Variable Speed of Light Cosmology and Electromagnetism

Abstract

This work explores modifications of electromagnetism models to allow variable speed of light (VSL) without violating current observations and investigates the utility of VSL to explain anomalies (unexplainable observations) in cosmology. Such a variable speed of light (VSL) approach, where the source speed augments the speed of light, is controversial since it violates Maxwell’s equations that requires the speed of light to be independent of the source speed. Therefore, relative-velocity (RV) based modifications of Maxwell’s equations are proposed to facilitate a VSL-based cosmology, that predicts (rather than assume) the Hubble law and explains current cosmological anomalies such as the apparent lack of time dilation in quasar observations. It is shown also that the proposed RV-based model matches current observations in electromagnetism and optics, such as the transverse Doppler effect and the Fresnel drag. Finally, a method to potentially validate/refute the proposed approach using high speed ion experiments is proposed.