Antigravity: Its Origin and Manifestations

Book details

Overview

This scholarly monograph, coauthored by Michal Křížek (senior researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences), Filip Křížek (Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences), and Lawrence Somer (professor of mathematics at the Catholic University of America in Washington), systematically sets out anantigravity (Antigravity)theoretical framework. The theory holds that the solar system and individual galaxies are also expanding at a rate close tothe Hubble constantin scale. This expansion arises from the finite propagation speed of gravity, which producesgravitational aberration (gravitational aberration)effects.

The book’s central argument challenges two pillars of conventional cosmology, dark matter and dark energy. The authors argue that the current cosmological model attributes 68% of the universe to mysterious dark energy, 27% to unknown dark matter, and less than 5% to ordinary baryonic matter, and that this proportion is itself the result of over-extrapolating the model. They propose that many phenomena attributed to dark matter and dark energy can in fact be explained by the finite propagation speed of gravity and the antigravity effect that follows from it.

Part 1: Newtonian Gravitation and the Dark Matter Problem

Part One of the book systematically reviews how Newtonian gravitation was discovered and how it has been applied to cosmic phenomena. Chapters 7 through 9 analyze in detail how the dark matter problem arose:

Fritz Zwicky and the missing mass of galaxy clusters

In 1933, while studying the Coma cluster (Coma cluster), the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky usedthe virial theorem (Virial theorem)to calculate the total mass of the cluster and found that its visible mass was far below its dynamical mass, which led him to propose that dark matter exists. This book reanalyzes Zwicky’s method and identifies 6 factors that were ignored or underestimated (such as the nonuniform distribution of galaxies, relativistic effects, gravitational redshift, self-lensing, a declining Hubble parameter, and the contribution of dark energy). These factors can reduce the virial mass by about half, so that the total mass of the cluster is at most 5 times the visible mass.

Vera Rubin and the rotation curves of spiral galaxies

Through observations of the rotation curves of spiral galaxies, Vera Rubin found that the orbital speeds of stars and gas in the outer parts of galaxies do not follow Kepler’s laws: they keep moving at high speed even far from the galactic center. This finding has been treated as key evidence for dark matter. This book points out, however, that if a galaxy itself is expanding (as the solar system is), the phenomenon also has a natural explanation.

Part 2: Antigravity and Dark Energy

Part Two is the heart of the book. It presents the observational evidence and the theoretical mechanism of antigravity:

Mars receding from the Sun

Analyzing evidence of liquid water on the Martian surface (ancient riverbeds, delta deposits, and minerals such as hematite and gypsum that can form only in the presence of water), the authors point out that liquid water must have existed on Mars 3–4 Gyr ago. But given the solar luminosity at the time (only 75% of its present value), if Mars had occupied the same orbit as it does now, its surface temperature would have been as low as −76°C, far below the freezing point of water. For liquid water to exist, Mars’s orbit then must have been about 100 million kilometers closer than it is now, which means Mars is receding at aboutan average rate of 10 meters per yearfrom the Sun, in striking agreement with the rescaled Hubble constant (about 10 m yr⁻¹ au⁻¹).

The Moon receding from Earth

Using the laser retroreflectors (retroreflector) placed on the lunar surface by the Apollo missions, the Earth–Moon distance can be measured precisely (to millimeter accuracy). The authors point out that the Moon is receding from Earth faster than tidal action in classical mechanics can explain. The Earth–Moon system also shows signs of expansion.

Earth receding from the Sun

Analyzing growth-band data from fossil corals, together withthe faint young Sun paradox (faint young Sun paradox), the authors point out that Earth, too, is receding from the Sun at about 0.5 times the Hubble constant. This placed the ancient habitable zone of the solar system closer to the Sun than it is now, and explains how the early Earth received enough heat.

The solar system expanding as a whole

Chapter 15 brings together several lines of evidence within the solar system—Jupiter’s fast satellites, the behavior of the Uranian satellite system, the orbital decay of the Martian satellite Phobos, and anomalies in the Neptune–Triton system. These observations consistently indicate that the solar system is undergoing a local Hubble expansion.

Individual galaxies expanding

Chapter 16 extends the idea of antigravity to the scale of galaxies. It argues that if the solar system is expanding, then expansion of the Milky Way and of other spiral galaxies can naturally explain the rotation-curve problem, without introducing dark matter.

The mysterious origin of dark energy

Chapter 17 proposes the physical mechanism of antigravity—gravitational aberration (gravitational aberration). Because gravity propagates at a finite speed (c = the speed of light), gravitational interactions in an N-body system always involve a time delay. That delay produces a tiny tangential component of gravity acting on an orbiting body, slowly increasing its orbital energy. The authors call this antigravity. It has an effect similar to Einstein’s cosmological constant Λ, but with a definite physical origin. This mechanism suggeststhat the law of conservation of energy holds only approximately on cosmic scales—energy is generated gradually and spontaneously in the universe.

How to read this book

This is a scholarly monograph published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing in 2015 (ISBN 978-3-659-79834-4). This site does not host the full text.

The author Michal Křížek provides the same PDF on his personal page at the Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences:Antigravity: Its Origin and Manifestations。

Print edition: Amazon product page。

About the authors

• Michal Křížek: senior researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and professor of mathematics at Charles University, specializing in numerical mathematics and celestial mechanics
• Filip Křížek: researcher at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Lawrence Somer: professor of mathematics at the Catholic University of America in Washington

Related research

The book’s view offers an important alternative perspective on dark matter and dark energy. If the finite propagation speed of gravity does cause local expansion of the solar system and of galaxies, the standard cosmological model will need substantial revision. This line of thought is echoed in the work of other independent researchers (such as Tom van Flandern on anomalies in the Moon’s orbit, and Yurii Dumin on observations of solar-system expansion).