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Unresolved problems in contemporary astrophysics and cosmology.
...These two disciplines are literally overwhelmed by the sheer number of unsolved problems. Historically, the study of the cosmos has gone through several stages. We will not retrace the history of astronomy here. Spectroscopy has provided crucial data on the composition and temperature of celestial objects, while the measurement of the Doppler effect has enabled the determination of velocity fields and the estimation of stellar masses at distances vastly exceeding the diameter of the solar system by many orders of magnitude. The discovery of distance indicators (Cepheid variable stars) extended these distance measurements to cosmological scales (up to 50 million light-years).
...The application of differential geometry tools to cosmology (field equations) has allowed a new perspective on certain phenomena (cosmic expansion, local relativistic effects).
...The discovery of nuclear physics enabled the construction of stellar models. Yet, as we have seen, suddenly the mastery humans believed they had over stellar functioning was called into question.
...This same nuclear physics has allowed us to look further back in time and, for example, explain the abundance of helium.
But:
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No theoretical model of galaxies exists. In this domain, we have not advanced beyond empiricism.
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We do not know how these objects form, why they have a given mass rather than another, nor how they evolve. The shape of the galactic rotation curve, with its high peripheral velocities, remains a mystery.
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Spiral structure theories, based solely on numerical simulations, remain highly controversial.
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There is a significant discrepancy between measured masses and observed velocity fields (missing mass phenomenon).
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The same discrepancy exists for galaxy clusters.
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Many galaxies exhibit highly irregular shapes. The English astronomer Sir James Jeans once remarked, "When one sees such forms, one cannot resist the idea that powerful forces, whose nature we ignore, are at work in the cosmos."
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In cosmology, there is a certain disagreement between the age of the universe estimated from the oldest stars in our galaxy and that derived from measurements of expansion (Hubble's law, Hubble constant).
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We cannot explain the large-scale, porous structure of the universe, where galaxies are distributed around immense voids.
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Numerous pairs of galaxies have been observed that violate Hubble's law (the closer galaxy has a higher redshift than the more distant one in the background).
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Extremely high-redshift sources have been discovered—objects no larger than our solar system yet emitting as much energy as an entire galaxy (quasars). The source of this energy remains unknown. Some astronomers believe these sources are the cores of "active galaxies" (Seyfert galaxies). But when asked to define an "active galaxy," whose core appears to be in an explosive state, they reply, "It hosts a quasar at its center."
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On average, astronomers record one gamma-ray flash per day. The mechanism, distance, and nature of the emitter remain unknown.
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Gravitational lensing effects associated with galaxies and galaxy clusters do not match the masses of these objects.
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Theory has predicted the existence of remnants of massive stars—neutron stars. Generally, when a visionary theorist predicts an object (such as supernovae, predicted by American physicist Fritz Zwicky in 1931), several are quickly discovered, then hundreds: neutron stars (which, rotating rapidly, produce what we call pulsars). These are frequently found in binary systems, where they receive mass from a companion star. Eventually, they must exceed their "critical mass" (estimated at 2.5 solar masses). Under these conditions, the neutrons packed tightly together can no longer counteract gravity, and the object collapses in on itself. We do not know how to describe this collapse. The black hole model, invoked as a solution to the field equation, has a troubling flaw. It is a solution to:
**S **= 0
that is, an equation where T = 0, describing a region of space where energy-matter density is zero. Moreover, what undermines this model is the scarcity of confirmed black hole candidates over the past thirty years, despite their frequent use—applied to every possible phenomenon—to "explain" anything and everything.
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Returning to cosmology, the standard model, known as the "Big Bang," cannot explain the remarkable homogeneity of the fossil remnant of the early universe—the 2.7 K cosmic microwave background. According to this model, in the universe's earliest moments, two nearby particles would have moved apart faster than light. They could not have interacted. The early universe was therefore non-colliding. Then why was it so homogeneous?
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It is impossible to define time beyond a certain point when tracing back into the past. In any case, describing the universe in its hyperdense, hyperhot state is hindered by the current crisis in high-energy physics.
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The standard model, based on a solution to Einstein's equation, fails to account for electromagnetic phenomena. More generally, the link between particle physics and the large-scale behavior of the cosmos remains unestablished. Although there exists a journal titled "Classical and Quantum Gravity," the method of quantization has not been extended to gravity. We do not know how to define a hypothetical graviton.
Fifty years of non-physics.
...The scientific crisis is in fact total and extends beyond astrophysics and cosmology. The predictive successes of quantum mechanics are misleading. Much of the theory remains in the semi-empirical domain. For example, we have no way of connecting the masses and electric charges of particles. We cannot predict particle masses. The quark model bears an unfortunate resemblance to Ptolemy's epicycles. Quantum mechanics is powerless to explain the solar neutrino deficit.
...Although most theoretical physicists today are turning toward the world of superstrings (due to lack of alternative ideas), this "new discipline" has, over the past thirty years, failed to account for any observation or suggest a single experiment. According to mathematician Jean-Marie Souriau (who defines theoretical physics as "mathematics minus rigor, physics minus experiment"), we have just lived through "fifty years of non-physics." He believes no truly significant theoretical physics discovery has occurred since the work of Feynman, dating from the 1950s.
...A few years ago, showing me the minutes of an international conference on superstrings, he read me a passage from the introductory speech by the conference organizer:
- Although the theory of superstrings has so far predicted no phenomenon or enabled the interpretation of any experiment or observation...