An Angular-Momentum-Based Hypothesis for Cosmology and Radiation: A Non-Gravitational, Non-Propagating Interpretation of Light and Structure Formation

This paper presents a speculative hypothesis that reinterprets several foundational assumptions in modern physics: the nature of gravity, the behavior of light, the nuclear forces, the matter-antimatter relationship, and the large-scale evolution of the universe. The central proposal is that angular momentum, rather than gravity, is the primary driver of structure formation and apparent "weight," and that what is currently described as propagating light is instead a stationary thermal residue of discrete phase transitions in matter and fields. Under this hypothesis, the observed constancy of the speed of light reflects the motion of the observer (and the Earth) through a field of stationary photons, rather than a fundamental propagation speed of light quanta themselves. A fundamental insight of the framework is that the stationary photon field mediates energy transitions in matter, creating electromagnetic photons at low energies and particle-antiparticle pairs at higher energies. The apparent matter-antimatter asymmetry is explained not by Sakharov-type baryogenesis, but by entropy-driven directional bias in the field's energy transition rates. The baryon-to-photon ratio η ≈ 6×10⁻¹⁰ reflects the thermodynamic equilibrium between matter and the photon field that continuously produces both ordinary photons and antimatter particles through absorption-emission cycles. The model begins with a primordial, perfectly smooth, rotating sphere containing all matter in the universe in a state of uniform spin and angular momentum. A minute asymmetry at the exact moment when this sphere transitions from orbiting to linear motion triggers an explosive event analogous to the Big Bang. The subsequent evolution of matter is driven by conserved spin, torque, and collisions, producing galaxies, stars, and planets without invoking gravity as a fundamental interaction. Photons are treated as massless, motionless carriers of residual energy, created by entropy and phase transitions, which remain fixed in space until absorbed by massive particles. The hypothesis extends to nuclear physics, proposing that strong and weak nuclear forces emerge from angular momentum coupling at subatomic scales with scale-dependent coupling constants, with quark confinement arising from topological constraints on angular momentum flux at the characteristic scale σ₀,quark = 5.4×10⁻²⁷ m²/s, yielding the observed string tension of 1 GeV/fm. The framework introduces the universal specific angular momentum σ₀ from which all gravitational phenomena emerge through the relation L = m·σ₀. The Universal Hierarchical Transition Principle (Section 2.3) provides the mathematical foundation governing how σ₀ varies smoothly between distinct physical regimes. The scale-dependent hierarchy σ₀(r) transitions continuously from quark scales (σ₀,quark ~ 5×10⁻²⁷ m²/s) through nuclear scales (σ₀,nuclear ~ 10⁻⁷ m²/s), atomic scales (σ₀,photon ~ 1.4×10⁻⁵ m²/s for photon-matter coupling), to planetary (σ₀,planetary ~ 8.2×10⁵ m²/s) and astrophysical scales (σ₀,macro ~ 10⁶ m²/s), unifying behavior across 40 orders of magnitude. These transitions follow the universal form σ₀(r) = (1-h₁)·σ₀,micro + h₁(1-h₂)·σ₀,meso + h₂·σ₀,macro, where sigmoid transition functions h(r; r_c, n) = (r/r_c)ⁿ/[1+(r/r_c)ⁿ] emerge uniquely from angular momentum conservation, energy minimization, and smooth continuity requirements. The coupling potential U = -G·L₁·L₂/(σ₀²·r) automatically recovers Newtonian gravity U = -Gm₁m₂/r when L = m·σ₀, with the derived equivalence principle emerging naturally from this formulation. The framework addresses the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass, derives tidal forces from angular momentum gradients, explains binary pulsar orbital decay through angular momentum radiation (matching observations to 0.2%), and provides interpretations of frame dragging consistent with Gravity Probe B measurements (through core-mantle density structure giving σ₀,eff = 0.82×σ₀,macro). Gravitational lensing is reinterpreted as the direct observation of infalling matter's orbital structure around massive objects: Einstein rings are face-on circular orbits at r ~ 4GM/c², multiple images represent different orbital phases, and time delays (days to months) correspond to orbital periods rather than light path differences. This orbital structure interpretation resolves the apparent paradox of lensing in a stationary photon framework and predicts detectable Doppler shifts (Δv ~ 10⁴ km/s) between lensed images—a sharp distinction from standard gravitational lensing where all images show identical spectra. The Sachs-Wolfe effect is explained through the stationary photon model with CMB fluctuations arising from primordial photon deposition conditions. Gravitational wave detection is reinterpreted through a velocity normalization mechanism: angular momentum density waves from distant astrophysical sources modulate the local photon field, causing Earth's velocity through this field to fluctuate as it normalizes to local equilibrium. LIGO measures these velocity fluctuations (δv ~ 10⁻¹³ m/s for typical events) as differential path length changes, with the strain-velocity correspondence δv = (c/2)×h providing a direct physical interpretation of the observed signals. The hypothesis claims that many cosmological phenomena--such as dark matter, dark energy, and redshift observations--may be reinterpreted as consequences of misattributing our own motion and mischaracterizing the behavior of light. The framework derives neutrino oscillations from angular momentum phase evolution, with flavor eigenstates (νₑ, νμ, ντ) representing distinct phase configurations (0, 2π/3, 4π/3) of the neutrino's angular momentum orientation relative to the photon field. Mass eigenstates emerge from differential coupling to the stationary photon field, reproducing the standard oscillation probability P = sin²(2θ)·sin²(1.27·Δm²·L/E). Primordial nucleosynthesis derives the helium mass fraction Y_p = 0.245 from a freeze-out temperature T_freeze = 8.6×10⁹ K determined by angular momentum coupling timescales. Bell inequality violations are derived quantitatively from the geometric projection of fixed angular momentum vectors onto measurement apparatus axes: entangled photons deposit perpendicular angular momenta L_A ⊥ L_B in the stationary field at emission, and detector orientations θ_A, θ_B simply sample projections of this pre-existing geometry. This projection mechanism produces the correlation function C(θ) = -cos(θ_A - θ_B) and CHSH parameter S = 2.61 without requiring wave function collapse or faster-than-light influences, resolving the apparent conflict between locality and quantum nonlocality. Quantum computing scalability limitations emerge naturally from the framework's entropy production requirements: maintaining N-qubit coherence requires angular momentum isolation scaling as N², predicting practical limits of ~30-100 qubits before decoherence dominates. The paper develops 28 specific, quantitative testable predictions, including: photon thermalization over τ ~ 5×10¹⁰ years with observable spectral broadening; a minimum black hole mass of ~2.4 M_Earth (range 0.8-8 M_Earth); helium mass fraction Y_p = 0.245 (matching observed 0.245±0.003); laboratory flywheel experiments with predicted signal-to-noise ratio of ~8400; gravitational wave memory velocity drift of ~0.5 μm/year cumulative baseline shift; velocity fluctuation background at S_v^(1/2) ~ 10⁻¹⁵ m/s/√Hz; neutrino mass ordering predictions; and Fibonacci structure in galaxy spiral arms, orbital resonances, and angular momentum hierarchies spanning 69 levels from quark to cosmic scales. Critical tests include photon field thermalization spectroscopy, black hole mass gap searches, enhanced CMB isotropy from primordial sphere thermal equilibration, CMB acoustic peak positions at l ~ 220, 540, 810 arising from velocity-stratified photon deposition (Appendix A), gravitational wave velocity-direction correlations with source sky positions, quantum computing coherence time scaling, and systematic surveys of Fibonacci patterns in spiral galaxies (preferential 2,3,5,8-arm structure) and exoplanet period ratios (peaks at golden ratio φⁿ ≈ 1.618ⁿ). These predictions, while challenging to standard physics, provide clear pathways for empirical validation or falsification of the framework.