Aladar Stolmar
Aladar Stolmar | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Photon-decay "tired light" model of the cosmological redshift |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cosmology |
Aladar Stolmar is a researcher who proposes an alternative, non-expanding cosmology in which the cosmological redshift arises from a "tired light" mechanism rather than from the expansion of the universe. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Ideas
Stolmar argues that photons possess a finite decay lifetime, analogous to that of unstable or radioactive particles, so that light loses energy as it travels and is progressively redshifted with distance. In his model the Hubble redshift is treated as a consequence of energy exchange with a background "spontaneous collision field", giving a redshift that increases with distance. He also proposes that the anomalous acceleration observed for the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft can be interpreted within this tired-light framework, and describes a static picture of the universe in place of the standard expanding cosmology.
These proposals fall outside the mainstream cosmological consensus. Tired-light models in general are not supported by observational tests such as supernova time-dilation and the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, and Stolmar's photon-decay hypothesis is cited in review discussions of alternative cosmologies as one of several non-standard redshift mechanisms.