Thermalization of Starlight in the Steady-State Cosmology

Abstract

We investigate the fate of starlight in the Steady-State Cosmology. We discover that it is largely unaffected by the presence of ions in intergalactic space as it gets progressively red-shifted from the visible all the way down to the plasma frequency of the intergalactic matter. At that point, after about 450 Gyr - and contrary to previously published claims - the radiation will be thermalized. Under the assumptions adopted by Gold, Bondi, Hoyle, Narlikar, Burbidge and others concerning the creation of matter in the Steady-State Cosmology, and using reasonable estimates for the baryonic mass-density and mass-fraction of 4He, the analysis predicts a universal radiation field matching the CMB, i.e. having a black-body spectrum and temperature of about 2.7 K. The Steady-state Cosmology predicts that this radiation field will appear to originate from the intergalactic plasma.