arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Domingos Soares.
The World Year of Physics 2005 celebrates Einstein 1905. Too much celebration of a single character may be hazardous as an example for the younger generation. With such a motto in mind, I comment on some episodes in Einstein's scientific career that are at some extent characterized by what could be dubbed {\it blundering behavior}. The final purpose is obviously to {\it humanize} the personage as opposed tore the current trend of {\it deification}.
A critical reading of Lubin & Sandage's 2001 paper on the Tolman effect for the reality of the expansion of the universe clearly reveals that Sandage is far from winning the dispute with Hubble on the issue. After all the years, Hubble's doubt about the reality of the expansion remains as valid as Sandage's certainty expressed in a series of papers in the last decade.
I cast doubt upon the desired consistency between the anthropic principle and modern cosmology.
A general cosmological principle -- Aleph -- is proposed as a substitute to the Anthropic principle. Furthermore, the universe, conceived as a world ensemble, is characterized by many (possibly infinite) X-Life world principles. The only known X-Life world principle recovers much of the Anthropic conjecture. The inescapable final conclusion is the formulation of the Strong Copernicus principle.
The idea of an accelerating universe comes almost simultaneously with the determination of Hubble's constant by one of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Projects. The age of the universe dilemma is probably the link between these two issues. In an appendix, I claim that "Hubble's law" might yet to be investigated for its ultimate cause, and suggest the "Hubble effect" as the searched candidate.
An inquiry on a possible local origin for the Microwave Background Radiation is made. Thermal MBR photons are contained in a system called {\it magnetic bottle} which is due to Earth magnetic field and solar wind particles, mostly electrons. Observational tests are anticipated.
Redshift observations of galaxies outside the Local Group are fairly common in extragalactic astrophysics. If redshifts are interpreted as arising from radial velocities, these must be corrected by the contamination of the solar motion. We discuss the details of such correction in the way it was performed by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble in his 1929 seminal paper. The investigations of spiral nebulae undertaken by the Swedish astronomer Knut Lundmark, in 1924, are also considered in this context.
I put forward a simple unidimensional mechanical analogue of the three-dimensional universe models of modern relativistic cosmology. The main goal of the proposal is the appropriate appreciation of the intrinsic relationship between Hubble's law and the homogeneity of expanding relativistic models.
I briefly present the foundations of relativistic cosmology, which are, General Relativity Theory and the Cosmological Principle. I discuss some relativistic models, namely, "Einstein static universe" and "Friedmann universes". The classical bibliographic references for the relevant tensorial demonstrations are indicated whenever necessary, although the calculations themselves are not shown.
Einstein's static model is the first relativistic cosmological model. The model is static, finite and of spherical spatial symmetry. I use the solution of Einstein's field equations in a homogeneous and isotropic universe -- Friedmann's equation -- to calculate the radius of curvature of the model (also known as "Einstein's universe"). Furthermore, I show, using a Newtonian analogy, the model's mostly known feature, namely, its instability under small perturbations on the state of equilibrium.
Graphical representations of classical Friedmann's models are often misleading when one considers the age of the universe. Most textbooks disregard conceptual differences in the representations, as far as ages are concerned. We discuss the details of the scale-factor versus time function for Friedmann's solutions in the time range that includes the ages of model universes.
Astronomy is not in the list of natural sciences aimed at by the Nobel awards. In spite of that, there were, throughout the 1930s until the early 1950s, effective moves by important scientists to distinguish Hubble with the Prize. A short report on these attempts is made as well as speculation on what would be the citation for the prize in view of the broad range of Hubble's scientific achievements. Within this context, the opportunity is also taken for publicizing the Crafoord Prize which does consider astronomy.