Mathematical Visualizations
This page is a work in progress.
We are building a research consortium and collaboration around these topics. Physics Foundations Society is a registered association (3066327-8) in Finland. Current research partners include a project in the philosophy of physics at the University of Helsinki and the Cosmological Section of the Czech Astronomical Society, where Suntola is a foreign member.
On this page
Interactive Mathematical Illustrations of Proposed Cosmological Timescales
Historically, zero-energy universe was studied by Arthur Haas, Richard Tolman, Dennis Sciama, Edward Tryon, Pascual Jordan (see Kragh 2015, p. 8, for some context and mathematical formulation), among others (perhaps Dicke, Dirac; see Kragh 2015b). The principle and its specific mathematical form was also mentioned by Richard Feynman in his Lectures on Gravitation, p. 10 – which is based on notes prepared during a course on gravitational physics that he taught at Caltech during the 1962–63 academic year – closing that section with the comment that
All of these speculations [described here] on possible connections between the size of the universe, the number of particles, and gravitation, are not original [by me] but have been made in the past by many other people. These speculators are generally of one of two types, either very serious mathematical players who construct mathematical cosmological models, or rather joking types who point out amusing numerical curiosities with a wishful hope that it might all make sense some day.
The following interactive illustrations are based on a novel interpretation of the zero-energy principle – leading naturally to bouncing cosmologies (see also 1,2,3) and to serious rethinking of the common usage of SI units, especially the second, the metre and the kilogram, along with the various derived units – and its application to physical theory development by Tuomo Suntola as documented in his work The Dynamic Universe (2018).
Assuming that the energies of matter and gravitation are in balance in a finite universe, reminescent of an action principle and analytical mechanics,
which we refine to a differential equation by defining
the following relations hold (see 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).
Note that as
It is interesting that by assuming (or deriving from Maxwell's equations, as Suntola has done) that the Planck constant
one attains an exotic cosmology where the frequencies of physical oscillators, such as clocks (which also define the SI second) follow the development of the scale factor
So under this model, it seems that one should be quite careful in distinguishing between different timescales (see also cosmic time and age of the universe), as otherwise one may mix units in a confusing fashion. The second is involved in SI units such as joules [kg
Devising a simplistic geometrical explanation for the apparent uniformity of the cosmos (see, e.g. horizon problem) leads one to consider finite, positive curvature geometries and hyperspheres, especially the expanding 3-sphere, for contemplation as the global zero-energy structure of the universe. It has many desirable mathematical properties, such as it supporting exactly three linearly independent smooth nowhere-zero vector fields, allowing consistent global rotations and making crosscuts along the great hypercircle arc between any two points in the ordinary three-dimensional space (the volumetric surface of the 3-sphere), still having that extra zeroth hyperdimension along the hyperradius as a degree of theoretical freedom at every point of interest. For more information about these spaces, see my presentation on Clifford algebras and other topics at the Physics & Reality 2024 conference (and 1,2,3,4). Note also how from the viewpoint of general relativity, Sean M. Carroll mentions that in the Robertson-Walker metric on spacetime, for the closed, positive curvature case “the only possible global structure is actually the three-sphere”.
So combining, the assumptions lead from having the motion and gravitation in a fascinating eternal balance (Fig. 6 below), to beautiful logarithmic spirals that the radiative tangential momenta of light may trace with us in a four-dimensional hyperspace, see Fig. 7 next. The horizon problem is thus inverted, and while the observable universe can still be conceptualized around us, from a hypothetical hyperspace perspective everything (including us) is really at the “edge” of the multidimensional space, which is developing at tremendous velocity towards future possibilities, while also grounded by everpresent gravity and various consequences of past actions (but note that causality is a difficult subject; classical physics is clearly being preferred here, and contingencies are being investigated). Under this model, when we look out into the distant space (tangentially), we are actually looking in to the center of the hyperspace – and conceptually also past it towards the eternities.
Zooming in to the present in Fig. 7, and making a variation to the hyperradius (and thus to hypertime), could give us a glimpse how light cones could perhaps be mapped to this presentation, provided one keeps in mind the distinction between position and momentum spaces (see also various astronomical kinematic velocities and their current estimates, where Solar velocity with respect to CMB is notable), as in the gravity model studied here, electromagnetic radiation has momentum only in the tangential direction of the 3-sphere (that is, “ordinary three-dimensional space”) and gets a “free ride” along the expansion, having no rest mass in the vacuum. This crucial idea is studied a bit further in relation to the energy-momentum relations at the bottom of this page.
Also discussions on the nature of causality could get interesting, as the picture above presents naturally the energy and information being attainable only as conveyed by the logarithmic spirals at the speed of light (at a maximum), but there are also other geometric relations present – due to the expanding spherical space, spirals have met in the past and will meet also in the very distant future, even if at the present most light cones seem separate. Also the model suggests that there is a theoretical possibility for some scalar potentials being instant across the universe “right now” in some sense, similar as in standard gravity the static field potential is “instant” (the force between inertial charges pointing towards the instant location, not to the retarted location, due to how the Lorentz-transforms operate, also in general relativity, but see [1],[2],[3][4]). As a force is the gradient of energy, and changing the energy necessitates conveying (abstract) mass (under this model), that can only propagate at the speed of light, these questions about the character of physical potentials, principle of locality, and possible “action at a distance” are complicated and under study. Already that short note about action at a distance contains suggestive ideas, such as John Wheeler and Richard Feynman “interpret Abraham–Lorentz force, the apparent force resisting electron acceleration, as a real force returning from all the other existing charges in the universe”, reminescent of Mach's principle, but for electrodynamics. In the model under study here, it is assumed that as one cannot suddenly move any mass instantly, there is also necessarily always some slowness and inertia with regard to moving (or changing) potentials, irrespective of their range. These important but difficult structural questions are also discussed a bit more nearer to the bottom of this page.
Notice that in that same circle crosscut view of the hyperspherical space, there is the prediction for apparent brightness
the actual form of which is still contested. Note that there is the added complication of greater energetic state of the earlier universe, which affects both absolute luminance
This very constrained and almost parameterless form fits very accurately to Type Ia supernova observations (Lievonen & Suntola, in preparation, see Fig. 9a), or at least as accurately as luminosity distance in standard cosmology, but there has to be extra
The following is a research preview (Lievonen and Suntola, in preparation):
All in all, if this total geometric model turns out to be valid and useful in many contexts, it could have interesting consequences for our discussions about time, space, and motion in general. For example, the so-called cosmological time dilation, where supernova light curves are empirically observed as taking a longer duration in the past (dilated by
It seems that it is standard practice to use both the stretch factor (displayed above in Fig. 10a), and the so-called color (related to average redshift) in regression analysis when producing the distance modulus magnitude data displayed in Fig. 9a (see Scolnic et al. 2022, p. 4, from Pantheon+ papers):
Each light-curve fit determines the parameters color (
), stretch ( ), and overall amplitude ( ), with , as well as the time of peak brightness ( ) in the rest-frame B-band wavelength range [emphasis added]. To convert the light-curve fit parameters into a distance modulus, we follow the modified Tripp (1998) relation as given by Brout et al. (2019a): where
and are correlation coefficients, is the fiducial absolute magnitude of an SN Ia for our specific standardization algorithm, and is the bias correction derived from simulations needed to account for selection effects and other issues in distance recovery. For the nominal analysis of B22a, the canonical “mass-step correction” is included in the bias correction following Brout & Scolnic (2021) and Popovic et al. (2021). The and used for the nominal fit are 0.148 and 3.112, respectively, and the full set of distance modulus values and uncertainties are presented by B22a.
It could prove out to be problematic that the distance and redshift is used implicitly (via stretch and color) already in the data releases, where the cosmological models are then fitted, instead of predicting the observed spectral energy flux densities directly (as would be preferable in physics). It seems that when comparing different cosmological models (using predicted brightnesses and their inferred distances) using SNIa data, some theoretical assumptions may have been baked in already, as the language mentioning rest-frames also suggests in the above quote. It would be illuminating if the hypothetical
Contrary to standard cosmology, employing these novel brightness-redshift-scale-age relations under study on this page here, many observations of the James Webb Space Telescope might make more sense under this model: instead of “too early” galaxies at redshift
Various distance measures utilized in reasoning about the dimensions of the observable universe would get updated; the comoving distance would be related to the length of the hyperradius-normalized circular arc in the logarithmic spiral plots above (Fig. 7), and the so-called proper distances would be then related to the non-normalized, expanding arcs between the points of interest.
Instead of integrating out the light-travel distance, the optical distance
Furthermore, a more precise cosmological angular measure
where
What is highly intriguing (and needs a thorough investigation) is that when interpreting observational data using these geometric angular measures, it seems that many astronomically interesting objects, instead, could turn out to be expanding with the space, as the apparent angular size is then
due to the (hypothetical) current diameter
The following figure displays work-in-progress in interpreting these angular measures.
- Blue curves predict observed angular sizes of objects that expand with the space. So under this model, it seems as if galaxies expand with the space, which would be contrary to what is the long-time consensus in astrophysics.
- Red curves predict the angular sizes of constant objects. There are various alternative versions for research purposes. The one with a turnover point is the angular diameter distance in standard cosmology (ΛCDM), which does not seem a good predictor for this particular data.
- The possible 3-sphere lensing effect M = ln(1 + z) / sin(ln(1 + z)), predicting peaking at antipodal points, is under study. Note also that such magnification could affect the inferred velocities of distant phenomena.
- The data (open circles and black dots) is from Nilsson, Valtonen, Kotilainen, and Jaakkola (1993, p. 469, Fig. 5). (See also FINCA)
- Interpreting the angular sizes (observed sizes in calibrated pixels) from JWST are under study (the dim ellipsoid at the bottom). There are various factors which can affect the interpretations. There is material, for example, in [1] and [2].
So in this model, the galaxies and planetary systems could be expanding after all (along with the rest of the space, as so-called kinematic and gravitational factors are conserved in this gravitational model), and so would the stars and planets as gravitationally bound objects to some extent. “Electromagnetically bound” systems (Suntola articulation), such as atoms, would not expand along with the space, but “unstructured matter”, which also light represents due to wavelength equivalence of energy of radiation in this framework, would expand and dilute with the space, dictated by the presented zero-energy principle in the evolving universe. See also the works by Heikki Sipilä, such as Cosmological expansion in the Solar System. Finding out the consequences and implications (using the understanding of Suntola framework) is a difficult task, involving thermodynamics and contemplations about elastic SI units, among other interesting questions.
Interactive Mathematical Illustrations of Proposed Local Timescales and Gravitational Effects
The following displays various important proposals contained in Suntola's work. Visualizations are under development.
Local gravitation, in an idealized setting where there is a mass
So the binding (decreasing) effect of local gravitational energy
The tangent of the hypersurface crosscut is then
which can be integrated to arrive at the hypersurface crosscut shape of
or integrating from a reference distance
Let's also note that in general relativity, the Schwarzschild solution differs from the above by a square root and a factor of two in the critical radius, so integrating GR solution to model the “bending of spacetime in extra hyperdimension” so that the local projection
The following illustrates the resulting hypothesized “dent”
The plots below display various velocities related to this gravity model. They are ordered from more global timescale to more local. Specifically, the uppermost plot (Fig. 12a) displays velocities with respect to the flat space (static observer at rest far from the critical radius, but ignoring light propagation delays). From that perspective, which is actually the most common one when we are almost always modeling physical phenomena from far away, the speed of light (middle yellow line) slowing down near mass centers is not too exotic, as that is also the prediction in general relativity. Note, however, that various forms of the equivalence principle are not taken as axioms here, and will most probably not hold in these strong gravitational fields in this gravitational model. The middle diagram (Fig. 12b) relates then the velocities to that local time standard (proper speed of light, that middle yellow line), which changes with gravitational state (distance
In blue, there is the velocity of free fall (equivalent to escape velocity), which is related to the sine of the angle of rotation of the hypersurface volume. The velocity of free fall saturates at the speed of light at the critical radius, which seems very nice and regular. However, do note how the “4D-well” (black line in the earlier Fig. 11) extends arbitrarily far in the direction of the hyperradius, possibly even to the origin of the hyperspace where different black holes could be connected (at least in the early history of the cosmos). But as the hyperspherical space is expanding and the hypersurface volume is thus developing vertically in the crosscut picture at the speed of light (by definition of the hypervelocity), it seems likely that a falling object can at maximum stay at the same absolute hyperradius distance, not travel “backwards in time” to the origin. Also the horizontal and vertical components (gray lines) of the escape velocity have been plotted for convenience. The interpretations of the Schwarzschild coordinates (dashed lines, and accompanied velocities) should be treated with caution here, as only some of them are exactly known from GR studies, and in different coordinates (such as using null geodesics), the meaning of critical radius would change considerably. Some Schwarzschild velocities, such as free-fall coordinate velocity (dr/dt) and orbital velocities (red dashed lines, in their “distant observer” coordinate form, “hovering” observer proper form, and an orbiting observer proper form), should be exact according to our knowledge, but even they may contain errors, because we have conflicting information from text books (see also 1,2,3,4). It is of interest that in Schwarzschild coordinates, the Newtonian orbital velocity depicts also the orbital velocity in coordinate time (for a far-away observer), but cannot support stable circular orbits nearer the critical radius (as depicted by the abrupt ending of red dashed line at the photon sphere).
Some special points of Schwarzschild geodesics have been highlighted in Fig. 11, such as between 1.5 (so-called photon sphere) and 3 times the Schwarzschild radius
In the gravity model studied here, orbital velocities (red line, in circular orbits) stay nice and regular down to the critical radius (Suntola 2018, pp. 142–163). Maximum orbital velocity is attained at four times the critical radius (Fig. 12a). Relative to gravitational state at a distance
which can be compared to Kepler's third law of planetary motion. In the limit, as
For a local free-falling (non-inertial) observer, the situation is complicated as the velocities seem to increase without limit (as reference frequencies decrease towards zero, affecting SI second), but at the same time the SI meter expands (both definitionally and physically, in this model), thus the observational velocities being inferred as constant, and further distances being measured as shrunk as the light travels a longer distance in the observationally same time frame. Also for an observer in a circular orbit (red line in the above figures), the situation is quite remarkable in lower orbits, as the reference frequencies and oscillators come to a standstill the closer one orbits the critical radius, so distances are inferred as warped and shunk in a complicated but perhaps manageable way, but note that the actual orbital velocities seem to come to a standstill, so the kinematic term is approaching unity (no kinematic time dilation). Matter seems to dissolve into some exotic form of mass-energy. Suntola claims that these kind of slow orbits (see the same red line from a point of view in the distant flat space in Fig. 12a, and compare to the spatial picture in Fig. 11) maintain the mass of the black hole – it is quite a different picture than a pointlike singularity, as here photons can climb very slowly also up from the critical radius (which is half of that of the Schwarzschild event horizon).
Some claims, such as the escape velocity having a well-behaving form down to critical radius, could simplify the common physical picture in the long term. However, the velocities plotted to local time standards imply some rather exotic physics, where the velocity of free fall can meet and exceed the local proper velocity of light (which is decreasing near mass centers in this gravitational model), as Suntola claims that in a free-fall, the relativistic mass increase is not necessary, as the energy is taken from the hyperrotation of the space itself (maintaining the zero-energy principle). It could mean that on the atomic level, new kinds of mass-energy conversions could be possible around black holes around critical radius, that are perhaps hitherto undertheorized. Distance
It is also interesting to plot the surface integral outside of its domain of applicability using complex values, where mathematically the surface seems to have imaginary values (orange line) starting from
![](/assets/complex-surface-plot-min.BW0Gw0dx.png)
As a mathematical curiosity, also the period formula shown previously can be plotted in complex domain, where the period is pure imaginary inside the critical radius.
When operating far from the critical radius (
which can be used to approximate the volumetric surface shape (the hyperradial dimension) in many calculations. For example, Suntola utilizes semi-latus rectum ℓ as a reference distance
during an (approximative) Keplerian orbit.
It is interesting how the resulting prediction for the rate of period decrease of two bodies orbiting one another (thus emitting gravitational radiation) seems more compact in this gravity model than in general relativity, even though they are both employing approximations. The DU solution is (Suntola 2018, pp. 162–163)
whereas GR presents
which are perhaps surprisingly similar (which is reassuring, as they are derived using quite different means). However, they have very different predictions when orbital eccentricity
I recommend taking a moment here contemplating the gravity of the above statements.
With this construction, the “rest momentum”