Editor, Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Scientific Editor, Astrophysical Journal
Fellow, Royal Society
AAS Warner Prize (with M. Burbidge) 1959
NRAO Jansky Lecturer
ASP
Bruce Medalist 1999
Research Interests:
Theoretical Astrophysics:
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Physics of active galaxies and quasi-stellar objects |
| Non-thermal radiation processes |
| Cosmology |
With my collaborators, Fred Hoyle and Jayant Narlikar, I am working on the
nature of
quasi-stellar objects, the origin of the redshifts in these objects,
and on Quasi-Steady
State Cosmology, an alternative to the Big Bang theory.
The Quasi-Steady State Cosmology
The Quasi-Steady State Cosmology is an oscillatory, general-relativistic
cosmology in which matter is created in "mini-big bangs" of about
1016 M ,
occurring at intervals of ~ H0-1. In this model,
4He is produced by nucleosynthesis in stars. It is then thermalized by
dust grains at epochs near oscillatory minimum to produce the observed cosmic
microwave background radiation (CMB). The energy released in the synthesis of
cosmic 4He from hydrogen is nearly equal to the energy
contained in the CMB. This result strongly suggests that the 4He
was produced by hydrogen burning in stars and not in the early stages of a big bang.
In addition, we have shown that there are good arguments for believing that
the other light isotopes, D,
3He, 6Li, 7Li, 9Be,
10B, and 11B, were also
synthesized in processes within stars. By combining these results with
the earlier, much more detailed work of Burbidge et al. and of Cameron, we
conclude that all of the chemical elements were
synthesized from hydrogen in stars over a time of about
1011 yr.
This cosmology is described in our article in the April 1999 Physics
Today and in several of the publications listed below.
Selected Publications
Links:
CASS Research Interests Page
gburbidge@ucsd.edu
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