Spiraling Magnetic Signal Shows Up In the Cosmic Background 168
pln2bz writes "Astronomers looking for confirmation for emissions from early stellar formation in the cosmic microwave background radiation instead found a signal indicating large amounts of unaccounted-for spiraling magnetic fields in space, but without any accompanying infrared emissions. The discovery possibly dredges up the claims of plasma cosmologists like Eric Lerner, who claim that the intergalactic medium is a strong absorber of the CMB with the absorption occurring in a fog of narrow filaments. These filaments are the result of plasma's natural tendency, as observed within the plasma laboratory and in novelty plasma globes, to form braided, ropelike structures which are collimated by coiled magnetic fields."
Re:Err..what? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Ingnoring the electric field (Score:3, Interesting)
The whole of astrophysics and cosmology is laden with kooky psuedoscience. The large number of observations that just won't fit and out-there patches to rescue models that should really be considered as having been falsified should tell you as much.
If you doubt that, consider the following observations: the over 1M Kelvin hot solar corona (where is that energy coming from?), the dark centers of solar spots (should the inside of the sun not be hotter instead of cooler?), the angular clustering of high-redshift quasars with "foreground" galaxies (less than one-in-a-million chance of emerging from the isotropic distribution dictated by Big Bang cosmology).
Re:Err..what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ingnoring the electric field (Score:3, Interesting)
Um, it is not the energy density that is the issue but rather the required energy flux. Over half of the massive UV, EUV, and X-Ray coronal emissions are radiated out into intersteller space. This requires continuous extreme heating of the corona to sustain.
Wrong. The energy is produced inside the corona. The energy production mechanism has been verified in the laboratory. Just create a Helium and Hydrogen plasma and see what strange things happen: http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0509/0509127.pdf [arxiv.org].
Re:Err..what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Additionally, many textbooks agree that 99.999% of the visible matter in space is matter within the plasma state. In a behavioral sense as far as interpreting astrophysical imagery goes, the state of the matter is arguably just as important as the actual element.
References available at http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/99.999%25_plasma
Re:Calling Electric Universe in 3 ... 2 ... 1... (Score:3, Interesting)
The Electric Universe is lumped in with the fringe sciences purely because it is not the conventional paradigm. The model itself is workable because there's a high correlation between observations of the Sun and heliosphere, and the action of an anode within a plasma glow discharge. No mathematical debunking can argue against these key correlations since they are based upon laboratory observations. If the key features match up, then the mathematics can be made to work for a model.
What you might not realize is that even though our gravity-based theories date back to the early 1900's, we've only relatively recently discovered that space is not the vacuum we once thought it was. It's in fact filled with charged particles (99.999% of all visible matter in space is matter in the plasma state), so there exists a burden to make sure that we're properly modeling the plasma in space. The question is: does it behave as a fluid, in accordance with gravity? Or, does it behave more like electrified plasma in the laboratory? The only way to answer that question is to maintain an open mind on the subject long enough to find correlations between plasmas in space and plasmas in the laboratory. The truth is that plasmas in space are frequently filamentary just like those in the laboratory. These filaments in the laboratory possess both long-range attraction and short-range repulsion amongst one another. And this attractive force is in fact the strongest force in the universe -- something like 36 orders of magnitude stronger than gravity. The end result is that plasmas naturally form braided ropelike structures, and these structures can transmit charged particles -- electricity.
Advocates for the mainstream will throw up lots of flack. For instance, it's frequently cited that space (like the heliosphere) is quasi-neutral. But, what those people don't realize is that so is the positive column between an anode and a cathode in a plasma glow discharge! And yet, there still exists an electron drift into the anode from the cathode simultaneous with a release of positive charged particles from the anode to the cathode. Electricity is observed to flow in both directions in a glow discharge exactly as is proposed by the EU Theorists in their Electric Sun model. Any model for the Sun based upon laboratory plasma physics deserves more than just a dismissal.
Prior to the observation of magnetic fields in space in 1986, it was claimed that there was no observational evidence for magnetic and electric fields in space. We see the same sort of thing now when it comes to the topic of powering the Sun with electrons. Skeptics claim that we have not yet observed any flows of electrons into the Sun. The mechanism being argued is that of a drift current. The heliosphere is incredibly large. In the glow discharge model, an electric field inches these electrons towards the anode (the Sun) at an incredibly slow rate. But, since the heliosphere is so unimaginably huge, there is a very great amount of power available to the Sun. The problem is that you're not going to accidentally see these electrons moving in towards the Sun. Local turbulence will make it nearly impossible, in the same way that a fan drawing air on one end of your house will not be noticed on the opposite end unless it is extremely powerful. In this case, the electric field is incredibly weak -- and yet persistently there from the anode (the Sun) to the cathode (the heliospheric boundary).
not a debate (Score:0, Interesting)
The Electric Universe debate...
is a Velikovskian spin on plasma cosmology. Plasma cosmologies may once have been (borderline) reasonable scientific speculation, but are no longer.
...between plasma physicists and astrophysicists.
Most plasma physicists are "standard cosmologists" in the sense that anyone who is not nominally a cosmologist can be said to be a cosmologist at all. Most astrophysicists are also "standard cosmologists" in the same way. The disciplines of cosmology, plasma physics, and astrophysics overlap and are of course inter-related. It is inaccurate to imply that there are only two camps, that the two largest (whether "only" or not) are labeled "astrophysicsists" and "plasma physicists", or that plasma physicists are predominantly "plasma cosmologists". The "debate" you claim exists is between "plasma cosmologists" and everybody else, including most plasma physicists.
It dates back to Kristian Birkeland, Irving Langmuir, Ralph Juergens and Hannes Alfven.
The ideas (those to which you allude, anyway) of these people were developed before the modern understanding of cosmology and even stellar dynamics were well-developed. They certainly aren't equivalent to the ideas propounded by the Electric Universe folks. For example, Alfven was the last of these who could be called a serious scientist, and I'm not aware of his ever a) claiming that stellar fusion and nucleosynthsis were in substantial error as the Electric Universe folks claim, let alone b) proposing scientific reasoning for such a position.
People who think that there exists no peer review in support of it do not realize who the proponents are.
Then please, enlighten us. There are several mythologists (neo-Velikovskians who are considered wildly incorrect among mythologists themselves), Anthony Peratt (a plasma physicist with, to my knowledge, little or no knowledge of contemporary astronomy, astrophyisics, cosmology, or relativity), Don Scott (an electrical engineer who as demonstrated less command of the aforementioned fields than Peratt), and various unaccredited non-scientists who have still less command of these fields.
Anthony Peratt, for instance -- who investigates evidence that supports the Electric Universe...
Anthony Peratt is a student of Hannes Alfven, and seems to hail (like Alfven and all the others you mentioned earlier, and I'll throw in Halton Arp, Fred Hoyle, Jayant Narlikar to round it out) from a scientific understanding that predates the modern one, and have been, in varying ways and to varying extents, unable or unwilling to incorporate more modern findings into their understandings of the way the universe works.
People who don't think that the Electric Universe is supported by peer review aren't paying attention to the debate and are confused on what's actually happening.
No. People who think there is a debate about the correctness or efficacy of plasma cosmology, let alone the Velikovskian electric universe take, are unaware of what's actually happening. What's actually happening is that scientific observations, measurements, theoretical advances, etc. are being published prodigiously while a small group of people who only understand their own corner of it (if that) claim that the findings in said areas refute the rest in such a way as to "support" the Electric Universe stuff. In other words, only the supporters of the Electric Universe think this is so, and they look foolish to the people who understand where and why they're wrong.
The EU Theorists
Should be "EU theorists" because "theorist" is not a proper noun, even when preceded by "Electric Univese" (which itself is a general term conscripted into use, and is a misnomer at that).
...have decided to circumvent th