Placing Constraints on Cosmic Speculations
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Astronomers bolstered the case for the biblical cosmic creation model by developing a new tool for placing constraints on cosmic origins speculations. Some people have attempted to lower the apparent evidence for supernatural cosmic design and to possibly avoid a transcendent cosmic beginning (beginning of matter, energy, space, and time within finite time) by appealing to either exotic quantum gravity theories or extra dimensions of the spacetime continuum, or both. Such appeals predict significant time variations in certain constants of physics (e.g. the velocity of light or the gravitational constant) and/or non-trivial modifications of general relativity (specifically, violations of the Lorentz invariance). Now, two different teams of astronomers have demonstrated that a search for time delays in gamma ray burst light curves as a function of energy can powerfully constrain these kinds of cosmic speculations. The constraints achieved so far are impressive. A systematic study of many more gamma-ray burst events will offer even greater constraints. This study, like many others, shows that the more scientists learn about the universe the more evidence they uncover for the biblical cosmic creation model.
- T. Harko and K. S. Cheng, “Time Delay of Photons of Different Energies in Multidimensional Cosmological Models,” Astrophysical Journal 611 (2004): 633-41.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/journal/issues/ApJ/v611n2/59437/brief/59437.abstract.html
- Stephen E. Boggs et al., “Testing Lorentz Invariance with GRB 021206,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 611 (2004): L77-L80.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/journal/issues/ApJL/v611n2/18517/brief/18517.abstract.html
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