A Critique of Supernova Data Analysis in Cosmology

Observational astronomy has shown significant growth over the last decade and has made important contributions to cosmology. A major paradigm shift in cosmology was brought about by observations of Type Ia supernovae. The notion that the universe is accelerating has led to several theoretical challenges. Unfortunately, although high quality supernovae data-sets are being produced, their statistical analysis leaves much to be desired. Instead of using the data to directly test the model, several studies seem to concentrate on assuming the model to be correct and limiting themselves to estimating model parameters and internal errors. As shown here, the important purpose of testing a cosmological theory is thereby vitiated.Comment: v2: Revised, comments and references added; Published version [vailable at http://www.raa-journal.org/raa/index.php/raa/article/view/539

The lighter side of gravity: How Swami Gurutwananda received enlightenment?

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Cosmology: past, present and future

This is a broad-brush review of the development of cosmology during the twentieth century. The 'past' deals with the first nine decades of the century while the 'present' deals with the last decade. Although technological achievements have helped the astronomer in better viewing the universe, a 'final' understanding still eludes the search for the correct cosmological model. The article ends with a list of unsolved questions which the 'future' may eventually answer

The quasi-steady state cosmology: theory and observations

This is a review of an alternative cosmology, recently proposed by Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Burbidge and this author. It begins with a brief discussion of why one needs an alternative cosmology, when the standard hot big bang cosmology is claimed to be doing well. It is argued that the observational and theoretical constraints on the standard big bang cosmology, from various directions, leave a very narrow window, if any, in the parameter space of plausible models. There is thus a strong case for alternative cosmologies. The rest of the review concentrates on one alternative, the quasi steady state cosmology (QSSC) and summarises the recent work on this model. This includes, the theoretical formulation and simple exact solutions of the basic equations, their relationship to various observations, the stability of solutions and the toy model for understanding the growth of structures in the Universe

Einstein's legacy: relativistic cosmology

This review gives a historical account of how cosmology has developed since the 1917 paper of Albert Einstein. Today it is a frontier level science drawing on contemporary astronomy as well as contemporary physics, stretching both as far as extrapolations will permit. Thanks to numerous observations at different wavelengths, cosmologists today have their plates full. Extrapolations of laboratory tested physics are called for to understand all information within the framework of a standard model. The success and shortcomings of this approach are briefly discussed against the historical backdrop

Comparison of cosmological models using Bayesian theory

Using the Bayesian theory of model comparison, a new cosmological model due to John and Joseph [M. V. John and K. Babu Joseph, Phys. Rev. D 61, 87304 (2000)] is compared with the standard \Omega_{\Lambda} \neq 0 cosmological model. Their analysis based on the recent apparent magnitude-redshift data of Type Ia supernovas found evidence against the new model; our more careful analysis finds instead that this evidence is not strong. On the other hand, we find that the angular size-redshift data from compact (milliarcsecond) radio sources do not discriminate between the two models. Our analysis serves as an example of how to compare the relative merits of cosmological models in general, using the Bayesian approach

The Academy Fellowship Problem

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Cosmology and Cosmogony in a Cyclic Universe

In this paper we discuss the properties of the quasi-steady state cosmological model (QSSC) developed in 1993 in its role as a cyclic model of the universe driven by a negative energy scalar field. We discuss the origin of such a scalar field in the primary creation process first described by F. Hoyle and J. V. Narlikar forty years ago. It is shown that the creation processes which takes place in the nuclei of galaxies are closely linked to the high energy and explosive phenomena, which are commonly observed in galaxies at all redshifts. The cyclic nature of the universe provides a natural link between the places of origin of the microwave background radiation (arising in hydrogen burning in stars), and the origin of the lightest nuclei (H, D, He$^3$ and He$^4$). It also allows us to relate the large scale cyclic properties of the universe to events taking place in the nuclei of galaxies. Observational evidence shows that ejection of matter and energy from these centers in the form of compact objects, gas and relativistic particles is responsible for the population of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and gamma-ray burst sources in the universe. In the later parts of the paper we briefly discuss the major unsolved problems of this integrated cosmological and cosmogonical scheme. These are the understanding of the origin of the intrinsic redshifts, and the periodicities in the redshift distribution of the QSOs.Comment: 51 pages including 1 figur

The unexpected resurgence of Weyl geometry in late 20-th century physics

Weyl's original scale geometry of 1918 ("purely infinitesimal geometry") was withdrawn by its author from physical theorizing in the early 1920s. It had a comeback in the last third of the 20th century in different contexts: scalar tensor theories of gravity, foundations of gravity, foundations of quantum mechanics, elementary particle physics, and cosmology. It seems that Weyl geometry continues to offer an open research potential for the foundations of physics even after the turn to the new millennium.Comment: Completely rewritten conference paper 'Beyond Einstein', Mainz Sep 2008. Preprint ELHC (Epistemology of the LHC) 2017-02, 92 pages, 1 figur