Cosmic oddity casts doubt on theory of universe

[indigobusiness]

Cosmic oddity casts doubt on theory of universe

By DAN FALK
Saturday, January 29, 2005 -


A new analysis of the "echo" of the Big Bang has left cosmologists scratching their heads and could throw a monkey wrench into efforts to understand how the universe began.

U.S. and European scientists analyzed the distribution of "hot" and "cold" regions -- areas that are putting out greater or less amounts of energy than the average -- of the cosmic microwave background radiation (the so-called echo). What they found was unexpected: an apparent correlation between those hot and cold spots and the orientation and motion of our solar system.

"All of this is mysterious," says Glenn Starkman, a Canadian physicist based at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and one of the authors of a recent paper in Physical Review Letters that outlined the finding. "And the strange thing is, the more you delve into it, the more mysteries you find."

The study, by Case Western scientists and the European Centre for Nuclear Research in Geneva, is based on data from the WMAP satellite, the NASA spacecraft that began mapping the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation in fine detail in 2001.

The observed correlation is troubling on several fronts.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050129/BANG29/TPScience/

[autorank]

1. Strap on your seat belts and get ready for a ...

PARADIGM SHIFT Thomas Kuhn, the ultimate theorist...because change is the only constant.

I'm tired of the Big Bang, inflation theory anyway. Let's replicate these findings and think up something new.

-----
indigobusiness, hope life is treating you well.

[indigobusiness]

3. Thanks, Autorank.

You too.

[lazarus]

2. Here's a snippet

"There is, however, another possibility: The patterns seen by Dr. Starkman and his colleagues might simply be a fluke -- an accidental alignment between the solar system and patterns in the CMB radiation."

In an infinite universe, blah blah blah.....

We're pattern-seeking animals; we often put too much emphasis on perceived patterns.

[autorank]

4. Yes, and we reason by analogy. I wonder what the first analogy was?

[pmbryant]

5. This is minor compared to...

the fact that we have no clue what makes up over 70% of the Universe (so-called "Dark Energy").

--Peter

[aneerkoinos]

6. Indeed

It does not cease to amaze me that so many people are willing to believe in the huge amounts dark energy and matter rather than question the validity of those theories that the prediction of the dark stuff is based on... :)

Well, to my understanding e.g. Doubly Special Relativity, which is currently the strongest candidate to dethrone Einstein, does not need to make such prediction.