physicists’ (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Lieu, R., 2007, ArXiv e-prints, astro-ph:0705.2462Google Scholar
Page, D., 1993, ArXiv e-prints, gr-qc:9303008Google Scholar
Rees, M. J. & Weinberg, S., 1993, New Scientist, 1869, 32 Google Scholar
Tipler, F. J., 1996, MNRAS, 282, 206 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiting, A. B., 2004, Obs, 124, 174 Google Scholar
Weinberg, S., 1972, Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity (Wiley-VCH)Google Scholar