Dark forces at work

[unixronin]

This XKCD strip, and the "dark flow" astronomical discovery it reports, raise a very interesting issue.

Current conventional wisdom in physics says that the gravitational force is carried by a particle of some kind, and propagates no faster than C.  Conventional wisdom in physics also says that because of this, objects beyond the edge of the observable universe cannot affect us gravitationally, as gravitational force carriers from them can never reach us (any more than their light can).

If every galaxy we can observe, regardless of direction, is being pulled towards one region of the sky, and if this is the action of a supermassive object beyond the edge of the observable universe, it would imply that the conventional wisdom is not the case, and gravity is not in fact limited to the speed of light.

To say the least, the possible implications of this revelation would be interesting.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

if all of space has a shape, like a bowl, things tends to go "down" sooner or later according to one thought; the gravity well. something typically has to be at the bottom of the well do "shape space"... works great in models for small things like planets and sun and ...

now, what if space has a trickier idea? space could be say, a closed sphere, which provides a "bottom" from a higher plane view, but really to everyone, it's flat but wraps around. okay, now you have local wells, but effectively, they're all uphill from "the big one", which eventually...

how about something different, like a torus? or multi-fold such. mmm.

i wonder if it's possible to notice the draggings, and see if they slew to conform odd space, or due to the flatlander effect, it's impossible to tell without vantage. mmm. not enough coffee.

that reminds me, that's a great movie i have not seen yet - flatland.

#

[smandal.livejournal.com]

The Friedmann-Walker solution to Einstein's equations which is the "standard model" of Big Bang cosmology has no "well," and itself admits spherical, parabolic and hyperbolic topologies in 4D spacetime.

So if there's a "well," our Big Bang cosmology is called into question. Which is odd, because nothing else simple fits the data.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

A few issues here:

* Not everyone is happy with the methodology used by those reporting this result. We'll see how that shakes out, and the finer data from the upcoming Planck satellite may give a clear-cut answer.

* You can have superluminal disturbances in Einstein gravity, but not in the Newtonian limit. There are theories of modified gravity with superluminal perturbations, but they have other defects that make them untenable.

* An alternative explanation consistent with Einstein gravity is that disturbances during an era of cosmic inflation might not have been symmetric. Part of this disturbance is now outside our horizon, creating this "dark flow."

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Not everyone is happy with the methodology used by those reporting this result. We'll see how that shakes out, and the finer data from the upcoming Planck satellite may give a clear-cut answer.

Yeah. Note the generous use of "if" and "would". :)

off-topic, but...

[msa.livejournal.com]

speaking of change, and dark forces:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082225/March-dustbin-Stasi-Half-councils-use-anti-terror-laws-watch-people-putting-rubbish-wrong-day.html?ITO=1490

The shocking way in which the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - an anti-terror law - is being used was revealed through freedom of information requests made by the Daily Mail.
-snip-
In Lincolnshire, West Lindsey District Council uses the new powers to place motion-activated cameras on lamp posts to catch homeowners putting their bins out at the wrong time.

Figured you'd find this amusing/depressing.

Re: off-topic, but...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that the other day. I can't say the mission creep surprises me.

And people insisted Orwell was wrong.