Book contents
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- 11 Cold and Tepid Big Bangs
- 12 Models with unresolved sources
- 13 Thermalization by grains, the first wave
- 14 Primordial chaos
- 15 Early intergalactic medium, massive Population III objects, and the large-numbers hypothesis
- 16 Late thermalization of starlight
- 17 “An excess in moderation”
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
16 - Late thermalization of starlight
from Part IV - Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2024
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- 11 Cold and Tepid Big Bangs
- 12 Models with unresolved sources
- 13 Thermalization by grains, the first wave
- 14 Primordial chaos
- 15 Early intergalactic medium, massive Population III objects, and the large-numbers hypothesis
- 16 Late thermalization of starlight
- 17 “An excess in moderation”
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
N. C. Rana’s explanation, the focus of this chapter, is probably the most radical among the moderate alternative explanations of the CMB. It does not rely on the thermalization of Population III objects’ radiation, but on the thermalization of “normal” starlight at redshifts between 10 and 5. This explanation required strong starburst at these epochs and adequate cosmic dust to thermalize their radiation. A specialist on the latter, Rana modeled elongated metallic dust grains twice in order to achieve sufficient values of thermalization. His explanation avoided both the “horizon problem” and the isotropy problem (as isotropy of matter distribution implies isotropy of light distribution). His rather general model understandably underestimated the influence of small-angular scale fluctuations measured by COBE.
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- The Cosmic Microwave BackgroundHistorical and Philosophical Lessons, pp. 98 - 100Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024