The Living Cosmos concerning quasars

The Doppler Effect, described in terms of redshifts, derives from an experiment performed in the 1840s. Christian Doppler staged an experiment with a band of musicians on a moving train, while others with perfect pitch stood by and listened. The notes were higher when the train approached and lower as it departed. Also the faster the train traveled the greater the pitch shifted. This understanding has been applied to the light emitted by objects in the Universe. If the object is moving towards us the spectral lines will be blueshifted, while those moving away are redshifted.

All quasars are redshifted. According to accepted interpretations, quasars are believed to be the fastest and farthest objects. However, a number of observations indicate that this velocity and distance interpretation is flawed. In fact, redshifts have never been fully proven (i.e., quantified) to represent what they are believed to portray.

The Doppler Effect involves both wave and particle viewpoints, and therefore, magnetic fields or electrical discharges also play a role. However, when the magnetic field is considered the effects of boundary conditions (i.e., plasma layers, etc.) are often neglected. Magnetic fields themselves are also usually not considered in order to simplify a hypothesis. In short, the Doppler Effect as it is usually interpreted may be more on the level of science fiction in some cases.

These incomplete perspectives could account for the apparent superluminal (faster than light) motions, and what are called discordant or non-cosmological redshifts in some objects. Helical or "handed" fields or materials (chirowaveguides) are known to create two different redshifts, even when the object and observer are at rest relative to each other. The Field-dynamical Model accelerates and ejects helical plasma layers, and therefore, could easily produce what are called discordant redshifts.

Quasars have been a mystery since their discovery. Immense energy is packed into a relatively small object that may actually be the energy cores of recently born galaxies. Approximately double the size of our solar system, they emit hundreds of times more energy than an entire galaxy. Quasars appear to move at enormous, often superluminal, speeds when the standard interpretation of redshifts is considered. According to relativity theory nothing should travel faster than the speed of light, and therefore, the apparent superluminal -- faster than light -- speeds of some objects alone brings into question the standard interpretation of redshifts.

Meanwhile, quasars appear to be the result of interactions between galaxies. The apparent distance of quasars may be illusionary, and they could be nearby. In fact, a good deal of evidence demonstrates that redshifts cannot be trusted as indicators of distance when it comes to quasars. In Grand Unified Theory most or all radio galaxies are quasars that are not seen pole-on. Therefore, quasars, and at least some galaxies, are revealing a more complete understanding of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their activity, which includes non-cosmological redshifts, and interstellar and intergalactic fields.