The [pdf] article, Does the proton-to-electron mass ratio mu = Mp/Me vary in the course of cosmological evolution? (IPRV), may bear a relation to the prospect of electrical charge being a cosmological variable. It touches on some of the same consequences, for example, anomalies in quasar redshifts, which would ensue if electrical charge were to be cosmologically variable. [Added 07 Aug 2003.]

The author's variable electrical charge hypothesis for explaining anomalous redshifts is similar to the Narlikar-Das Variable Mass Hypothesis (VMH), based on the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravitation. Arp has incorporated the latter approach in his reasonings on anomalous quasar redshifts. See: (ND80), (AH98), and (NV02).

One primary difference between the two approaches is that the author's variable charge wavelength changes are proportional to the inverse fourth power of the local-to-remote differential in unit electrical charge, whereas for the variable mass hypothesis the changes would only be proportional to the inverse of the first power of the local-to-remote elementary particle mass differentials. (See the redshift derivation in Figure 4, Part 5.) The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. [Added 20 October 2003.]

See Bill Keel's commentary (KW03) that touches on Arp's handling of possible close relations between Active Galactic Nuclei, galaxies, quasars, and discordant (non Hubble flow) redshifts. [Added 28 October 2003.]

Figure 5 shows a "Milky Way" Cosmos. In 5a a density profile line is shown piercing a globular cluster, a spiral nebula, and the Milky Way galactic disk. A density plot, along the profile line, is shown in 5b. The Solar System is located near the peak for the galactic disk.

Figure 5
Material Density as a function of Galactic Location

A Note of Caution About Using Cepheid Variables as Standard Candles

[Added 23 January 2004.]

According to the author's EAS model of physics, not only is the unit electrical charge an environmenally determined variable, but so is the gravitational constant (G). (In the EAS model gravity is a shielding side effect of elementary electrical interactions. )

In this article Cepheid variables are being portrayed as Ritzian objects, i.e., binary stars where c+v effects (with respect to us as remote observers) produce periodic brightness variations. (See: A Ritzian Interpretation of Variable Stars and Non-Pulsating Cepheid Variables.)

What the above two paragraphs are leading to, is the idea that using Cepheid variables as standard candles for galactic versus so-called extra-galactic environments may not be what it's cracked up to be. For Ritzian Cepheids, which happen to be located in or near the equatorial part of the galactic disk (where the gravitational constant G may be considered as more or less normal), we observe Type I (first studied) Cepheids. For Cepheids located on the fringes of the galactic disk, or further out into the galactic halo we should expect to see, kilogram-for-kilogram, longer periods giving us a transition to Type II Cepheids and perhaps beyond. [This needs more work.]

The following, overly simplified, diagram is meant to illustrate the postulated interplay between G and the periods of Cepheids as binary stars. (For circular orbits the separation between the stars will be a constant R + r.)

It may be that the lengths of the orbital radii R and r will also be functions of G.

If the spirals are clustered near the galactic plane then there is no requirement for missing mass to make them behave the way we want them to. We should learn to accept their behavior as it is, and adjust our theoretical outlooks so as to conform to the way the universe is.

Cosmological redshift may turn out to not be a measure of an expanding universe. If so, according to the variable electric charge model, it can be used as a measure of density differences between our observing vantage point and the remote objects observed. Galaxy clusters should at least become short, stubby fingers of God.

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http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Faber/Faber3_1.html (Part 3, Table 2)

BA02 - Bell, Andrew - Wavelengths - Nineteenth-Century Spectroscopy and the birth of Modern Astrophysics (Part II) - http://nchalada.org/archive/WaveLng21.html (Part 4)

BBCN - BBC News - Dead stars could be 'missing mass' - 22 March 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1236460.stm (Part 1)

BR03 - Britt, Robert Roy, "Hubble Pictures Too Crisp, Challenging Theories of Time and Space," Space.com/science/astronomy, 02 April 2003, http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/quantum_bits_030402.html (Part 2)
[Added 24 March 2004.]

BSVD - van den Bergh, Sidney, Dark Matter in the Local Group,
http://www.macalester.edu/astronomy/courses/physics50/spring2002.html (Part 1)

CE01 - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, (2001)
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CXO - Chandra X-Ray Observatory - Dark Matter Mystery
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DJ - Dursi, Jonathan, Cosmology is the study of the evolution of the Universe
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DL - Desroches, Louis
http://astron.berkeley.edu/~louis/astro228/redshift.html (Part 5)

DMVM - Dark Matter vs MOND
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DP00 - Durrell, Patrick R., Ciardullo, Robin, Laychak, Marry Beth, Jacoby, George H., Feldmeier, John J., and Moody, Ken, Kinematics of M33's Disc Planetary Nebulae - Figure 4: The 'smoothed' rotation curve derived from the PNe velocities compared to the HI curve from Corbelli & Salucci, (2000). (Curves very similar.) Radial velocities obtained for 142 planetary nebulae.
[PDF] http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/pdurrell/M33_aas_poster.pdf (Part 3, Table 2)

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FR88 - Fritzius, Robert, Cosmological Redshift, Magnolia Scientific Tech Note 1-88, (1988)
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FR93 - Fritzius, Robert, Emission-Absorption-Scattering (EAS) Sub-quantum Physics, Presented at the International Conference on Sir Isaac Newton, St. Petersburg, Russia, 22-27 March, (1993) http://www.datasync.com/~rsf1/eas.htm (Parts 1, 6)

GJ -Goodman, Jason - The Case Against the Big Bang
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GJ2 - Goodman, Jason - The Case for Plasma Cosmology - http://www.geocities.com/kingvegeta80/plasma.html (Part 6)

GK02 - Gordon, Kurtiss J., History of our Understanding of as Spiral Galaxy: Messier 33, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 10, 293-307 (1969).
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HB92 - Hetherington, N., Brashear, R., Journal for the History of Astronomy, 23, 53-56 (1992).

HE35 - Hubble, Edwin, ApJ, 81, 334-335 (1935). NADS (Part 5)

HE38 - Hubble, Edwin, ASPL, 3, 120-123 (1983). NADS (Part 6) - [Added 24 January 2004.]

HM31 - Humason, Milton L., Apparent Velocity-Shifts in the Spectra of Faint Nebulae, ApJ 74, 35-42 (1931) - NADS (Part 5) - [Added 25 October 2003.]