Types of Redshift in an Aether Medium (Part 1)

Hi Glenn-

Was thinking about your model for redshifting-blueshifting while camping this weekend and had some thoughts for your consideration. If you do write a paper, I think it would be very helpful for you to include some graphic illustrations. It would help me (and others) follow your train of thought. Your model explains why redshifting is observed of external galaxies, but it also needs to include an explanation of why the Andromeda galaxy is blueshifted. As I understand your model, any light source arriving from space would show redshifting as it encounters the less aether-dense atmosphere around the earth.

Bill Howell

[GB: Bill:

Thanks for the comments and questions.

I am reminded of your previous astute question: How can there be a Doppler Effect without a medium?

Short answer:

Not possible.

Long answer:

The Doppler Effect can only occur in a medium. That is why everyday explanations of it always involve a medium and aether deniers need to gloss over the medium problem when discussing light. For instance, the sound of a train or vehicle may be high pitched (high frequency waves in air) coming toward you and low pitched (low frequency waves in air) going away from you.

Some basics:

Why waves form:

Waves are produced when the motions of a particular microcosm are transmitted to the macrocosm—imperfectly, as they must be. If the idealist’s solid matter really existed, then this motion would be transferred instantaneously. We get close to this kind of motion transfer when we poke a cue stick at a billiard ball. The motion of our hands is transferred to the stick and then to the billiard ball as if instantaneous even though we know that there must be atom-to-atom contact within the stick for that to occur. As stated by the Tenth Assumption of Science, interconnection (All things are interconnected, that is, between any two objects exist other objects that transmit matter and motion). Motion is always transferred microcosm-to-microcosm. This always involves some delay, even if only for a few nanoseconds. There is wave motion within the stick, although the rigidity of the stick may prevent us from noticing it. For a medium with less rigidity, such as water, for instance, wave motion becomes obvious. Above all, though, the velocity of the wave motion and its character is dependent on the character of the medium. You can hit the water as hard as you wish, but the waves will still take their own sweet time; you can turn up the bass as loud as you wish, but sound waves in air will still travel at only 343 m/s.  

Wave components and 3D:

Having a great deal of freedom, the molecules in media such as water and air cannot be forced to transmit all their motion unidirectionally. Only an impossibly direct hit between microcosms could do that. Nonetheless, when the transfer is nearly direct, a longitudinal wave is produced in the direction of motion (sometimes called a pressure wave or P wave). In the case of light, this is called radiation pressure. When the transfer is more oblique in such squishy media, the microcosms squirt off to the side. This produces a transverse wave, which on average appears perpendicular to the direction of motion. This is often called a shear wave, because the microcosms, rushing past each other, tend to be impeded on the sides touching each other. For each pair, the resulting drag forces some of the motion to be absorbed as spin when one of the microcosms ends up rotating clockwise and the other ends up rotating counter-clockwise. Here is a good demonstration of both types of waves. Because the universe is three dimensional, the motions produced by waves have three components: 1) back and forth, 2) up and down, and 3) side to side. Good thing light is wave motion too; otherwise, polarized glasses would not work.

Redshift Primer

There are four types of redshift.

Type I  Redshifts Produced by the Motion of the Observer

With the advent of relativity, there has been much confusion about the Doppler Effect. From a neomechanical standpoint, however, the Doppler Effect is quite simple, involving two points and the wave motion between them. Type I redshifts are the easiest to explain because you can produce them on almost any body of water. If I move toward the source, I will encounter the waves it produces much more quickly. This is an observer-produced blueshift. If I move away from the source, I will encounter the waves it produces much more slowly. This is an observer-produced redshift. The redshift observer will see the waves as further apart (an increase in wavelength) and will count fewer of them per minute (a decrease in frequency) than will the folks on shore.

Type II  Redshifts Produced by the Motion of the Source

If the source moves toward me, it will produce waves that will be closer together. This is a source-produced blueshift. Unlike the observer produced blueshift, these waves actually will be close together. Both you and I will agree that the waves become closer together as the source moves toward us. A redshift will be produced when the source moves away from us. In this regard, light from Andromeda is blueshifted, because it is moving towards us fast enough to counteract redshifts produced in other ways.

Figure 1. Wave lengths are blueshifted (shortened) in the direction of motion and redshifted (lengthened) in the opposite direction (from http://bork.hampshire.edu/~sam/extraordinary/HDF.htm). Here is another good demo of red and blue shifts.