J. Jeans’ idealism about space and its influences on E.A. Milne at the dawn of modern cosmology

This paper deals with two important English scientists of the first half of the twentieth century: Edward Arthur Milne and James Hopwood Jeans. It examines the philosophical reasons that, in 1932, induced Milne to devote himself to the newborn modern cosmology. Among those reasons, it is argued that the most important ones were some of Jeans’ philosophical statements regarding the new relativistic view of the expanding universe. In particular, Milne reacted to some confusing idealist opinions expressed by Jeans in the London newspaper The Times, in May 1932, in a debate on the expansion of the universe. Actually, as it will be shown, Jeans received many criticisms about the philosophical reasonings present in all of his popularizing works.     

Evolution of dark energy–dark matter-coupled expanding universe

The present universe is dominated by repulsive dark energy. It is natural that the coupling between the dark energy and the attractive gravity has to be taken into account in studying the evolution of our universe. Here, we induce an evolution equation for dark energy-dark matter- coupled universe. The solutions of the dynamic equation provide a specific picture of cosmic evolution, which is well compatible with current observed evolution histories of both Hubble parameter and equation of state parameter of dark energy. In this picture, the already observed uni- verse has undergone through three epochs the epoch of equilibrium between gravity and dark energy at cosmo- logical redshifts z 〉 1, the phase transition epoch at z between about 0.5 and 1, and the present acceleration epoch starting from z≌ 0.5. The expected matter-domi- nated deceleration epoch has not been seen yet, which requires future deep observations to look back upon more early universe.     

Cosmologies with varying speed of light: A historical perspective

The possibility that natural laws and constants may not be true constants, but vary over cosmic periods of time, has recently attracted much attention. In this paper, I provide some historical background to the issue and consider, in the form of a historical review, some of the more spectacular developments within recent years. The focus of the paper is on the hypothesis of a varying speed of light, which appeared shortly after the announcement of the expanding universe. After a brief account of the history of this hypothesis, I consider in more details the varying c theories that have appeared during the last decade and were originally introduced as an alternative to the inflationary model. These so-called varying speed of light (VSL) theories have been surprisingly popular and created a flood of physics and cosmology papers. However, they have also been severely criticized from conceptual points of view and their status is as yet uncertain. Although a research programme in development, a historical perspective on VSL cosmology may not be out of place.     

Careful with those scissors,Eugene! Against the observational indistinguishability of spacetimes

We discuss Manchak (2009a)'s result that there are locally (but not globally) isometric universes observationally indistinguishable from our own. This theorem makes the epistemic predicament of modern cosmology particularly problematic and the prospects of ever gaining knowledge of the global structure of the universe rather unlikely in the context of general relativity. We argue however that this conclusion is too quick; indeed, Manchak's theorem deploys spacetimes which are not physically reasonable, since they have features which are not the product of any physical process. This ultimately rests on the fact that local isometry between two spacetimes is not sufficient to guarantee that they are both physically reasonable. We propose an additional condition to properly define when a spacetime is physically reasonable, and we show that Manchak's spacetimes do not satisfy this further demand.     

Bianchi—V型理想流体模型

本文给出了状态方程为P=(γ-1) p的Bianchi—V型宇宙模型的形式解。已知的真空解,“硬性物质”解和辐射解均可以由此得到。另外还讨论了γ=2/3时的解。此解随着时间的增长,将趋于膨胀各向同性。在初始时刻,空间度规表现出“无限线状奇性”。     

宇宙生命复合立体同步划分整合相生演进原理

例举整体宇宙为一实球,全体人类认知认证为实球自身和实球不同层次位置角度界面组成存在方式和组成存在关系,全体人类认知认证从各自立场属性出发到达彼此相互立场属性,均划分、整合方式方法异曲同工别名别式共同为彼此相互。反之,则各持己见互不包含兼容。籍此：一、将全体人类认知认证,在（纵轴）整体宇宙自身划分、整合双趋向中,共性原则、个性规律共通共识地简化成为,古今中外完满原理共同蕴涵具有的,（横轴）一至四个基础位格中一至六个基础概念存在方式。二、在＂同步相生演进＂,也就是中国古代＂相生＂、科学＂互换＂、社会普遍意义的＂相互作用＂等基础上,原理复合化地展现展开,一至四个基础位格中一至六个基础概念存在方式各自自身及其彼此相互的存在关系。三、通过＂位格概念、位置、趋向三要素＂,将包括东西方繁复辩证方式方法在内,万事万物各自自身及其彼此相互,整体相应同体相对同时同步保持（和、或）转换的复合自然立场属性,简明梳理清晰。     

Cosmological realism

I discuss the relevance of the current predicament in cosmology to the debate over scientific realism. I argue that the existence of two, empirically successful but ontologically inconsistent cosmological theories presents difficulties for the realist position.     

Testing galaxy formation and dark matter with low surface brightness galaxies

Galaxies are the basic structural element of the universe; galaxy formation theory seeks to explain how these structures came to be. I trace some of the foundational ideas in galaxy formation, with emphasis on the need for non-baryonic cold dark matter. Many elements of early theory did not survive contact with observations of low surface brightness galaxies, leading to the need for auxiliary hypotheses like feedback. The failure points often trace to the surprising predictive successes of an alternative to dark matter, the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). While dark matter models are flexible in accommodating observations, they do not provide the predictive capacity of MOND. If the universe is made of cold dark matter, why does MOND get any predictions right?     

Experimentation in the cosmic laboratory

It might seem impossible to apply Ian Hacking's experimental argument for scientific realism to astrophysical objects; indeed Hacking himself expressed scepticism about extragalactic entities. Such astrophysical antirealism has been the subject of intense debate and is usually seen as an undesired consequence of experimental realism. In this paper, I claim that it is possible to recast the experimental argument by reference to James Woodward's non-anthropocentric account of experimentation so as to apply it to astrophysical entities, such as gravitational lenses. I also argue that this new formulation of the experimental argument solves several problems with Hacking's original version.     

古代中国整体思维模式探究

关于整体思维模式的定义,学界至今没有形成统一的意见。作者认为,所谓整体思维模式,就是用一种混沌、模糊的统一性、全局性认识方法去把握客体的大致轮廓与范围,并把追求该客体组成因素间的和谐、统一、共同向上作为关心的主要内容的一种思维习惯与心理定势。整体、和谐、向上是该思维的三个基本要点。