An Oppositeness in the Cosmology: Distribution of the Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Cosmological Principle

TL;DR

This paper reviews evidence suggesting that gamma-ray bursts are distributed anisotropically, challenging the assumption of large-scale homogeneity and isotropy in the universe as posited by the Cosmological Principle.

Contribution

It provides a survey of observational studies indicating anisotropies in gamma-ray burst distributions, questioning the validity of the Cosmological Principle.

Findings

Gamma-ray bursts are not isotropically distributed on the sky.

Large Gpc structures have been observed in the spatial distribution of bursts.

Observational data contradict the assumption of large-scale homogeneity.

Abstract

The Cosmological Principle is the assumption that the universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic in the large-scale average. In year 1998 the author, together with his two colleagues, has shown that the BATSE's short gamma-ray bursts are not distributed isotropically on the sky. This claim was then followed by other papers confirming both the existence of anisotropies in the angular distribution of bursts and the existence of huge Gpc structures in the spatial distribution. These observational facts are in contradiction with the Cosmological Principle, because the large scale averaging hardly can be provided. The aim of this contribution is to survey these publications.