Infinities in Cosmology

A viable alternative to cosmological inflation is provided by the combined theory of quiescent cosmology and the Weyl curvature hypothesis. We augment the conformal framework of this theory by incorporating the spacetime property of self-similarity. A generalisation of the conformal Killing equation is developed as a definition of asymptotic self-similarity for use in the framework; we derive several propositions and theorems that facilitate the application of this definition, and demonstrate asymptotic self-similarity for FLRW and other models. We also detail the conditions under which self-similarity is preserved by conformal transformations, and investigate its relationship to other symmetry properties in the framework.

There have been many ideas and speculation about the age and origin of the Universe. There are four major discoveries that have led us to believe that the universe started in a giant explosion about 13 billion years ago. These include the fact that the sky is dark at night, that galaxies expand away from us, that if we look far enough we can see the birth, and that the amount of helium is consistent with this explosion picture. These four discoveries are described and discussed.

Cosmology is not limited to the questions of the origin and the end of all beings or to the law and order of the universe from the perspective of modern sciences. One can perceive cosmology as a knowledge model of the universe which sets in a non-Western model of knowing. The Sundanese cosmology is an example of this model. Instead of mathematical and physical explanation, it focuses on the mythological description of the universe. Such description can be found in narrative poems ( pantun ) and pious lessons. This paper observes the non-western knowledge model and puts it in its context, which is geographically equivalent to Southern and Eastern Asia. An overview of the Rig Veda and Daodejing is included to describe the cosmological models in these cultural contexts. The Sundanese cosmology reverberates these models. An elaboration of Sundanese narrative poems and an old Sundanese manuscript, Sewaka Darma , indicates the similarities of the Sundanese cosmology to the cultural contexts and the knowledge models referred to. The Sundanese model enacts ‘mountain’ and the metaphor of ‘filled nothingness’ as the cosmological model. The Sundanese cosmological model portrays a down-upward journey to experience ‘moksa’ (the ultimate enlightment). This journey utilizes meditative practices and everyday deeds by means of our social and cultural roles.

One difficulty with spacetime theories is the absence of falsifications tests. Because the observer is part of quantum mechanics (QM) and therefore an obligatory part of cosmological theories that incorporate QM, the neurological sciences have a legitimate role. We examined six different QM based cosmological theories. They make implications about various aspects of the flow of time (FOT)--the past/present/future experience including subjective dynamism). First, a distinction is made between the FOT and the physical passage of time (POT), the occurrence of a new physical event at the periphery of an expanding universe. Four theories suggesting a real POT are the Evolving Block Universe, the Spacetime Dynamics Theory, Causal Set Cosmology; and Muller’s cosmology. However, they retain the past/present components of the Block Universe and imply that the upper level FOT (the experience that the ‘present’ is unique) is illusory. A falsification experiment is proposed utilizing Hartle’s proposed Information and Gathering and Utilizing Systems (IGUSs), which have different experiences of the ‘present’. A virtual reality IGUS which can experientially navigate between past and present is suggested. It could confirm their implication that the experience of past/present events is not unique (i.e., it is a variable cognition). Barbour’s timeless theory involves relative configuration spaces which contain enough information to provide an illusory dynamic scene. That experience of dynamism within that scene is said to be an illusion. A second falsification experiment is proposed to remove dynamism suggesting it is an irrelevant experience. It involves intermittent stimulation of the newly discovered consciousness center (the claustrum) to create brief intervals of unconsciousness. Doing this precludes the recently discovered ‘happening’ percept which can account for the entirely of dynamism (the lower level FOT). The negative implication for Temporal Naturalism in the Cosmological Natural Selection theory is briefly discussed.

Through a network of allusions to cosmological principles, mythological events, and Roman monuments, Ovid structures his guide to female bodily care and makeup in Book 3 of the Ars amatoria as an imago mundi, or a microcosmic description of the world similar to those found on divinely bestowed shields in epic. In doing so, Ovid invites us to think through the ramifications of developing a cosmetic cosmology for the mundus muliebris, or “women’s world,” as the female toilette is denoted in Roman literature. This irreverent experiment in gendered cosmopoiesis has important philosophical consequences. Such a cosm(et)ology transgresses the division between reality and representation that typically characterizes ekphrastic depictions of the cosmos. Indeed, Ovid’s imago mundi muliebris is not so much a copy of the world as a guidebook for how to “put on” the world in a community of other women doing the same thing. In this way, Ovid playfully co-opts Stoicizing notions of oikeiōsis: the practitioner of his ars is capable of coming to be at home in the cosmos from the comfort of her own boudoir.

In cosmological special relativity theory, we study Maxwell equations, electromagnetic wave equations and functions. In the cosmological special theory of relativity, we study energy-momentum relations, the Klein-Gordon equation and wave functions. If we solve the Klein-Gordon equation, we obtain the Yukawa potential in the cosmological inertial frame. We derive the Schrodinger equation from Klein-Gordon free particle’s wave function in the cosmological special theory of relativity. We derive the uncertainty principle in cosmological quantum mechanics in cosmological special relativity theory. The Dirac equation is a one order wave equation. The wave function is used as a probability amplitude in quantum mechanics. We derive the Dirac equation from the wave function, Type A in the cosmological inertial frame. The Dirac equation satisfies the Klein-Gordon equation in the cosmological inertial frame. We found equations of complex scalar fields and electromagnetic fields on the interaction of complex scalar fields and electromagnetic fields in Klein-Gordon-Maxwell theory from Type A of the wave function and Type B of the expanded distance in the cosmological inertial frame. In the cosmological special theory of relativity, we quantized the Klein-Gordon scalar field. We treat the Lagrangian density and Hamiltonian in a quantized Klein-Gordon scalar field. We address the particle’s force and kinetic energy in the cosmological special theory of relativity. In the expanded universe, we found the gravity field equation and solution. We found the Schwarzschild solution and Kerr-Newman solution in an expanded universe. Hence, we found a new general relativity theory-the Cosmological General Theory of Relativity (CGTR).

On December 26, 2004, more than 220,000 people perished amid the gigantic tsunami in southern Asia. Afterwards, many people in the world have been deeply shocked by the tininess and nothingness of the human being who possesses little or no power in managing the erratic movement of the cosmos. Such an unprecedented natural disaster demonstrates to many, thus, the ruthless and merciless aspects in this disunity and disharmony between the cosmos and humanity. Many also feel that the universe as such holds hardly any comprehensible meaning and goal. Without doubt, this perspective reflects the very helplessness and hopelessness of the modern materialistic Weltanschauung or cosmology towards the universe. On the other hand, we know that Zhu Xi is perhaps the most famous thinker and educator after Confucius. He is incredible broad and deep, affecting hundreds of generations. If so, what contributions can his thought make to the modern materialistic and narrow-minded cosmology? The author, therefore, would like to introduce briefly first Zhu Xi's li-qi cosmology in this initial inquiry. Afterwards, he would compare it with the materialistic cosmology of Carl Sagan (1934-1966). Through this simple comparison, we may find out some of the possible contributions which Zhu Xi's li-qi cosmology would make to the modern materialistic cosmology. At the same time, the serious deficiency of the latter may also be complemented.

Partons and the Origin of the Universe

The environmental ethic of the Kanekes people lies in their world view of the navel of the universe (inti jagat), namely Sasaka Pusaka Buana which two primary events took place in a locality they refered to: the origin of the universe and the first humankind who was descended to the earth. The Kanekes people were entrusted to maintain the navel of the universe by a God (Batara Tunggal), and their ancestors (karuhun). Therefore within the moral system of the Kanekes People, the cosmos is regarded as a moral subject, like the human. The environmental ethic of the Kanekes people originates rom their philosophical views and culture, on which they establishes the foundations of their environmental ethic. Then from those bases, the Kanekes people formulates their environmental moral norms, which consist of proximate and ultimate norm. The proximate norms of their morality are their being congruent with the sacredness of the cosmos and Kanekes as the navel of the universe; their being congruent with the holiness of the human soul, which should be maintained; their being congruent with the tradition and the belief of their ancestors; the principles of modest life and the exploitation of things only when necessary. These proximate norms culminated to the ultimate norm which constitutes the origin and the goal of mankind, i.e. God. Keywords: environmental ethic, ecology, Urang Kanekes, the navel of the universe, indigenous society, Sunda Wiwitan.

Philoponus on the origins of the universe and other issues

The Chu Silk Manuscript is the earliest and most complete astronomical text from ancient China. Part I of the Chu Silk Manuscript is a rare pre-Qin text that makes cosmological myths available in a complete version. This paper attempts to explore the mythological types and symbolic structures of the cosmogonic myth in the Chu Silk Manuscript, from the points of view of comparative mythology and motive analysis. Cosmological myths can be divided into two stages: the first stage is the creation from chaos; the second stage is the re-creation of differentiated order by the gods. Therefore, this paper also further analyzes the relationship between cosmogonic and social order. The cosmogonic myths in the pre-Qin Chu Silk Manuscript still have their original and symbolic power and efficacy. They explain not only the origin of the Chu people's universe, but also the creation of the earth, the appearance of the seasons, the sun and the moon, as well as other astronomical explorations. There is a rich store of observation of astronomical phenomena and of mythological imagination. The cosmogonic mythology of Part I of the Chu Silk Manuscript does have some archetypical motifs known from world cosmological myths, showing some cross-cultural similarities; but generally, its concept of the sacred numbers that constitute order, and its spiritual cosmogony really give it an intensively Warring States period Chu style, that is unique to the culture that produced it. The basis for symbolic thinking in Chu culture was not only those elements of cosmogonic myth that could lead to explicit astronomical and philosophical principles, but also the overall concept of world order.

Flat space cosmology is a recently introduced cosmological model which appears to be a useful heuristic model for correlating current astronomical observations. Based upon a few number of reasonable initial assumptions, our cosmological model universe is always flat and yet it shows a remarkably robust inflationary expansion effect within a tiny fraction of the first second of universal time. Our thermodynamic formula closely resembles Hawking’s black hole temperature formula, and yet it appears to correlate closely with cosmic temperature vs. time derivations from experiments in particle physics. Lastly, our model supports recent credible challenges to the current concept of dark energy.

Analysis of cosmic data is the only way to determine whether General Relativity is the law of gravity also on the largest scales in our Universe. The current standard model of cosmology, ΛCDM, is based on General Relativity, and fits all currently available data flawlessly. However, theoretical dissatisfaction with ΛCDM exists: cosmological data probe gravitational interactions, and ΛCDM fits the data only because it introduces two components of startling gravitional behaviour, the cosmological constant, Λ, and cold dark matter (CDM). The cosmological constant has a suspiciously small value when regarded from the perspective of quantum field theories, and cold dark matter has so far not been detected in any experiment of particle physics. This thesis examines the cosmological standard model from the vantage point of statistics. A non-Gaussian likelihood approximation is presented and the need of an unbiased mechanism for dealing with estimated covariance matrices is addressed. Concerning neutrinos, a previously existent parameterization bias in the analysis of the cosmic microwave background is resolved. Using weak lensing and type Ia supernova data of the next generation, it is estimated how much can be learned about dark energy from these future data sets.

The topic of the article is reconstruction of the correlation between cosmos and harmony in Empedocles’ cosmology, as well as the analogy between the pattern of cosmic periods and the changes of socio-cultural circumstances in Sicily at the end of 6th-first half of 5th BC. Two contradictions within reconstruction of Empedocles’ cosmology were pointed out in the article. Both were eliminated by means of suggested interpretation of Sphairon as the unity, but not the one, unlike taken into account researchers. It’s argued that the Empedocles’ cosmos as a whole isn’t harmonious, as far as only Sphairon’s period is harmonious. The sameness between the pattern of cosmic periods and the changes of socio-cultural context is emphasized. It’s maintained similarity firstly between features of Sphairon’s period and Empedocles’ childhood-youth period, and secondary between the period when Sphairon is disintegrating and the period of Empedocles’ life after tyrants of Syracuse and Acragas died.

Theories of spin-2 fields take on a particular role in modern physics. They do not only describe the mediation of gravity, the only theory of fundamental interactions of which no quantum field theoretical description exists, it furthermore was thought that they necessarily predict massless gauge bosons. Just recently, a consistent theory of a massive graviton was constructed and, subsequently, generalized to a bimetric theory of two interacting spin-2 fields. This thesis studies both the viability and consequences at cosmological scales in massive gravity as well as bimetric theories. We show that all consistent models that are free of gradient and ghost instabilities behave like the cosmological standard model, LCDM. In addition, we construct a new theory of massive gravity which is stable at both classical background and quantum level, even though it suffers from the Boulware-Deser ghost.