Plasma cosmology

A serious defect of standard cosmology is the total neglect of electromagnetic effects, especially in view of the evidence that virtually all matter in the universe occurs in the plasma state. 

The most familiar contact with the plasma state in everyday experience is in the form of lightning, produced by thunderstorms, sandstorms, snowstorms and volcanic eruptions, ball lightning, welding arcs and fluorescent lights. In his fine summary of plasmas and plasma physics Liley (1977) defines a plasma as any electrically conducting medium, including metallic solids. 

A fluid plasma is produced in the laboratory by heating a gas to a temperature, high enough to cause ionization into electrons and positive ions. At sufficiently high temperatures atoms, stripped of all their electrons, are known as cosmic rays. Above 10 K the bare nuclei undergo nuclear reactions. Thermonuclear fusion leads to the formation of heavier nuclei with the release of excess mass as kinetic energy. 

Equilibrium in a fluid plasma at constant temperature defines a complex state of interactions between electrons, ions and photons, involving dissociation and recombination between all different species and the creation of equally complex electromagnetic fields. The study of conducting fluids in electric or magnetic fields is known as magnetohydrodynamics. 

Radiation from a plasma consists mainly of Bremsstrahlung, emitted as a continuum by deceleration of electrons in collision, synchrotron radiation caused by rotation in a magnetic field and atomic emission radiation, better known as line spectra associated with transition between electronic energy levels. The equilibrium between all modes of radiation in a large plasma causes the emission of black-body radiation. The interaction between plasma particles and electromagnetic fields causes internal wave motion of both longitudinal and transverse types. 

---

Before one can seriously consider an alternative plasma cosmology the ideas of Alfven and others need to be integrated with a sensible alternative to universal expansion and the topology of space-time. Instead of chasing after non-baryonic dark matter the role of hydrogen in that regard should be explored and the interaction between matter and antimatter, an important argument in the current theories (Lerner, 1991), must be rationalized. 

Andrei Sakliarov was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He made many important contributions to our understanding of plasma physics, particle physics, and cosmology. He also designed nuclear weapons for two decades, becoming the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb in the Ih.SOs. After recognizing the dangers of nuclear weapons tests, he championed the 1963 U.S.-Soviet test ban treaty and other antinuclear initiatives. 

In 10.4,1 will discuss the evolution of density perturbations in an expanding Universe and in 10.5 the plasma oscillations thereby induced. In 10.6 I will introduce that statistical tools to describe the distribution of CMB tem-pertatures on the sky, and in 10.7 how the cosmological parameters influence the distribution of temperatures. Finally, in 10.8 I will briefly review how we actually analyze CMB data and conclude in 10.8. 

The phenomena observed in laboratory studies of plasmas also occur in extraterrestrial plasmas such as stars, interstellar and interplanetary media and the outer atmospheres of planets. The fact that cosmological implications of plasma interactions can be simulated in the laboratory opens up the possibility of studying astrophysicaJ phenomena in the plasma laboratory, as pioneered by Hannes Alfven. 

In VoL 2 of this handbook, the origin of elements has been discussed in detail. Therefore, the present authors will exclude that part, except for some comments on the importance of particular radionucKdes. In this chapter, the principles and instrumentation of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), the key player for detection of cosmological radionucKdes in ultra trace scale, will be discussed in detail. Detailed discussion of all the research works carried out to date with cosmogenic radionuclides is out of scope. Only the detection of million-year half-life radionucKdes in ultra trace concentration will be touched, followed by concise description of the required chemistry. Rather than giving a general description, a few of them have been chosen and described in separate sections. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), or resonant laser ionization mass spectrometer (RIMS), etc. have also been used for detection of cosmogenic radionucKdes. However, these techniques have much lower sensitivity compared to AMS. Brief discussions on these instruments have been appended at the end of this chapter. This chapter ends with a conclusion. 

Alfven, H., 1990. Cosmology in the plasma universe an introductory exposition. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 18, 5. 

One of the main theories in modem cosmology, the Big Bang theory, proposes that about 15 billion years ago the whole universe was concentrated to a singularity of extreme density. Time and space did not exist, nor did stars, planets, minerals or elements. Everything arose from nothing , initially just a hot plasma of quarks and... 

---