On Thu, 03 Jan 13, Steve Willner wrote:
Eric Flesch writes:
... the universe as a 4-space embedded into an n-space, or
specifically as an onion peel onto a spherical 5-or-6-space. This
confers stability via ... gravitational scalar of the bulk

I have no problem with the basic idea, of course. What I don't
understand is how this leads to stability and not merely an unstable
equilibrium.

Pretty much all such gr-qc work is done assuming a void bulk. Talk
about an elephant in the room! If we fill the bulk with n-space
matter & energy, so we are just a sub-universe of the larger universe,
then stability follows as naturally as the stability of standing on
the Earth. Also this allows for galaxies to be spigotted from the
bulk, so no more mystery about matter erupting from galaxy centres,
the "bar" of bar spirals, etc.

If the model is static, where does evolution come from? Or
equivalently, why does the Universe have a finite age? Also, what
about SN light curves slowing with redshift?

No hurry to answer before you have worked out more details and are
ready to explain, but these will be obvious questions.

The idea is that these are artefacts of the queerness of look-back
plus our models built on clay feet. And you're absolutely right, I
can be in no hurry to give a proper answer until I have worked it all
out into a well-fitting whole. How long will that take an amateur
like me. Months? Years? So thanks for your help in clarifying this
task, cheers. Eric