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Cosmology Views

Electrical Explanation For a Quasar Spectrum

The observed behaviors in a quasar spectrum indicate its red shift is driven simply by electrical charge differentials.

This conjecture relies on a plasmoid having a substantial negative charge, with free electrons. This negative charge  seems likely but not verified. I can find nothing conclusive.

If it is not then the observed quasar behaviors are still lacking an explanation.

from Wikipedia:

Radiation from quasars is partially "nonthermal" (i.e., not due to black-body radiation), and approximately 10% are observed to also have jets and lobes like those of radio galaxies that also carry significant (but poorly understood) amounts of energy in the form of particles moving at relativistic speeds. Extremely high energies might be explained by several mechanisms (see Fermi acceleration and Centrifugal mechanism of acceleration). Quasars can be detected over the entire observable electromagnetic spectrum, including radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray and even gamma rays. Most quasars are brightest in their rest-frame ultraviolet wavelength of 121.6 nm Lyman-alpha emission line of hydrogen, but due to the tremendous redshifts of these sources, that peak luminosity has been observed as far to the red as 900.0 nm, in the near infrared. A minority of quasars show strong radio emission, which is generated by jets of matter moving close to the speed of light. When viewed downward, these appear as blazars and often have regions that seem to move away from the center faster than the speed of light (superluminal expansion). This is an optical illusion due to the properties of special relativity.

Quasar redshifts are measured from the strong spectral lines that dominate their visible and ultraviolet emission spectra. These lines are brighter than the continuous spectrum. They exhibit Doppler broadening corresponding to mean speed of several percent of the speed of light. Fast motions strongly indicate a large mass. Emission lines of hydrogen (mainly of the Lyman series and Balmer series), helium, carbon, magnesium, iron and oxygen are the brightest lines. The atoms emitting these lines range from neutral to highly ionized, leaving it highly charged. This wide range of ionization shows that the gas is highly irradiated by the quasar, not merely hot, and not by stars, which cannot produce such a wide range of ionization.

(excerpt end)

Observations:

Most of the Wikipedia topic is just junk (e.g., an optical illusion!?) simply because the high red shift is a big problem to explain. However, even the brief excerpt has all the clues to solve that red shift problem.
The typical quasar spectrum is rather flat, with frequencies from radio to X-ray and sometimes to gamma rays. This is the expected synchrotron radiation from a plasmoid.

My recent post titled Arp's Double Quasar Follow-up described many details in a quasar spectrum.  Some of those details are explained below. This post should conclude my observations about quasars.

The observed quasar spectrum has these features:

a) an intense  lyman-alpha emission line,

b) many fast metallic atoms,

c) these atoms are highly ionized,

d) emission lines dominate the spectrum,

e) all emission lines are red shifted,

f) the shift in (a) is different than in (b),

g) no absorption lines are noted.

The presence of the many metallic atoms is interesting. Arp observed quasars are apparently ejected from a Seyfert galaxy.

Most or all the content accompanying the plasmoid came from the Seyfert. The combination suggests the plasmoid ejection is the result of too much excess material in form of these metal elements, so in  a crude phrase the plasmoid is given garbage on the way out the door.

With only those 7 details in conjunction with the very energetic plasmoid at the center, a simple explanation is suggested for quasar red shifts.

(g) indicates all these behaviors are in or around the quasar. Absorption lines usually arise from atoms in the line of sight, or external to the object.

A red shifted hydrogen absorption line is found in a galaxy spectrum and results from hydrogen atoms in the inter galactic medium. The red shifted H line should be there in a quasar spectrum but is hidden among (d). Its shift is not a velocity and would be ignored anyway.

Every object around this negatively charged plasmoid is positively charged, as either metallic ions or simple protons.

All the positive objects will move toward the strong negative.

This plasmoid has excess electrons around it.

As these ions capture an electron to address their deficiency, the atom will generate its characteristic wavelength for that element's state change. The captured electron must fall into the correct orbital  missing an electron.

The ion is moving during this capture so the emission line is red shifted because it is moving toward the negative plasmoid.

The velocity of the ions is consistent because that velocity is driven only  by the strength of the plasmoid's electric field. All the ions of varying atomic number exhibit the same red shift and so have the same velocity.

After the ions capture an electron, they remain in the plasmoid's high frequency radiation, so they will become an ion again shortly to repeat the cycle.

Arp observed in quasars an apparent quantized behavior in these metallic velocities.

The observation indicates the plasmoid's electric field exhibits a quantized sequence of reduction in its strength. This is suggested  by that quantized reduction in red shifts from the metallic atoms.

The plasmoid will apparently continue gathering protons. Many quasars generate jets of plasma so protons are circulating in the universe.

This is the logical conclusion but the exact mechanism for reducing the plasmoid electric field is not clear.

The high red shift hydrogen emission line also has a simple  mechanism.

High speed protons exist in the universe coming from various sources, including a plasmoid's jets. The M87 plasma jets are at a velocity near or higher than c.

While these fast positive protons  are approaching  this negative plasmoid each proton can capture an electron becoming a hydrogen atom.

The captured electron must fall into one of the orbitals defined by the hydrogen element.

Either:
1) the electron takes the n=2 state (where n is the principal quantum number) in the Lyman series.
This action in the atom results in the emission of the lyman-alpha wave length.

This is the strongest wave length in a typical quasar spectrum.

or

2) the electron takes the n=3 state in the Balmer series.
This action in the atom results in the emission of the Balmer-alpha wave length.

Astronomers usually treat the strongest single emission line as a red shifted Lyman-alpha emission line.

If the emission were actually the Balmer-alpha line then the calculated red shift is in error by the difference between the two hydrogen alpha wave lengths. Using the Balmer line wave length will get a slightly lower red shift than using the Lyman line.

The hydrogen atom is moving fast at the moment of electron capture so a red shift occurs proportional to that atom's velocity in each direction.

This hydrogen emission line's red shift shows no quantized  behavior. The velocity of an incoming proton's velocity is not necessarily related to the electric field strength, like with the nearer metallic ions.

A possible scenario is a stronger electric field will attract more  protons from a further distance.

a quasar as a negatively charged object is the logical counterpart to all the galaxies.

My May 18 post was titled Galactic Corona Radiation and suggested galaxies exhibit a positively charged corona where its coronal electrical discharge results in the observed synchrotron radiation.

Therefore, the universe has something of an electrical  balance between (+) galaxies and (-) quasars. That is just conjecture.