Expanding Space: the Root of all Evil?

Abstract

While it remains the staple of virtually all cosmological teaching, the concept of expanding space in explaining the increasing separation of galaxies has recently come under fire as a dangerous idea whose application leads to the development of confusion and the establishment of misconceptions. In this paper, we develop a notion of expanding space that is completely valid as a framework for the description of the evolution of the universe and whose application allows an intuitive understanding of the influence of universal expansion. We also demonstrate how arguments against the concept in general have failed thus far, as they imbue expanding space with physical properties not consistent with the expectations of general relativity.

8 pages, accepted for publication in PASA

References in corpus (4)

• Expanding Confusion: common misconceptions of cosmological horizons and the superluminal expansion of the Universe
• Joining the Hubble Flow: Implications for Expanding Space
• Solutions to the tethered galaxy problem in an expanding universe and the observation of receding blueshifted objects
• A direct consequence of the expansion of space?

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Tests and problems of the standard model in Cosmology
• Hubble flow variance and the cosmic rest frame
• Cosmological equivalence principle and the weak-field limit
• The kinematic origin of the cosmological redshift
• Angular size test on the expansion of the Universe
• High Redshift Long Gamma-Ray Bursts Hubble Diagram as a Test of Basic Cosmological Relations
• The kinematic component of the cosmological redshift
• Expanding space, quasars and St. Augustine's fireworks
• Expanding Universe: slowdown or speedup?
• Coordinate Confusion in Conformal Cosmology
• Cosmological Radar Ranging in an Expanding Universe
• Harrison's interpretation of the cosmological redshift revisited
• The Adventures of the Rocketeer: Accelerated Motion Under the Influence of Expanding Space
• Teaching cosmology with special relativity: Piecewise inertial frames as a model for cosmic expansion
• THESEUS$-$BTA cosmological tests using Multimessenger Gamma-Ray Bursts observations
• Interpretations of cosmic expansion: anchoring conceptions and misconceptions
• A physical interpretation of Hubble's law and the cosmological redshift from the perspective of a static observer
• There was movement that was stationary, for the four-velocity had passed around
• Can an Infinitely Long Object Fit in an Expanding Universe?