Welcome to Fractal Forums

I have enjoyed the give-and-take of the thread entitled "Good News for
the Big Bang Theory" on the newsgroup sci.astro.research, and I intend to keep contributing to it when I think I have something useful to add.

However, my main interest in participating in that thread was in
demonstrating that an exciting clash of paradigms is about to unfold,
as I will review below.

The most recent copy of ApJ (Vol. 649, 1-13, 2006) has a lead article
by Diemand et al on cosmology.  The authors state:
 
"The key idea of the standard cosmological paradigm for the formation
of structure in the universe - that primordial density fluctuations
grow by gravitational instability driven by collisionless CDM - is
constantly being elaborated on and explored in detail through
supercomputer simulations and tested against a variety of astrophysical
observations. The leading candidate for DM is the neutralino, a WIMP
predicted by the supersymmetric theory of particle physics."
 
1. CRUCIAL IDEA (I):  Let us be up front about it.  The standard
cosmological paradigm retrodicts that the dark matter is CDM.  If the
dark matter is not in the form of some kind of enormous population of
subatomic particles, then the standard cosmological paradigm will have
been shown to have a fatal flaw.  We will know that a new paradigm is
required.  The old paradigm will be recognized as a limited
approximation that must be superseded by a more encompassing paradigm
that solves the DM enigma correctly.
 
2. CRUCIAL IDEA (II): The unbounded Discrete Fractal Paradigm predicted
(ApJ, 322, 34-36, 1988) definitively (prior, testable, quantitative and
non-adjustable) that the dark matter must be in the form of
stellar-mass ultracompact objects (Kerr-Newman black holes).  The mass
peaks that are the largest, and most likely to be observed first, are
found at 0.15 solar masses, 0.58 solar masses, and 8 x 10^-5 solar
masses.  The stellar scale of nature's hierarchy is dominated by these
three subpopulations. 

I submit to you that you cannot get a more
definitive prediction than this!  See www.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw for
full information on the unbounded fractal paradigm.
 
So, a critical test with a lot riding on it is underway.  If CDM does
not exist, then the standard paradigm needs more than a new bell or
whistle tacked on.  It will need replacement.
 
If the definitive DM prediction of the unbounded fractal paradigm is
vindicated, then it will have demonstrated that it alone is the right
path towards a bold and incredibly beautiful new understanding of
nature.
 
Actually, for those who are a bit impatient to see how this plays out,
nature has given us some hints of what the solution to the dark matter
enigma is likely to look like.  If you go to the arxiv.org preprint
site and print out copies of astro-ph/0002363 by Oldershaw and
astro-ph/0607358 by Calchi Novati et al, you will get an overview of
results to date.  They are very exciting.

It's a fractal world,
Rob

Here is the latest installment from the sci.astro.research thread on
testing the Discrete Fractal and Big Bang paradigms.  The beat goes on!

I would like to add a bit more information on the the Discrete Fractal
paradigm's definitive predictions regarding the dark matter.

The mass ratio of the 8 x 10^-5 to 0.15 solar mass systems is about
1/1836.


In this first order approximation, all but the the 8 x 10^-5 solar mass
subpopulation have masses that are integer multiples of about 0.145
solar masses.  Thus 0.145, 0.29, 0.44, 0.58 ... solar masses.  Well
over 90% of the dark matter mass in the observable universe, however,
should be found in the 0.15 solar mass and 0.58 solar mass
subpopulations.


Where are all these objects, you ask?


1. Microlensing experiments many have already found evidence for large
numbers of these objects (see references in the original post).


2. All radio pulsars, isolated neutron stars, soft gamma ray repeaters,
anomalous X-ray pulsars, central compact objects in supernova remnants,
and rotating radio transients are members of the general class of
objects predicted by the Discrete Fractal paradigm.  "But WAIT!", you
say, "most of these are not Kerr-Newman black holes, and most of them
are NOT DARK!".


Exactly so.  These systems are the among the more massive systems in
the general class and they appear to be in moderately to highly excited
states.  There is a rigorous self-similarity between them and subatomic
nuclei in excited states.  The stellar scale systems are ejecting
matter and emitting stellar scale EM radiation in order to de-excite
back to the stable ground state, in exact analogy to what happens with
subatomic nuclei.


Would you like to see one of these systems that appears to have nearly
returned to the ground state?  Again, go to the www.arxiv.org site and
download a copy of the preprint by Park et al numbered
astro-ph/0610004.  At the center of a SNR they observe (as in a real
object that actually exists in nature) a point-like X-ray source with a
very low temperature black-body spectrum.  Emission is fairly steady;
it may or may not be weakly pulsating at 7.5 sec. No counterparts at
other wavelengths are observed.  The size of the emitting region is
estimated at 0.4 km, a radius that has been predicted by the discrete
fractal paradigm (ApJ 322, 34-36, 1987).  The X-ray luminosity is about
10^33 ergs/sec, which is not that far from the DF prediction of ground
state accretion-generated X-ray luminosities of 10^28 to 10^32 erg/sec.
The system ejected its outer plasma shells, and inside we find an
object well on its way to returning to its ultracompact ground state,
if not virtually already there.  This object should be followed
closely, since it might be a very useful test case.


My friends, it may just be a fractal world,
Rob

One of my goals here is to help people break free of the dogma of the standard one-size-fits-all 'percision' cosmological model, which has become more like a religion than science.

Another goal is to show that a far more enlightened understanding of the nature of the Universe can be achieved through an infinite, quantized fractal paradigm.  My best effort at mapping that path towards a revolutionary new worldview can be found at www.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw.

I am well aware that most of you are fascinated by fractals for a variety of other reasons, especially graphics and art.  So forgive me if I keep trying to "sell" my pure science idea here.  There may now, or in the near future, be one or more among us who share my particular interest in, and dedication to, nature.

Rob