Expanding Space: the Root of all Evil?

TL;DR

This paper defends the concept of expanding space in cosmology, clarifying its validity and usefulness for understanding universe evolution, while addressing misconceptions and misconceptions that have challenged its acceptance.

Contribution

It develops a consistent framework for expanding space that aligns with general relativity and enhances intuitive understanding of cosmic expansion.

Findings

Expanding space can be validly used to describe universe evolution.

Arguments against expanding space often conflict with general relativity.

The framework improves conceptual clarity of cosmic expansion.

Abstract

While it remains the staple of virtually all cosmological teaching, the concept of expanding space in explaining the increasing separation of galaxies has recently come under fire as a dangerous idea whose application leads to the development of confusion and the establishment of misconceptions. In this paper, we develop a notion of expanding space that is completely valid as a framework for the description of the evolution of the universe and whose application allows an intuitive understanding of the influence of universal expansion. We also demonstrate how arguments against the concept in general have failed thus far, as they imbue expanding space with physical properties not consistent with the expectations of general relativity.