Background
The German astronomer Heinrich Olbers in 1823 is credited with the paradoxical observation that the night sky is dark, but in a static infinite universe the night sky should be bright. Indeed, Olbers paradox is often cited as evidence for the Big Bang theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers’_paradox
In a static infinite Universe, the observer would see a nearby galaxy in one region of the sky and another galaxy in a more distant region. Although the nearer galaxy would appear brighter, there would be more galaxies in the more distant region of the sky. Therefore, the total light from the nearer region of the sky would be the same as that from the more distant region. No matter where the observer looks in the sky, the total light coming from every line-of-sight would be the same. Olbers paradox concludes the night sky should be bright and not dark if the Universe is infinite. http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/caryl/a10/lec15_2d.html
Astronomers explain Olbers paradox as an artifact of a finite and expanding Universe In the Big Bang. By Hubble’s law, distant galaxies in an expanding Universe are moving away from us faster than nearby galaxies, i.e., a galaxy at distance d from us moving away at velocity V = Hd, where H is Hubble’s constant. Hence, light from distant galaxies is redshift so much that visible light is moved to the infrared and microwave regions that are invisible to the observer.
An alternative to the Big Bang explanation of Olbers paradox is that the static and infinite Universe is not transparent, and the light from distant galaxies is absorbed by cosmic dust, so that there is a bound on the distance from which light can reach the observer. However, astronomers dismiss this explanation based on the second law of thermodynamics that states there can be no material hotter than its surroundings that does not give off radiation. Hence, there is no material which can be uniformly distributed through space and yet able to absorb galaxy light without increasing in temperature. Therefore, the cosmic dust would heat up and soon reradiate the energy that again results in intense uniform radiation as bright as the collective of the galaxies themselves, once again giving a bright night sky which is not observed. http://www.crystalinks.com/olber’s_paradox.html
Problem
The problem with Big Bang explanation of Olbers paradox is that the Universe is unequivocally not transparent because of ubiquitous submicron cosmic dust, and therefore the distance from which galaxy light can reach the observer is indeed bounded. The second law is not violated, however. In fact, QED induced redshift based on QM allows submicron cosmic dust to redshift visible light to infrared and microwaves regions of the EM spectrum without increasing in temperature. QM stands for quantum mechanics, QED for quantum electrodynamics, and EM for electromagnetic. Therefore, a static infinite Universe without the Big Bang explains Olbers paradox.
QED redshift in Cosmic Dust instead of Hubble’s Doppler shift
QED induced redshift is a consequence of QM constraints placed on the conservation of energy in submicron dust particles. QM precludes cosmic dust from having the specific heat capacity necessary to conserve absorbed galaxy photons by an increase in temperature. Photons are created from the EM confinement of the absorbed galaxy photon within the dust particle. See http://www.nanoqed.org at “Dark Energy and Cosmic Dust” and “Reddening and Redshift,” 2009.
QED induced redshift may be understood from QM by the creation of photons of wavelength Lo upon supplying EM energy to a QM box with walls separated by Lo/2. For a galaxy photon absorbed in a spherical particle of diameter D, the QED photons are created at a wavelength Lo = 2nD, where n is the index of refraction of the particle. Cosmic dust is generally amorphous silicate having n = 1.45 and diameters D < 0.5 microns. For example, at D = 0.25 microns, the QED created photons has Lo = 0.745 microns, and therefore an absorbed Lyman-alpha photon having L = 0.1216 microns in galaxy light is redshift to Z = (Lo – L)/L. ~ 5. If the QED redshift is interpreted by Doppler shift, the galaxy recession velocity is 95 % of the speed of light when in fact the Universe is not expanding at all, thereby negating any and all need for the Big Bang to explain our Universe.
Moreover, QED redshift in cosmic dust has been suggested to explain brightness in the Tolman test and time dilation in Supernova explosions. In this regard, a critique of Doppler redshift from Hubble theory in relation to QED induced redshift is given in http://www.nanoqed.org/resources/Press_Release/Redshift%20by%20Cosmic%20Dust%20trumps%20Hubble%20and%20Tired%20Light%20Theories.htm Moreover, QED redshift in cosmic dust resolves the galaxy rotation problem and negates the need for MOND. See http://www.nanoqed.org/resources/Press_Release/Redshift%20in%20cosmic%20dust%20resolves%20the%20galaxy%20rotation%20problem%20without%20dark%20matter%20and%20MOND.htm
Conclusions
1. Olbers paradox need not rely on the Doppler redshift in light from distant galaxies in a finite and expanding Universe.
2. QED redshift of galaxy light by submicron cosmic dust explains Olbers paradox in an infinite and non-expanding static Universe.
3. Given the fact the Universe is permeated by cosmic dust, it is highly likely that the redshift measured by Hubble was QED induced redshift having nothing to do with the Big Bang and an expanding Universe.
4. In a static infinite Universe, there is no gravitational collapse and no need for the cosmological constant or the Big Bang.
