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Nearby galaxies as pointers to a better theory of cosmic evolution

Nature volume 465, pages 565–569 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The great advances in the network of cosmological tests show that the relativistic Big Bang theory is a good description of our expanding Universe. However, the properties of nearby galaxies that can be observed in greatest detail suggest that a better theory would describe a mechanism by which matter is more rapidly gathered into galaxies and groups of galaxies. This more rapid growth occurs in some theoretical ideas now under discussion.

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Figure 1: Galaxies at radial distances 1 <  D  < 8 Mpc from the centre of the Local Group of galaxies.
Figure 2: A galaxy typical of those found in low-density regions.
Figure 3: Ongoing rearrangement of matter in the central luminous regions of galaxies.
Figure 4: Measures of early-type galaxies in more and less crowded environments.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Virgo Consortium for their cosmological simulations and to J. Wang, who produced Fig. 3 from these simulations. We have benefited from advice from F. Governato, A. Klypin, J. Kormendy, J. Silk, S. van den Bergh, J. van Gorkom, S. White and R. Wyse. This work was supported in part by The Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 303/09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA ,

    P. J. E. Peebles

  2. Physics Department, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel,

    Adi Nusser

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  1. P. J. E. Peebles
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Correspondence to P. J. E. Peebles.

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Peebles, P., Nusser, A. Nearby galaxies as pointers to a better theory of cosmic evolution. Nature 465, 565–569 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09101

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