Doppler Shift

The Doppler Shift of light is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source. It was named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who described the phenomenon in 1842. Light waves from a moving source experience the Doppler shift as either a redshift or blueshift in the light's frequency. When an object approaches the observer its light will blueshift, and when it recedes from the observer its light will redshift.

Discussions on this topic typically ask how the galaxies can be redshifted if they are not receding away from the observer at very high speeds, as is suggested by the traditional expanding universe model. An answer to this query is that the Doppler Shift of light is only one interpretation for the redshifts. The University of North Carolina explains:

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~plaisted/ce/redshift.html (Archive)

  “ As noted earlier, a galaxys' redshift may not be a Doppler shift, it is the currently commonly accepted interpretation of the red shift, but there can be and are other interpretations. A galaxys' redshift may be a fundamental property of the galaxy. Each may have a specific state governed by laws, analogues to those in quantum mechanics that specify which energy states atoms may occupy. Since there is relatively little blurring on the quantization between galaxies, any real motions would have to be small in this model. Galaxies would not move away from one another; the universe would be static instead of expanding. ”

Jacques Moret-Bailly

Physics Professor Jacques Moret-Bailly of the University of Burgundy has written a number of papers on physical alternatives to Doppler Shift.

Correspondence of classical and quantum irreversibilities

Abstract

  “ It appears that Raman scattering in extremely low-pressure gases shifts the frequency of the incident light, is space coherent and thus may be confused with the Doppler effect: the Raman scattering produces at least a part of the galactic redshift; the expansion of the universe is reduced or possibly cancelled. ”

Conclusion

  “ A notable minority of astrophysicists think that the Doppler effect cannot explain all observed redshifts [7, 8], but they were unable to find an alternative physical effect because usual studies of optics consider time-coherent waves: considering that a wavelength is a unit of length, a lineshift with the condition of space and time coherence can only be produced by a Doppler effect. We have described a possible alternative which also produces low energy radiation ”

The coherent Raman scattering in astrophysics; application to a new model of quasar (Archive)

  “ This linear effect named ”Incoherent Light, Coherent Raman Scattering” (ILCRS) may be confused with a Doppler effect in astrophysics; it explains all optical properties of the quasars, including the debatable ones, in particular the width of the BAL lines, the infrared thermal radiation attributed to hot dust, and the spectral discrepancies attributed to a variation of the hyperfine constant. ”

Propagation of Light in Low-Pressure Ionized and Atomic Hydrogen: Application to Astrophysics

Abstract

  “ The relative frequency shifts of coherent Raman effect on incoherent light (CREIL) described in this paper are independent on the intensity of the ordinary incoherent light that it uses, and, in a first approximation, on the frequency of the light. Since CREIL does not blur images or alter the spectral pattern, CREIL effect may be confused with Doppler frequency shifts. ”

Leif Homlid

Leif Holmlid, Professor emeritus of Atmospheric Science at the University of Gothenburg (bio), makes a similar suggestion:

Quantized Redshifts of Galaxies: Stimulated Raman Scattering in Cold Intergalactic Rydberg Matter

Introduction

  “ The recent finding that redshifts from galaxies in the local supercluster are quantized (Guthrie and Napier, 1996) is very important. It confirms earlier claims (Tifft, 1976, 1977; Tifft and Cocke, 1984) and requires new directions of investigations about the form of our universe. These observations are different from the generally accepted interpretation of the redshifts as due to line-of-sight receding velocities caused by the expansion of the universe, since it seems highly unlikely that such unrelated velocities should have a common quantization. Other possibilities must thus be investigated, and the immediate interest must of course be directed towards the common factor for such redshifts, namely the intergalactic medium. ”

Conclusion

  “ The quantized redshifts observed in several studies of H I 21 cm redshifts from galaxies are proposed to be due to shifts of photon energy by electronic excitations in intergalactic RM through a stimulated Stokes Raman process. The rather simple quantized nature of the redshifts is due to the two-dimensional planar form of the RM clusters, which gives a constant energy spacing between the electron translational states in the conduction band. The excitation level at n = 175 of the intergalactic RM deduced from the redshifts is in reasonable agreement with earlier studies. ”