Peratt Plasma Structure Formation
Birkeland currents and plasma instabilities produce galaxy-like structures in particle-in-cell simulations.
Looping ambient scene for Plasma-Based Alternative Cosmologies. This family of alternative cosmologies was developed by Hannes Alfvén, Oskar Klein, Anthony Peratt, Eric Lerner and others. It argues that since most baryonic matter in the universe is in plasma form, electromagnetic forces and plasma physics should dominate cosmic structure formation rather than gravity. Various versions reject the Big Bang entirely, propose matter-antimatter symmetric universes, or claim Birkeland currents shape galaxies and filaments. None has produced a quantitative fit to the full suite of cosmological data, and the field has been largely abandoned by mainstream physics since the 1990s.
§1 · The claim, in one sentence
Anthony Peratt's particle-in-cell simulations from the 1980s showed that interacting Birkeland current filaments evolve into spiral and barred galaxy-like shapes under electromagnetic forces, motivating a plasma-based account of cosmic structure formation.
§2 · Why it might be true
Anthony Peratt, a plasma physicist formerly at Los Alamos, developed a technical plasma cosmology program centered on particle-in-cell simulations of large-scale plasma interactions. He showed that current-carrying filaments can naturally evolve into spiral and barred galaxy-like shapes under electromagnetic forces.
Peratt argued that observed galaxy morphologies, large-scale filaments in the cosmic web, and radio brightness and polarization patterns reflect dominant electromagnetic structure formation rather than gravitational collapse. The work appears mainly in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science and is taken seriously within plasma physics, though not within mainstream cosmology.
The family stance
The universe is structured by plasma physics and electromagnetic forces operating on cosmic scales. There is no singular beginning; cosmic structure arises from current sheets and plasma instabilities rather than gravitational collapse from a hot Big Bang.
§2.5 · Evidence
- Particle-in-cell simulations do produce filament structures resembling observed cosmic filaments
- Galactic magnetic fields are real and ubiquitous, validating the importance of plasma physics on these scales
§3 · What you'd need to test it
- Galaxy morphology emerges from plasma current interactions, not gravitational dynamics with dark matter
- Strong magnetic field signatures in galactic and intergalactic filaments
- Specific polarization patterns in radio observations of galaxies and filaments
§4 · Where it breaks
- Simulations show possible plasma structures but do not demonstrate that gravity is dispensable on cosmic scales
- Does not address CMB, primordial nucleosynthesis, or the Hubble diagram
- Most cosmologists find the simulations qualitative and unable to reproduce quantitative observations like galaxy rotation curves better than gravitational models with dark matter
Go deeper
Peratt's 1986 paper in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (vol. 14, p. 763) developed the formation of systems of galaxies from interacting plasma filaments. See also his monograph 'Physics of the Plasma Universe' (Springer, 1992; 2nd ed. 2015) for a technical treatment.
Variants in this family
▸§5 · Who built it, and when(2 sources, 2 established)
- EstablishedPeratt (1986) Evolution of the Plasma Universe II: The formation of systems of galaxies, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 14, 763
- EstablishedPeratt (1992/2015) Physics of the Plasma Universe, Springer
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