Cosmological Models in a Conformally Invariant Gravitational Theory--II: A New Model

It was seen in a previous paper how the mass of a particle can be determined in terms of a mass field m(X). A dimensionless coupling λ constant is introduced, the individual particle mass being λm(X). Since the mass field can be explicitly calculated in terms of cosmic time τ and L–3, the cosmic particle density, the numerical value of λ can be determined by relating λm(X) to empirically known particle masses. For the proton, |λ²\,\,5.10⁻³⁸|⁠, which is of the same order as the inverse square root of the number of particles determining the present-day mass field. In the usual theory it has to be supposed that this circumstance arises from coincidence. If, on the other hand, λ2 is actually related to the number of particles giving rise to the mass field a new cosmological model is obtained. Since the number of particles giving rise to the mass field is a function of the epoch τ, so must λ be. The model resulting from the dependence of λ on τ therefore involves continuous creation of matter. The situation here is different from the steady-state model, however. With creation occurring in active centres rather than smoothly, the model has radically new astrophysical and geophysical properties. These are examined in some detail.