Large scale fluctuations in metagalactic ionizing background for redshift six

I learned about a very interesting result related to early cosmology and challenging the standard cosmology. The result is described in popular article " Early opaque universe linked to galaxy scarcity" (see this). The original article " Evidence for Large-scale Fluctuations in the Metagalactic Ionizing Background Near Redshift Six" of Becker et al is published in Astrophysical Journal (see this).

The abstract of the article is following.

" The observed scatter in intergalactic Lyα opacity at z ≤ 6 requires large-scale fluctuations in the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM) after the expected end of reionization. Post-reionization models that explain this scatter invoke fluctuations in either the ionizing ultraviolet background (UVB) or IGM temperature. These models make very different predictions, however, for the relationship between Lyα opacity and local density. Here, we test these models using Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) to trace the density field surrounding the longest and most opaque known Lyα trough at z < 6. Using deep Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam narrowband imaging, we find a highly significant deficit of z ≈ 5.7 LAEs within 20 h^-1 Mpc of the trough. The results are consistent with a model in which the scatter in Lyα opacity near z ∼ 6 is driven by large-scale UVB fluctuations, and disfavor a scenario in which the scatter is primarily driven by variations in IGM temperature. UVB fluctuations at this epoch present a boundary condition for reionization models, and may help shed light on the nature of the ionizing sources. "

The basic conclusion is that the opaque regions of the early Universe about 12.5 billion years ago (redshift z∼ 6) correspond to to small number of galaxies. This is in contrast to standard model expectations. Opacity is due to the absorption of radiation by atoms and the UV radiation generated by galaxies ionizes atoms and makes Universe transparent. In standard cosmology the radiation would arrive from rather large region. The formation of galaxies is estimated to have begun .5 Gy years after Big Bang but there is evidence for galaxies already for .2 Gy after Big Bang (see this). Since the region studied corresponds to a temporal distance about 12.5 Gly and the age of the Universe is around 13.7 Gy, UV radiation from a region of size about 1 Gly should have reached the intergalactic regions and have caused the ionization.

Second conclusion is that there are large fluctuations in the opacity. What is suggested is that either the intensity of the UV radiation or that the density of intergalactic gas fluctuates. The fluctuations in the intensity of UV radiation could be understood if the radiation from the galaxies propagates only to finite distance in early times. Why this should be the case is difficult to understand in standard cosmology.

Could TGD provide the explanation.

1. In TGD framework galaxies would have born as cosmic strings thickened to flux tubes. This causes reduction of the string tension as energy per unit length. The liberated dark energy and matter transformed to ordinary matter and radiation. Space-time emerges as thickened magnetic flux tubes. Galaxies would correspond to knots of cosmic strings and stars to their sub-knots.
   
   
2. If the UV light emerging from the galaxies did not get far away from galaxies, the ionization of the intergalactic gas did not occur and these regions became opaque if distance to nearest galaxies was below critical value.
   
   
3. Why the UV radiation at that time would have been unable to leave some region surrounding galaxies? The notion of many-sheeted space-time suggests a solution. Simplest space-time sheets are 2-sheeted structure if one does not allow space-time to have boundaries. The members of the pair with boundary are glued to together along their common boundary. The radiation would have left this surface only partially. Partial reflection should occur as the radiation along first member of pair is reflected as a reflected signal propagating along second member. This model could explain the large fluctuations in the opacity as fluctuations in the density of galaxies.
   
   
4. Cosmic expansion occurring in TGD framework in jerk-wise manner as rapid phase transitions would have expanded the galactic space-time sheets and in the recent Universe this confinement of UV radiation would not occur and intergalactic space would be homogenously ionized and transparent.
   
   

The echo phenomenon could be completely general characteristic of the many-sheeted space-time.

1. The popular article "Evidence in several Gamma Ray Bursts of events where time appears to repeat backwards" (see this) tells about the article " Smoke and Mirrors: Signal-to-Noise and Time-Reversed Structures in Gamma-Ray Burst Pulse Light Curve" of Hakkila et al (see this). The study of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) occurring in the very early Universe with distance of few billion light years (smaller than for opacity measurements by an order of magnitude) has shown that the GRB pulses have complex structures suggesting that the radiation is reflected partially back at some distance and then back in core region.The duration of these pulses varies from 1 ms to 200 s. Could also this phenomenon be caused by the finite size of the space-time sheets assignable to the object creating GRBs?
   
   
2. There is also evidence for blackhole echoes, which could represent example of a similar phenomenon. Sabine Hossenfelder (see this) tells about the new evidence for blackhole echoes in the fusion of blackholes for GW170817 event observed by LIGO reported by Niayesh Afshordi, Professor of astrophysics at Perimeter Institute in the article " Echoes from the Abyss: A highly spinning black hole remnant for the binary neutron star merger GW170817" (see this). The earlier 2.5 sigma evidence has grown into 4.2 sigma evidence. 5 sigma is regarded as a criterion for discovery. For TGD based comments see this.
   
   

See the article Some new strange effects associated with galaxies or the chapter TGD and Astrophysics of "Physics in many-sheeted space-time".

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.