Abstract

A hypothesis is presented that electromagnetic forces that prevent ions from following geodesics result in a curvature pressure that is very important in astrophysics. It may partly explain the solar neutrino deficiency and it may be the engine that drives astrophysical jets. However, the most important consequence is that, under general relativity without a cosmological constant, it leads to a static and stable cosmology. Combining an earlier hypothesis of a gravitational interaction of photons and particles with curved spacetime, a static cosmology is developed that predicts a Hubble constant of H = 60 . 2 km s^{− 1} Mpc^{− 1} and a microwave background radiation with a temperature of 3 . 0 K. The background X-ray radiation is explained, and observations of the quasar luminosity function and the angular distribution of radio sources have a better fit with this cosmology than they do with standard big-bang models. Although recent results (Pahre et al . 1996) for the Tolman surface brightness test favour the standard big-bang cosmology, they are not completely inconsistent with a static tired-light model. Most observations that imply the existence of dark matter measure redshift, interpret them as velocities, and invoke the virial theorem to predict masses that are much greater than those deduced from luminosities. If, however, most of these redshifts are due to the gravitational interaction in intervening clouds, no dark matter is required. Observations of quasar absorption lines, a microwave background temperature at a redshift of z = 1 . 9731, type 1a supernovae light curves and the Butcher–Oemler effect are discussed. The evidence is not strong enough to completely eliminate a non-evolving cosmology. The result is a static and stable cosmological model that agrees with most of the current observations.