Part VI: Cosmology

The Observations

Distant galaxies exhibit redshift proportional to their distance. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation fills the universe uniformly at 2.725 K. The geometry of space is flat to high precision. The universe appears homogeneous and isotropic at large scales. Radiometric dating of Earth, Moon, and meteorites consistently yields ages of approximately 4.6 billion years.

The Standard Interpretation

Standard cosmology posits a Big Bang — an initial singularity of infinite density approximately 13.8 billion years ago — from which space, time, and matter emerged. The universe has been expanding ever since, stretching wavelengths (causing redshift) and cooling the primordial radiation to the observed CMB temperature. The 13.8 billion year age derives from the Hubble radius: if light travels at c and the observable universe extends 13.8 billion light-years, the universe must be 13.8 billion years old.

This model faces several puzzles: the horizon problem (why distant regions have identical properties despite never being in causal contact), the flatness problem (why geometry is so precisely flat, requiring fine-tuned initial conditions), and the monopole problem (why predicted magnetic monopoles are absent). Cosmic inflation — a period of exponential expansion in the first fraction of a second — is invoked to solve these problems.

The PSK Interpretation: An Eternal Universe

The universe has no age. PSK proposes that the universe is eternal — infinite in both past and future duration, infinite in spatial extent. Spatial densification has been occurring forever, from infinitely sparse space in the infinite past, through every density state, continuing into the infinite future.

The question "how old is the universe?" has no answer in PSK. It is malformed, like asking "what is north of the North Pole?" The universe did not begin. It has no age. Time did not start.

Matter has existed eternally — first as contiguous primordial plasma filling infinitely sparse space, now as separated structures with voids between them. What changed was not the existence of matter but its configuration.

The Critical Density Transition

Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, spatial density reached a critical threshold. At this transition:

Voids first appeared between matter. The primordial plasma differentiated into discrete structures. Atoms became possible as distinct entities with space between them. Chemistry began. Radioactive decay clocks started.

Before the critical threshold, there were no discrete atoms to undergo radioactive decay. The very concept of "separate particles" did not apply — matter was contiguous. Radiometric clocks could not run because there were no discrete nuclei to decay.

The Hubble Radius vs. Cosmic Age

Standard cosmology conflates two numbers: 13.8 billion light-years and 13.8 billion years. This conflation treats a spatial measure as a temporal one.

The Hubble radius (13.8 billion light-years) is the distance at which recession velocity equals c. It is the horizon — the boundary of causal connectivity in the present density state. It tells us about the geometry of the present, not the duration of the past.

The time since critical density (4.6 billion years) is the duration since matter achieved spatial separation — since atoms became possible, chemistry began, and radioactive clocks started.

Matter 13.8 billion light-years away was always approximately that far away in terms of relative position. It did not travel there from some common origin point. The positions of matter did not change dramatically at the critical threshold; what changed was the density of space, revealing voids between matter that was always distributed across vast distances.

Radiometric Evidence

Radiometric dating of Earth, Moon, and meteorites consistently yields ages of approximately 4.6 billion years. Standard cosmology interprets this as "when the solar system formed" — a local event within a 13.8 billion year old universe.

PSK offers a different interpretation: 4.6 billion years marks the critical density threshold — when matter universally achieved spatial separation. The radiometric clocks throughout the cosmos all started simultaneously. We date to 4.6 billion years not because our solar system happened to form then, but because discrete atoms became possible anywhere only then.

If PSK is correct, radiometric dating of any material anywhere in the universe would yield approximately 4.6 billion years. No sample could be older, because radioactive decay requires discrete atoms, which did not exist before the critical threshold.

A recent test: In September 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu — primordial material that has remained largely unaltered since the early solar system. Radiometric analysis dated these samples to approximately 4.5-4.6 billion years, consistent with Earth, Moon, and meteorite ages.

This result is consistent with both frameworks: standard cosmology interprets it as confirmation that Bennu formed with the rest of the solar system; PSK interprets it as confirmation that the critical density threshold occurred approximately 4.6 billion years ago. Had the Bennu samples dated to 8 billion years, or 2 billion years, or any age significantly different from 4.6 billion years, PSK would be falsified. The framework predicts a hard ceiling — no radiometrically dated sample can exceed the age of the critical threshold. The Bennu samples passed this test.

The stronger test remains: dating material from outside the solar system. An interstellar object, or eventually a sample from another star system, would provide a more decisive test. Standard cosmology predicts that some extrasolar material could date significantly older than 4.6 billion years — up to nearly 13.8 billion years for the most ancient stellar material. PSK predicts no such sample can exceed approximately 4.6 billion years, regardless of origin. This prediction is falsifiable, and future sample-return missions may provide the test.

Reconciling Two Timescales: A Summary

The reader may reasonably ask: if the critical density transition occurred 4.6 billion years ago, what about all the observations that seem to require 13.8 billion years? This apparent conflict deserves direct address.

What PSK claims:

• Matter is eternal. It has always existed, distributed across infinite space.

• Space has been densifying eternally at rate c.

• 4.6 billion years ago, spatial density crossed a threshold where discrete atoms became possible. Before this, matter was contiguous plasma with no voids between particles.

• The 13.8 billion light-year Hubble radius is a spatial measure — the distance at which recession velocity equals c — not a temporal one.

How PSK interprets key observations:

The Cosmic Microwave Background: Standard cosmology interprets the CMB as light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe cooled enough for atoms to form. PSK interprets the CMB as the thermal signature of the critical density transition — the state-mapping imprint of contiguous plasma achieving separation. It is not ancient light that has been traveling for 13.8 billion years; it is the geometric signature of the transition, visible from every point in space because the transition was universal.

High-redshift galaxies: Standard cosmology sees galaxies at z > 10 as young objects in the early universe. PSK sees them as objects at great distance, whose state-mapping connection dates from near the critical threshold. The redshift indicates density-state differential, not lookback time. These galaxies are not younger than nearby galaxies; they are farther away, and our causal connection to them originates from closer to the transition.

Heavy elements in distant objects: Standard cosmology requires stellar nucleosynthesis over billions of years to produce heavy elements. PSK suggests that elemental abundances reflect conditions at separation, not subsequent stellar processing. The distribution of elements throughout the cosmos may be a formation signature, not an evolutionary product. This is speculative and requires substantial development.

Stellar ages exceeding 4.6 billion years: Standard stellar evolution models date some stars at 12-13 billion years based on their position on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and metallicity. These ages are model-dependent, derived within the 13.8 billion year framework. PSK predicts no star can actually be older than 4.6 billion years. This is a testable conflict: if stellar age determinations are correct and model-independent, PSK is falsified. If they depend on assumptions that PSK challenges, the ages may require reinterpretation.

The essential distinction:

PSK does not claim that the universe began 4.6 billion years ago. It claims that the universe is eternal, and that a phase transition occurred 4.6 billion years ago — from contiguous plasma to discrete structure. Everything we observe as "cosmic history" is either (a) the structure of space at various distances, misinterpreted as time, or (b) the evolution of discrete matter since the transition. The 13.8 billion year figure describes the Hubble radius, not the age of existence.

This is a radical reinterpretation. It may be wrong. But it is not incoherent — it is a consistent alternative reading of the same observations, with different ontological commitments. The test is whether PSK can produce quantitative predictions that match observations as well as or better than standard cosmology. That work remains to be done.

The Observer-Independence Paradox Resolved

Standard cosmology creates a paradox: we observe distant galaxies and claim to see the "early universe." But observers in those distant galaxies, looking back at us, would by the same reasoning conclude that we are in their "early universe." Both cannot be true simultaneously.

PSK resolves this paradox. All matter achieved spatial separation simultaneously at the critical threshold. No observer is looking at an "earlier" universe than any other. The apparent "age" differences inferred from redshift are misinterpretations of spatial relationships as temporal ones.

Resolving Classical Cosmological Problems

The singularity: Eliminated. There is no infinite density point because matter was always finite in density — it was space that was infinitely sparse in the infinite past.

The horizon problem: Dissolved. All matter was contiguous before the critical threshold. Thermal equilibrium is not mysterious — everything was in contact because there were no voids separating regions.

The flatness problem: Axiomatic. Flat, Euclidean geometry is the definition of the spatial substrate, not a fine-tuned outcome.

Inflation: Not required. The problems inflation solves do not arise in PSK.

Every Observer is the Center

In PSK, every observer is at the center of their own observable universe. This is not a special position but a geometric necessity. Each observer sees a spherical horizon at approximately 13.8 billion light-years, receding at c. The radius is the same for every observer regardless of their location in the infinite extent of space.

The horizon marks the boundary of causal connectivity — the limit of state-mapping in the present density state. Beyond the horizon in one observer’s view is simply matter that another observer can see. There is no "edge" to the universe, no region outside all horizons.

The Universal Equilibrium: Coalescence and Divergence at All Scales

Standard cosmology treats Hubble expansion as relevant only at cosmic scales, claiming that "gravitationally bound systems" are decoupled from expansion. PSK rejects this dichotomy. Coalescence and divergence operate at every scale, always, simultaneously. What differs is not whether these effects occur, but which one dominates locally.

Divergence Is Not Distance-Dependent

Divergence is rate-dependent, not distance-dependent. The divergence rate is c — everywhere, always, at every scale. All matter passes through all space in a smoothly continuous path as it traverses into denser states. The divergence effect is apparent in different ways at different scales, but its fundamental rate is constant.

The equilibrium size of a nucleus and the equilibrium of the Hubble radius are both established by rate c. A nucleon maintains its size through coalescence (the steep wake gradient binding it to neighbors) balanced against divergence (metric expansion at rate c). The Hubble radius is where cumulative metric expansion reaches velocity c — the same process, integrated over cosmic distance.

The Scale Continuum

The following table shows how the same two effects — coalescence and divergence — manifest across all scales:

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Scale Divergence Coalescence Observable Equilibrium —————– —————– ————————– —————————————– Nuclear rate c Enormous (steep wake) Nucleon size, binding energy

Atomic rate c Strong Electron orbitals, ionization energy

Molecular rate c Moderate Bond lengths, chemistry

Planetary rate c Gentle Orbits + slow recession (moon receding)

Stellar rate c Weak Stellar orbits + recession

Galactic rate c Weak cumulative Flat rotation curves

Supercluster rate c Localized concentrations Great Attractors, filaments, voids

Cosmic rate c Negligible average Hubble recession, cosmic voids ——————————————————————————————————–

The divergence column is constant: rate c, everywhere. The coalescence column varies: steep near concentrated matter, negligible in voids. The observable equilibrium column shows what we actually measure — the residual after these two effects mostly cancel.

Great Attractors: Coalescence-Dominated Regions

The Great Attractor — toward which the Milky Way and thousands of other galaxies flow at ~600 km/s — is not an anomaly. It is simply a region where coalescence (cumulative wake gradients from concentrated matter) exceeds divergence enough to produce net infall at supercluster scales.

There is nothing special about this particular Great Attractor. At every scale, there are regions where coalescence dominates (matter concentrations) and regions where divergence dominates (voids). The Great Attractor is one of infinitely many such coalescence-dominated regions scattered throughout the infinite extent of space.

From any observer’s perspective, they sit at the center of their own Hubble sphere, with Great Attractors distributed throughout — each one a local coalescence-dominated region in a sea of divergence-dominated space. There is no boundary where "bound systems" end and "Hubble flow" begins. There is only the continuous equilibrium, with local variations.

No Bound Systems, Only Equilibria

Standard physics speaks of "gravitationally bound systems" — implying a boundary that demarcates where gravity holds things together and where expansion takes over. PSK rejects this framing.

Wakes extend to infinity. There is no radius at which Earth’s wake ends. It merges imperceptibly with the wakes of other bodies, extending without limit. What we call a "bound system" is merely a region where coalescence dominates over divergence enough that the components remain correlated over long timescales. But both effects are always present, and the "boundary" is arbitrary.

The Moon recedes from Earth at approximately 3.8 cm/year. Standard physics attributes this entirely to tidal friction. PSK suggests this recession includes the divergence component — the same effect that causes galaxies to recede from each other, operating at planetary scale where coalescence is strong enough to maintain orbital binding but divergence still produces measurable recession.

Orbital Motion as Residual Equilibrium

A star orbiting in a galaxy experiences both effects simultaneously:

Coalescence: The cumulative wake gradient of the galactic mass pulls the star inward.

Divergence: Metric expansion at rate c pushes the star outward.

These are not alternatives. They are simultaneous, always. The orbital velocity we observe is not a direct measure of gravitational pull — it is the residual after coalescence and divergence mostly cancel. Like the surface of a pot of boiling water, there is enormous energy flux in both directions; what we measure is the small net effect.

This reframes the flat rotation curve problem. Standard physics asks: "Why don’t outer stars slow down as expected from visible mass?" and answers with dark matter. PSK asks: "What is the coalescence/divergence equilibrium at each radius?" The flat curve may emerge naturally from how these two effects balance across the galactic disk — no invisible mass required.

Accelerating Expansion and Dark Energy

Standard cosmology interprets distant supernova observations as evidence that cosmic expansion is accelerating, requiring "dark energy" to drive it.

PSK predicts that Hubble velocity is constantly proportional to distance — no acceleration, no deceleration. Standard cosmology expected deceleration (gravity pulling back); when observations showed otherwise, acceleration was inferred. But PSK predicts constant proportional recession from the start. The apparent "acceleration" may be an artifact of comparing observations to an incorrect baseline.

If correct, dark energy is not required.

Reinterpreting Ancient Objects

Distant galaxies: Standard cosmology interprets high-redshift galaxies as "young" — seen as they were billions of years ago. PSK interprets high redshift as state-mapping from a sparser density state. The galaxies are not younger; the causal connection dates from closer to the critical threshold.

"Old" stars: Standard cosmology claims some stars are 13+ billion years old based on stellar evolution models. These ages are model-dependent, assuming the 13.8 billion year framework. PSK predicts no star can be older than 4.6 billion years.

The CMB: Standard cosmology interprets the CMB as light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang. PSK interprets it as the state-mapping signature of the critical density transition — the thermal state of matter as it achieved spatial separation.

The Far Future

As densification continues, matter keeps receding. Galaxies currently within our horizon will eventually cross it. In the far future, each gravitationally bound structure will be alone within its constant-radius horizon, isolated from all other matter.

The universe has always existed and will always exist. It passed through a phase transition 4.6 billion years ago, from unity to structure. It will eventually reach isolation — each bound system alone. From eternal unity through transient structure to eternal solitude.