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The Plasma Universe is a collection of ideas not adopted by mainstream research into astrophysical plasmas that are at least partially based on Hannes Alfvén's "...model based on the emissions and behavior of the most prevalent material in the universe.. plasma" .

Origin of the term

The term was originally coined to"... emphasize the fact that plasma phenomenon discovered in the laboratory and in accessible regions of space, must be important also in the rest of the universe, which consists almost entirely of matter in the plasma state" Subsequent to Alfvén's and other plasma physicists' publications on the matter, plasma physics has come to play a major role in astrophysics research programs. Astronomers recognize the tremendous importance that plasma processes play in observed astrophysical phenomena.

However, some of the suggestions made during the initial research into the field have been marginalized or are considered by most mainstream astronomers to be falsified. Nevertheless, a small group of committed scientists and laypersons are convinced for various reasons that many of these discarded ideas are relevant and mistakenly dismissed. Today, the term "Plasma Universe" serves as an umbrella to indicate this collection of ideas which range from the allegedly fringe and pseudoscientific suggestions of the Electric Universe, a catastrophic origin of the solar system to nonstandard but more prosaic explanations regarding cosmology.

The Plasma Universe ideas are generally marginalized in the astronomical community. For example, while it's considered fact that most of the baryonic matter in the universe is plasma, consensus of astronomers is that upwards of 96% of the material energy-density in the universe is non-baryonic dark matter or dark energy. As such, the suggestions of the Plasma Universe as it regards cosmology and certain proponents skepticism towards the Big Bang is nonstandard and has been criticized by cosmologists as such.

Areas of applicability

The Plasma Universe applies to diverse areas of astronomy including the origin of the Universe, the formation of galaxies, stars, planetary rings, to areas such jets , quantized redshift, and the Titius-Bode law, and the origin of cosmic rays, the cellular nature of space, and electric currents in cosmic plasmas.

History

Hannes Alfvén developed his idea of the "Plasma Universe" based on his experience in the field. Inspired by the earlier work of Kristian Birkeland and Irving Langmuir, Alfvén proposed that although interstellar space was thought to be a perfect vacuum and consequently unable to support an electrical current, he argued that if diffuse plasma pervaded the universe, then it could carry electric currents that could generate a galactic magnetic field

In 1950, Alfvén published the first edition of his book Cosmical Electrodynamics in which he highlights:

"Physics is mainly based on experience gained in the laboratory. When we try to apply to cosmic phenomenon the laws in which this experience is condensed, we make an enormous extrapolation, the legitimacy of which can be checked only by comparing the theoretical results with observations.

It seems very probably that electromagnetic phenomenon will prove to be of great importance in cosmic physics. No definite reasons are known why it should not be possible to extrapolate the laboratory results in this field to cosmic physics."

Footnotes

1. Alfven, Hannes, "Model of the plasma universe" (1986) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. PS-14, Dec. 1986, p. 629-638.
2. Hannes Alfvén, "The plasma universe" Physics Today, Sep 1986
3. Falthammar, C. G. "The Plasma Universe" Basic Plasma Processes in the Sun. Proceedings of the 142nd. Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Bangalore, India, December 1-5, 1989.
4. See, for example, cosmologist Ned Wright's criticism of Eric Lerner's suggestions: .
5. Hannes Alfvén, "Cosmology in the plasma universe" (1988) Laser and Particle Beams (ISSN 0263-0346), vol. 6, Aug. 1988, p. 389-398
6. Peratt, Anthony L., "Evolution of the plasma universe. II - The formation of systems of galaxies" (1986) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. PS-14, Dec. 1986, p. 763-778.
7. Alfven, H.; Carlqvist, P., "Interstellar clouds and the formation of stars" (1978) Astrophysics and Space Science, vol. 55, no. 2, May 1978, p. 487-509
8. Peratt, Anthony L. "Evolution of the plasma universe. I - Double radio galaxies, quasars, and extragalactic jets" (1986) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. PS-14, Dec. 1986, p. 639-660.
9. Wells, Daniel R.; Bourouis, Mohammad, "Quantization effects in the plasma universe" (1989) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. 17, April 1989, p. 270-281.
10. Wells, Daniel R., "Was the Titius-Bode series dictated by the minimum energy states of the generic solar plasma?" (1990) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. 18, Feb. 1990, p. 73-76
11. Trubnikov, Boris A. "A new hypothesis of cosmic ray generation in plasma pinches" (1992) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. 20, no. 6, p. 898-904.
12. Alfven, H. "Cosmology in the plasma universe - an introductory exposition" (1990) IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (ISSN 0093-3813), vol. 18, Feb. 1990, p. 5-10.
13. Peratt, A. L., "Electric space : evolution of the plasma universe." (1996) Astrophys. Space Sci., 244, 89-103 (1996)
14. Alfvén, H., 1937 "Cosmic Radiation as an Intra-galactic Phenomenon", Ark. f. mat., astr. o. fys. 25B, no. 29.
15. Alfvén, H., Cosmical Electrodynamics, Oxford Clarendon Press, 1950 (Note: this substantially different from the later 2nd edition)

References

• Alfvén, H., Cosmic Plasma (Book) Astrophysics and Space Science Library. Volume 82, 1981. 178 p.
• Lerner, E., The Big Bang Never Happened, New York: Times Books/Random House, c1991. 1st ed.
• Peratt, A. L., "Physics of the Plasma Universe" (Book) 372pp. 208 figs.. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York

External Links

• The Plasma Universe at Los Alamos National Laboratory
• The Big Bang Never Happened, Eric Lerner. See also:
  • Edward Wright, "Errors in the "The Big Bang Never Happened".
  • Eric Lerner, "Dr. Wright is Wrong -- a reply to Ned Wright's "Errors in The Big Bang Never Happened"

• Pseudophysics