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This started with a prediction I made back in 2015. But before we get to the fulfillment, let me give you a little context for the prediction.
The Big Bang theory has a number of unsolvable problems. Unsolvable, that is, if you restrict yourselves to the laws of physics. The problems - some of which I'll review shortly - are so severe they are enough to disprove the theory. But the Big Bang theory is, for all practical purposes, secular religion. It is the origin story for those who refuse to believe the Biblical account. Thus they will not give it up. For any reason. Even if the evidence clearly indicates otherwise.
So what do secular scientists do when the evidence proves the Big Bang to be false? They make up stories. Stories they call science. Never mind they have no evidence for them, can't test them, and can't quantify them. Never mind that all they can do is tell us to believe since they cannot prove it scientifically. This, for them is the holy grail of cosmic origin stories, and therefore they'll not let it go. I mentioned problems with the big bang, so let me give you some examples.
Some Big Bang Problems
The Big Bang can't explain why the temperature of the cosmic microwave background is so even (uniform to between 1 part in 10,000 and 1 part in 100,000[1]. This is called the Horizon Problem.) Nor can it explain the predicted but missing magnetic monopoles. So what do they do? They made up a story to explain away the problem. This unproven story is called Cosmic Inflation. (More on that here.)
The Big Bang cannot explain the mystery of galaxies at the farthest reaches of the universe orbiting 10 times faster than expected, as discovered by Fritz Zwicky and Vera Rubin. Scientists suppose the unexpected high speed is due to unseen matter exerting a force on those fast moving galaxies. How did they explain it? They made up a story. Thus the origin of Dark Matter. Matter that's out there and exerting a force, but we can't see it, so it's "dark."
The Big Bang has problems with internal consistency. With only starlight to work with, scientists have a hard time measuring the age of the universe, and how fast it is expanding. There's good evidence to suggest their standard methods of measuring star age and distance are riddled with bad assumptions, and unsubstantiated conclusions.[2]
Given their current methods of measuring expansion, scientists have two problems: 1) The universe is expanding faster than expected. and 2) The universe turns out to be younger than stars in our own galaxy. This has been noted by scientists who object to excessive big bang story telling.[3] To fix these two problems Big bang scientists have come up with another hypothetical, unseen, undetectable entity: Dark Energy
So that's a little background on how Big Bang theorists deal with Big Bang problems - they make up stories or entities to keep the theory alive. Back in August of 2015 I highlighted evidence being investigated and reported on by two separate sets of researchers. The evidence suggests that the earth sits in the center of massive, galactic sized ring of galaxies. If true this is bad news because the big bang requires that the universe be homogeneous and isotropic. Homogeneous refers to the assumption that matter in the universe is evenly distributed throughout. Isotropic means that when looking at a sufficiently large scale, the universe should look the same in all directions. So regardless of the direction you look in, the universe should look the same. This is known as the Cosmological principle. But if in fact we are sitting in the center of massive galactic ring of galaxies - that poses problems for the big bang. First, it invalidates the theory because the universe would not be homogenous and isotropic. Second there would be a structure to the universe that should not be there. The Big Bang - as proposed - does not allow for such a structure.
More importantly than invalidating the theory, such evidence would require an explanation - if theorist want to keep the theory alive as we know they do. But such an explanation was not part of the theory as it existed at the time. So I predicted scientists would come up with some story to explain these new observations: why there is a structure to the universe, and why - if the initial evidence is correct - the earth is sitting in the center of this structure.
A Fairy tale solution
As predicted, scientists have worked to save their beloved theory. They have come up with a new story, though the hero is a familiar one. Drum roll please - and the hero is: Dark matter. But in this incarnation Dark Matter solves so many problems its no mere hero. It takes on the aura of a bonafide superhero. And it is helped in one feat by another storied hero from the past: Cosmic Inflation. Here is a list of problems remaining (even after Inflation had done its initial magic in the old school explanation) that the new hero must address and conquer:
- Not enough Mass to create stars from
- Not enough gravity to make the gas in the universe collapse into stars
- The universe was too smooth to initiate a gravitational collapse
- And of course: there is a structure to the universe - formed by filaments. As astronomer Michelle Thaller explains:
"One of the most amazing discoveries of these last few years is that galaxies form these vast super structures - that actually span the known universe. The 'great wall' is a filament of galaxies that stretches hundreds of millions of light years."[4]
This structure was not predicted by the Big Bang in its initial incarnation, so it's very problematic. But with the introduction of the new superhero - Dark Matter - all these problems are taken care of:
- According to the Big Bang, there is not
enough mass to make the stars - so our invisible, unseen super hero
Dark Matter supplies the needed matter
- There is not enough gravity to make dust
and the early elements Hydrogen and Helium collapse into stars. In
fact scientists have determined that stars will not form under the
initial conditions of the big bang as original proposed - which
means according to the initial theory -we shouldn't be here. But no
problem now, our undetectable but powerful super hero Dark Matter provides
the needed additional gravity.
- The universe was too smooth to start any type of gravitational collapse. No way to get things (like star formation) going. But our new super hero Dark Matter is not bound by the constraints of normal matter. It is free to make fluctuations - increased areas of gravity "grooves" - sufficient to allow the hypothetical dark matter to begin the needed gravitational collapse.
- And of course regarding the large scale
structures that shouldn't exist, and in fact didn't even have enough time
to be created according to standard big bang theory, Dr. Thaller
explains that fix too:
"Now this is such a huge structure we don't think there's enough time in the universe for matter's gravity alone to do this. There must have been an underlying scaffold of dark matter."[5]
Michelle Thaller
There you have it. Once again, dark matter is the hero, making the impossible possible. In this case working hand in hand with the equally hypothetical, invisible, undetected and impossible entity - Cosmic Inflation. Here's how they work together to produce the observed structure that spans the universe:
- Dark matter in the initial fractions of a second after the singularity (for which the big bang is named) - creates tiny fluctuations - "grooves" of tiny, high gravity areas - as only dark matter can.
- Then inflation begins and it expands these fluctuations across the universe creating a web like structure of filaments. If we are to believe big bang inflationary theory, "the universe supposedly expanded 10 to the 78th power (1078) in volume in one quintillionth of a femtosecond."[6] That would make the speed of the inflationary expansion multiple orders of magnitude faster than the speed of light. An impossibility according to the physics of Einstein. So with inflation, it doesn't matter if the dark matter fluctuations are small. Inflation is there to magnify and spread it out across the entire universe. And thus the web like structure is spread across the entire universe.
- At the junction of these filaments is where galaxies tend to form in this scenario.
Thus as triumphal music begins to play at the close of this superhero movie, Dark Matter takes credits as the hero in the title role - solving all the lingering problems for the Big Bang theory. And in true superhero fashion it itself remains mysterious - a secretive, unproven, hypothetical substance: unseen, undetected, unverified. But mysteries are for another day. For today, according to the Big Bang gang, Dark matter is triumphant, taking all credit for saving the big bang story. It is now so central to the story, that it created the stars, the galaxies, even us. (The speculation is the atoms of our bodies may be made up from atoms created as the result of dark matter particles colliding, annihilating each other and creating regular matter - that found its way to us.) And thus scientists can conclude:
"Dark matter created the large scale structure of our universe. It may have even created the atoms that make up your body. But it remains a mystery because we can't see it, feel it or measure it directly."[7]
So there you have it: the further expansion of
the big bang fairy tale. Granted - they did not mention the ringed
structure by name, but they unequivocally mentioned the "large scale
structure" that "spans the known universe." And just as it's easy
to explain tracks in the ground once you identify the animal making
them, it will be easy to explain circular tracks in the sky now that
they've identified the big bang hero that will have made them: Dark Matter.
And so I'm calling this prediction - fulfilled.
Duane Caldwell |March 8, 2019
Follow @rationalupdates
Related Articles
The Coming Big Bang Fairytale
The Expanding Big Bang Fairytale
Notes
1. As viewed
in the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe) data per
astrophysicist David Spergle.
Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman episode "What happened before the
beginning?" Science Channel documentary, 2010
Back
2. For more
on the problems measuring the age of stars and the universe,
see my article "Age
of the universe: 13.75 Billion years- Fact or Faith
statement?"
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3. Signers of the Big Bang critical statement "An Open Letter to the Scientific Community" published in New Scientist on May 22, 2004 state:
"...the theory predicts that the universe is only about 8 billion years old, which is billions of years younger than the age of many stars in our galaxy."
You can read the entire
statement here:
http://rationalfaith.com/archive/AnOpenLetterToTheScientificCommunity_archive.htm|
Back
4. Michelle
Thaller, ref. from - How The Universe Works - episode "The Dark
Matter Enigma", Science Channel Documentary, 2016
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5. Michelle
Thaller, ref from:. How The Universe Works episode "Dark Universe The Deadly Mystery"
Science Channel documentary, 2019
Back
6.
Evolution's Achille's Heel, Creation Ministries
International, DVD documentary, 2014
"in one quintillionth of a femtosecond." For context:
An
attosecond (1x10-18) is equal to one
quintillionth of a second
1 attosecond is the time it takes light to travel the length
of two hydrogen atoms
A
femtosecond is the unit of time equal to 10−15
seconds
So according to cosmic inflation, the universe expanded 1078
(10 to the 78th power) in volume in 10-33
seconds; or put another way, the universe expanded 1078
in volume in 15 orders of magnitude less time than it takes
light to travel the distance of two hydrogen atoms. Clearly
the inflationary expansion was multiple orders of magnitude
faster than the speed of light - even though according to
Einstein, nothing can move faster than the speed of light.
Back
7. Narrator,
How The Universe Works episode "Dark Universe The Deadly Mystery"
Science Channel documentary, 2019
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Image
All images used by permission
Featured:
Businessman Superhero With Sunset In City © Romolo Tavani
| Fotolia Adapted by Duane Caldwell