2007/12/24 by David L. Wiltshire
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s0218271808012383
published as Int.J.Mod.Phys.D17:641-649,2008 · 9 pages, 2 figures. An essay which received Honorable Mention in the 2007 GRF Essay Competition. To appear in a special issue of Int. J. Mod. Phys. D
arxiv created 2007/12/24 · openalex publication_date 2008/03/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Cosmic acceleration is explained quantitatively, as an apparent effect due to gravitational energy differences that arise in the decoupling of bound systems from the global expansion of the universe. "Dark energy" is a misidentification of those aspects of gravitational energy which by virtue of the equivalence principle cannot be localized, namely gradients in the energy due to the expansion of space and spatial curvature variations in an inhomogeneous universe. A new scheme for cosmological averaging is proposed which solves the Sandage – de Vaucouleurs paradox. Concordance parameters fit supernova luminosity distances, the angular scale of the sound horizon in the CMB anisotropies, and the effective comoving baryon acoustic oscillation scale seen in galaxy clustering statistics. Key observational anomalies are potentially resolved, and unique predictions made, including a quantifiable variance in the Hubble flow below the scale of apparent homogeneity.