Quote:
Originally Posted by Eratosthenes
....then we have the Variable Speed of Light (VSL) theorists like Magueijo and Albrecht who claim that the speed of light is not a constant over long time scales. Indeed, Magueijo estimates that the speed of light was higher in the early stages of the Universe post Big Bang, in fact over 3 orders of magnitude faster than it is now.
So when exactly did the Big Bang occur?  |
Obviously 13.82 billion years ago give or take or few hundred million years. It is pointless to have a theory that is contradicted by observation such as Planck's data of the CMB.
One can fine tune the theory so that it agrees with observation.
Magueijo and Albrecht's
paper deals with a variable speed of light as a substitute for Inflationary theory in dealing with the horizon and flatness issues in cosmology.
The paper doesn't attempt to overthrow BB cosmology but addresses the inflation epoch which lasted from 10^-36 to 10^-32 seconds after the BB.
Occams razor has some relevance here.
Cosmology is hard enough as it is without having to introduce complications such as the speed of light varying, in particular as to why it happens.
The speed of light in a vacuum is one of the very few physical constants in nature where theory predicts its value.
This was achieved by Maxwell in the 19th century.
Steven