The Klein-Alfvén cosmology revisited

Abstract

Abstract The Klein-Alfvén model is based on the pragmatic belief that also cosmology, just like all other fields of physics, should be based on physical laws independently tested in the laboratory. It actually has a number of attractive features, described in this article. As almost all matter in the known universe is in the plasma state, the model is by necessity based on both gravity and electromagnetism, and as most cosmic plasmas are inhomogeneous and magnetized, it is automatically inhomogeneous (as is the real universe). It is not perfect (no models are), but many of the outstanding unsolved ‘problems’ of the contemporary standard big bang-model of cosmology are either solved/sidestepped by, or non-existent in, the Klein-Alfvén model. One should remember that the standard model of cosmology also is just that—a model, and highly idealized at that, with many ad hoc ingredients and a large number of free parameters and hypothetical ingredients that are fixed only through comparison with cosmological data in a global best-fit fashion. It is not, and should never be considered to be, sacrosanct. If a comparable number of man-hours had been invested in the direction of the Klein-Alfvén model it is plausible that it would describe the real observed universe as good as, or even better than, the big bang-model—with much fewer speculative additions to known physics.