Imagine a universe without a beginning or end - an eternal, boundless expanse, free of explosive origins or expansion. The Zigzag Eternal Universe System (ZEUS) builds this cosmos from first principles: relative motion, gravity's pull, light's travel, and its scattering by tiny particles. Unlike traditional models with a Big Bang, dark energy, or curved spacetime, ZEUS envisions a flat, infinite space where time flows steadily. Stars, galaxies, and the sky's faint glow emerge from light interacting with matter, not cosmic drama.
In ZEUS, space doesn't stretch. Gravity binds masses - keeping orbits and clusters intact - but doesn't warp reality. The universe's structure hinges on Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) - dense remnants like neutron stars or black holes, each surrounded by electron clouds, scattered one per few light-years. These common objects, born from stellar cycles, drive observable phenomena: redshift, light rings, and the cosmic background glow.
Light in ZEUS zigzags. Emitted from a star, it bounces off MACHO electron clouds, taking a winding path to us. Over vast distances, these detours average out along the line of sight, appearing as if from the source, but stretched and delayed. This scattering - not spatial curvature - shapes our view, explaining redshift as a function of distance, not expansion. Gravity anchors MACHOs, while scattering crafts the cosmos's shimmer in a flat, timeless frame.
Imagine a universe that doesn’t grow or start with a bang. It’s eternal and flat. The Zigzag Eternal Universe System (ZEUS) says light from stars doesn’t travel straight—it zigzags through space, bouncing off tiny clouds around dense objects called MACHOs. This winding path makes light look stretched (redshifted), like it’s moving away, but the universe stays still. No expansion, just a trick of light!
Light leaves a star and heads to us. Normally, it’d take a straight path, distance \( d \), at speed \( c = 299,792,458 \, \text{m/s} \). In ZEUS, it zigzags over a longer path, \( s \), still at \( c \), but takes more time. This mimics the stretch we see in light from faraway galaxies.
Light zigzags from a star to us, stretching its path from \( d \) to \( s \).
Each zigzag is a triangle. The base is part of the straight distance (\( \Delta d \)), but light travels the longer sides (\( \Delta s \)). Over many zigzags, \( s = d (1 + z) \), where \( z \) is the redshift. The angle \( \alpha \) shows how much light bends:
For \( z = 0.125 \), \( 1 + z = 1.125 \), so \( s = 1.125d \), and \( \alpha = \cos^{-1}(1/1.125) \approx 27.27^\circ \). More zigzags mean more stretch—no moving universe needed!
Light moves at \( c \) along its zigzag path (\( s \)), but because it travels at an oblique angle \( \alpha \), its speed along the x-axis (\( v(x) \))—the straight line to us—is slower. Imagine all zigzags summed into one big right-angle triangle: \( d \) is the base (straight to us), \( s \) is the hypotenuse (total path), and the height is the total y-axis deviation. The angle \( \alpha \) reduces the x-axis speed:
All zigzags form a big triangle. Light travels at angle \( \alpha \), slowing its x-axis speed.
For \( z = 0.125 \), \( v(x) = c / 1.125 \approx 0.8889c \). Light’s waves take longer to cross the x-axis distance \( d \), stretching the wavelength. If the source wavelength is 400 nm:
The light looks redder because its effective speed along the x-axis is slower, spreading out the waves as they reach us.
ZEUS explains why distant galaxies look red, small, and faint without a Big Bang or dark energy. It’s simpler—just light, gravity, and MACHOs in a timeless cosmos. Data from telescopes like JWST backs it up!