APTnovel Chapter 14: Galaxy Calibration
Chapter 14: Galaxy Calibration
Zhou Yuan picked up the third report to read: "Methods for Calibrating Galaxyes," authored by Astronomer Lyle and Physicist Wenming from the Academy of Sciences.
The report is divided into three main parts. The first part reviews how the size of the universe and the distances to galaxies were measured; the second part introduces new theoretical models and measurement methods; and the third part provides recommendations and a summary.
The first part summarizes previous measurement methods.
Besides using the redshift effect (Doppler effect) to measure distances to extremely distant celestial objects, there are other methods.
Radio telescopes can be used to measure distances, such as between planets and their satellites within a star system. This involves directly transmitting radio waves to the surface of nearby planets or satellites (e.g., Venus and Mars) and receiving the reflected signals, then measuring the round-trip time. This provides very precise distance values. However, using radio telescopes to measure distances to objects outside our solar system is impractical.
The trigonometric parallax method involves using a telescope to determine the position of a star in the sky at a specific time of year, say in January. Several months later (usually six months), the same measurement is performed on the same star again in July, when the observer is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth's orbit. By observing stars in winter and summer, the observer can use the changes in their positions relative to the distant cosmic background to calculate their distances. However, this method has its limitations. When stars are too far away—around 100 light-years—the parallax values they exhibit become too small for meaningful calculations.
Neutron Star Echoes: Neutron stars release massive bursts of X-rays, and the echoes they produce—echoes created when X-rays reflect off dust clouds in interstellar space—have provided astronomers with a surprising new measuring tool. Measuring distances in astronomy is extremely difficult, especially with sources like Circinus X-1, hidden behind a thick layer of dust on the galactic plane, making them nearly impossible to observe with optical telescopes. For the first time, humans have used the dust that obstructs our view to create a new method for estimating distances to X-ray sources. When X-rays encounter dust particles in interstellar space, they are deflected. If the dust cloud is dense enough, it causes some X-rays to scatter off their original path, entering a triangular new path instead of a straight one. This means that these scattered X-rays take longer to reach Earth than the unscattered ones.
Main sequence fitting: The basic premise behind this method is that stars with similar masses and ages, if at the same distance, should also have the same brightness. However, the reality is that these stars appear to be of varying brightness, implying different distances. One thing is certain: over time, these stars will gradually become redder. By precisely measuring the color and brightness of these stars and comparing them to closer main-sequence stars whose distances have already been determined using parallax methods, this method can significantly extend the cosmological measurement scale, allowing for the estimation of the distances to much more distant stars.
Cepheid variables and cosmic standard candles: In short, there is a correlation between the light variation period and the luminosity of a Cepheid variable star, with a longer period corresponding to a greater luminosity. In other words, compared to fainter Cepheid stars, brighter Cepheid stars have longer "pulsation" periods (typically several days). Because astronomers can relatively easily measure the light variation period, they can obtain the true brightness data of the star. Therefore, by observing the brightness of a Cepheid star, its actual distance can be calculated. Astrophysicists have determined that all Type Ia supernovae have essentially the same brightness. Thus, like Cepheid stars, their distance can be directly obtained by observing their brightness. For these reasons, Type Ia supernovae and Cepheid variables are affectionately called "cosmic standard candles" by astronomers.
Part Two introduces the new theoretical model and measurement methods.
Previous measurement methods were all based on the two ironclad laws of cosmic expansion and the constancy of the speed of light. Now, in fact, according to the four laws of the speed of light of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their corollaries, due to the decrease in the intrinsic speed of light in the universe, the existence of multiple light speed planes in the universe, and the "filtering cutoff" effect of different light speed planes, a new theory and measurement method are needed.
First, we propose a static model of a cosmic light-speed plane. Imagine it.
There is a very large hollow glass sphere A (the medium inside is air). Inside A is a huge hollow glass sphere B (the medium inside is water) and many, many fireflies (inside A, outside B). Inside B is a large hollow glass sphere C (the medium inside is gasoline) and many fireflies (inside B, outside C). Inside C is a large hollow glass sphere D (the medium inside is diesel) and quite a few fireflies (inside C, outside D). Inside D is a small solid glass sphere E and a small number of fireflies (inside D, outside E). A type of firefly is trapped inside sphere E and cannot move.
To abstract this, suppose the surfaces of the hollow glass spheres ABCD and the solid sphere E are formless and intangible, equivalent to the speed of light plane. Each glass sphere has a vacuum region near its interface, devoid of any medium. Now, we will perform dynamic modeling.
All the hollow glass spheres ABCD are expanding outwards and are in motion (assuming each sphere is filled with a medium). Sphere E is not expanding, but it is also moving towards the surface of sphere D. Except for the firefly trapped inside sphere E, all the fireflies are moving towards their respective spheres at the same speed as the glass sphere's expansion. So, how does the firefly trapped inside sphere E know the distances to its other companions? The closest companion is in sphere D, and the farthest is in sphere A.
Since the speed of light in the universe is monotonically decreasing, the outward expansion of each hollow glass sphere and the rapid movement of the firefly companions towards their respective spheres are actually decelerating motions.
This is the problem we face after breaking through the "speed of light barrier". Because the medium inside each sphere is different, the speed of light propagation is different. From sphere A to sphere E, the speed of light gradually decreases (because the density of the medium inside gradually increases). From the perspective of the firefly trapped in sphere E, all its firefly companions are moving away from it.
This model is just a figurative analogy. Next, we will perform firefly companion location and distance judgment.
The firefly trapped inside sphere E needs to perform the following steps:
Break sphere E, breach the solid glass barrier, and you'll be in the same light-speed region as your companions inside sphere D. Within sphere D, the speed of light remains constant, and the traditional galaxy measurement methods introduced in Part 1 apply.
According to the penultimate corollary of the four laws of the speed of light, for objects in the same light speed plane region, the composition of velocities follows the relativistic velocity composition law, while for objects in different light speed plane regions, the composition of velocities follows the laws of classical mechanics.
For a glass ball, if the glass ball itself moves at a certain speed, the general method to find the speed of light of the moving glass ball is to first establish a moving reference frame, in which the speed of light is the speed of light when the glass ball is stationary, and then obtain the speed of light of the moving glass ball through reference frame transformation; or the speed of light of the moving glass ball can be found directly using the relativistic velocity superposition formula.
For glass ball 1:
Let v1 be the speed of light inside the glass sphere when it is at rest, u1 be the speed of light as the glass sphere expands, v1' be the speed of light inside the glass sphere when it is in motion, and c1 be the speed of light in the vacuum region at the glass sphere's interface. This speed of light in the vacuum region is the speed of light from a larger glass sphere after passing through the "filtering" effect of the light speed plane, which is also the barrier speed or the plane speed. Then, the relativistic velocity superposition...
V1’=(v1+u1)/(1+v1*u1/c1^2)
For glass sphere 2, which is adjacent to glass sphere 1, there is also a relativistic velocity superposition.
V2’=(v2+u2)/(1+v2*u2/c2^2)
Thus, for an observer inside glass sphere 1, the velocity inside glass sphere 2, and the composition of those velocities, obey the laws of classical mechanics.
V = V1' + V2'
The third part is a summary of recommendations, which are roughly as follows:
If there were an artificial black hole inside a glass sphere, it would be like building a straight pipe inside the sphere, with a highway inside the pipe. Fireflies could drive from one point inside the glass sphere to another quickly, and could also use this pipe to quickly reach their companions inside the sphere.
If the density wave of a black hole is very large, a natural black hole (such as the Milky Way's black hole) could very well be a hyperspace passage between different planes of space, like a highway connecting glass spheres, allowing for rapid travel to distant extragalactic galaxies.
After humanity breaks through the speed of light barrier of the solar system, we will first measure the speed of light in the current space domain, and then use previous classical measurement methods to determine the positions of nearby stars and galaxies. For slightly more distant stars with significant redshift, we will use the method of superposition of relativistic velocities and synthesis of classical mechanics velocities to determine their positions and recalibrate them. For even more distant stars, we can only gradually calibrate them by traveling faster than light to reach nearby dimensional spaces.
For ease of recording and using interstellar travel in the future, it is recommended that the current speed of light at the solar system barrier, c0, which is approximately 30 kilometers per second, be used as the basic unit for describing the speed of light. Galactic coordinates will be used in the following form:
The star is (w, n, m, c), where w is the number of the plane space (or the light speed plane region mentioned earlier), n is the number of this galaxy in this plane space, m is the number of this star in this galaxy, and c is the speed of light in this plane space.
Of course, there are many types of stars, such as yellow dwarfs, white dwarfs, and supergiants, which are not represented in the star charts. The relationships between star charts, such as distance and orientation, are determined using the recalibration method described above.
For example, the asterisk (101, /, /, 10c0) represents the 101st plane space, where the speed of light is 300 million kilometers per second.
For example, the star symbol (101, 22, /, 10c0) represents the 101st plane space, the 22nd galaxy, and the speed of light in the plane space is 300 million kilometers per second.
For example, the star (101, 22, 1800, 10c0) represents the 101st plane space domain, the 22nd galaxy, and the 1800th star. The speed of light in the plane space is 300 million kilometers per second.