An Interpretation of Milne Cosmology

Abstract

The cosmological concordance model is consistent with all available observational data, including the apparent distance and redshift relationship for distant supernovae, but it is curious how the Milne cosmological model is able to make predictions that are similar to this preferred General Relativistic model. Milne's cosmological model is based solely on Special Relativity and presumes a completely incompatible redshift mechanism; how then can the predictions be even remotely close to observational data? The puzzle is usually resolved by subsuming the Milne Cosmological model into General Relativistic cosmology as the special case of an empty Universe. This explanation may have to be reassessed with the finding that spacetime is approximately flat because of inflation, whereupon the projection of cosmological events onto the observer's Minkowski spacetime must always be kinematically consistent with Special Relativity, although the specific dynamics of the underlying General Relativistic model can give rise to virtual forces in order to maintain consistency between the observation and model frames.