- #1
Staticboson
- 55
- 14
- TL;DR Summary
- Farther objects are receding faster therefore Lorentz contraction effects should increase with distance.
As object separate with a receding velocity proportional to the distance, it would seem appropriate to think that objects and space itself, which are located at a distance sufficiently far away (and beyond) to were recession velocities are large enough that Lorentz length contraction effects would be noticeable.
Following this logic, at distances where recession speeds are close to c, the universe would appear to be flatter in the direction of expansion. At the point where the receding velocity is c, the length of any object (and the space containing it) in the direction of expansion would be zero. This of course seems like it would affect the horizon of the observable universe.
However that is clearly not the way it is. There is depth observed well beyond the point where the receding velocity reaches c, and there is no such flattening.
The only explanation I can come up with is that Lorentz expansion only applies to inertial frames and of course the expanding universe with a velocity differentially increasing with the distance there is no such thing as inertial frames, but still, it seems like relativistic effects should be noticeable in other than redshifts.
Please point me towards where to look for an explanation, thank you.
Following this logic, at distances where recession speeds are close to c, the universe would appear to be flatter in the direction of expansion. At the point where the receding velocity is c, the length of any object (and the space containing it) in the direction of expansion would be zero. This of course seems like it would affect the horizon of the observable universe.
However that is clearly not the way it is. There is depth observed well beyond the point where the receding velocity reaches c, and there is no such flattening.
The only explanation I can come up with is that Lorentz expansion only applies to inertial frames and of course the expanding universe with a velocity differentially increasing with the distance there is no such thing as inertial frames, but still, it seems like relativistic effects should be noticeable in other than redshifts.
Please point me towards where to look for an explanation, thank you.