Cosmological red shift. The expansion of the universe is often represented with a drawing like Fig. 44-15a. In that figure, we are located at the symbol labeled MW (for the Milky Way galaxy), at the origin of an axis that extends radially away from us in any direction. Other, very distant galaxies are also represented. Superimposed on their symbols are their velocity vectors as inferred from the red shift of the light reaching us from the galaxies. In accord with Hubble鈥檚 law, the speed of each galaxy is proportional to its distance from us. Such drawings can be misleading because they imply
(1) that the red shifts are due to the motions of galaxies relative to us, as they rush away from us through static (stationary) space, and
(2) that we are at the center of all this motion.
Actually, the expansion of the universe and the increased separation of the galaxies are due not to an outward rush of the galaxies into pre-existing space but to an expansion of space itself throughout the universe. Space is dynamic, not static. Figures 44-15b, c, and d show a different way of representing the universe and its expansion. Each part of the figure gives part of a one-dimensional section of the universe (along an axis); the
other two spatial dimensions of the universe are not shown. Each of the three parts of the figure shows the Milky Way and six other galaxies (represented by dots); the parts are positioned along a time axis, with time increasing upward. In part b, at the earliest
time of the three parts, the Milky Way and the six other galaxies are represented as being relatively close to one another. As time progresses upward in the figures, space expands, causing the galaxies to move apart. Note that the figure parts are drawn relative to the Milky Way, and from that observation point all the other galaxies move away because of the expansion. However, there is nothing special about the Milky Way鈥攖he galaxies also move away from any other observation point we might have chosen. Figures 44-16a and b focus on just the Milky Way galaxy and one of the other galaxies, galaxy A, at two particular times during the expansion. In part a, galaxy Ais a distance from the Milky Way and is emitting a light wave of wavelength l. In part b, after a time interval , that light wave is being detected at Earth. Let us represent the universe鈥檚 expansion rate per unit length of space with , which we assume to be constant during time interval . Then during , every unit length of space (say, every meter) expands by an amount ; hence, a distance expands by .The light wave of Figs. 44.16a and b travels at speed from galaxy A to Earth.
(a) Show that
The detected wavelength of the light is greater than the emitted wavelength because space expanded during time interval . This increase in wavelength is called the cosmological red shift; it is not a Doppler effect.
(b) Show that the change in wavelength
is given by
(c) Expand the right side of this equation using the binomial expansion (given in Appendix E).
(d) If you retain only the first termof the expansion, what is the resulting equation for?
If, instead, we assume that Fig. 44-15a applies and that isdue to a Doppler effect, then from Eq. 37-36 we havewhere is the radial velocity of galaxy A relative to Earth.
(e)Using Hubble鈥檚 law, compare this Doppler-effect result with thecosmological-expansion result of (d) and find a value for . Fromthis analysis you can see that the two results, derived with very differentmodels about the red shift of the light we detect from distantgalaxies, are compatible.
Suppose that the light we detect from galaxy A has a red shift of and that the expansion rate of the universe hasbeen constant at the current value given in the chapter.
(f) Usingthe result of (b), find the distance between the galaxy and Earthwhen the light was emitted.
Next, determine how long ago the lightwas emitted by the galaxy
(g) By using the result of (a) and
(h) byassuming that the red shift is a Doppler effect. (Hint: For (h), thetime is just the distance at the time of emission divided by the speedof light, because if the red shift is just a Doppler effect, the distancedoes not change during the light鈥檚 travel to us. Here the two modelsabout the red shift of the light differ in their results.)
(i) At the time of detection, what is the distance between Earth and galaxyA? (We make the assumption that galaxy Astill exists; if it ceasedto exist, humans would not know about its death until the last lightemitted by the galaxy reached Earth.)
Now suppose that the light we detect from galaxy B(Fig. 44-16c)has a red shift of .
(j) Using the result of (b), find the distancebetween galaxy Band Earth when the light was emitted.
(k)Using the result of (a), find how long ago the light was emitted bygalaxy B.
(l) When the light that we detect from galaxy A was emitted,what was the distance between galaxy Aand galaxy B?
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