What if everything compresses uniformly -- atoms, stars, rulers, photons? What if distant objects appear to recede only because our ruler is shorter now than theirs was then?
Free Parameters
1
Compression rate r. That is all.
Lambda-CDM
6
H0, Omega_b, Omega_DM, Omega_Lambda, n_s, tau.
Dark Energy
Geometric artifact
Emerges from exponential compression-lag in this model.
Universal Compression
Suppose everything compresses at rate r per unit time. No exceptions. Atoms, stars, rulers, light -- all shrink by the same factor. Because compression is uniform, no local measurement detects it. Your ruler shrinks at the same rate as everything around you.
But distant objects tell a different story. Light from a galaxy d units away left when that galaxy was less compressed. We observe it with our current ruler, which is more compressed. The galaxy appears larger than expected. The further we look, the older the light, the bigger the apparent discrepancy.
The Derivation
Compression Redshift
True size at time t: S(t) = S0 * (1-r)^t. Observed at distance d: S_obs = S0 * (1-r)^(t - d/c). Our ruler now: R(t) = R0 * (1-r)^t. Apparent ratio: S_obs / R(t) = (1-r)^(-d/c). Redshift: z = (1-r)^(-d/c) - 1. One free parameter: r.
Hubble's Law Emerges
For small distances, Taylor expansion gives z = r * d / c. This IS Hubble's Law: v = H0 * d, with H0 = r. The Hubble constant is not a speed of recession -- it is a compression rate.
Dark Energy Emerges
For large distances, the exponential dominates: z grows faster than r * d / c. This excess looks like acceleration -- exactly what Type Ia supernovae showed in 1998. The compression model produces the same curve with no dark energy parameter.
Explore: Compression vs Hubble
Enter a compression rate (1-20% per epoch). The table compares linear redshift (Hubble) to compression redshift. The Excess column is what Lambda-CDM calls dark energy.
Compression rate, percent:
How the Models Differ
This is a 1-parameter toy model. It reproduces Hubble's Law and the appearance of acceleration, but does not address CMB anisotropy, nucleosynthesis ratios, baryon acoustic oscillations, or large-scale structure -- all of which Lambda-CDM fits. The comparison below is conceptual, not empirical: