The release introduced a new hypothesis suggesting that the formation of protons and neutrons, as well as the emergence of cosmic microwave background radiation, occurred at much earlier stages in the history of the Universe than is generally accepted in modern cosmology. However, the text did not provide scientific justification for such changes in the chronology of cosmic events.

The History of the Ether Concept

Until the 19th century, the theory of ether—a pervasive medium whose oscillations were perceived as electromagnetic waves, including visible light—was widespread among physicists. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, a series of experiments and the advent of the special theory of relativity led the scientific community to abandon this concept.

In 2004, a group of physicists proposed reintroducing the concept of ether into scientific discourse in the form of the "Einstein ether" hypothesis. This theory used the equations of relativity to simplify calculations of physical processes, although Einstein himself was an opponent of the ether theory.

Modern Hypotheses and Their Features

The "dynamic ether" hypothesis suggests the existence of a special vector field that forms a stationary background relative to which the rest of the Universe moves. Anomalies in the motion of galaxies and other objects are explained by the influence of this field. However, such hypotheses are difficult to reconcile with the existence of black holes and other fundamental principles of modern physics. Developers of these theories often build in the possibility of multiple variants by changing basic parameters, which leads to the emergence of new versions after previous ones are disproved.

Publication and Scientific Issues

The website of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science published material about the work of two Kazan physicists dedicated to one of these hypotheses. The publication contains statements that raise questions from a scientific perspective. In particular, it claims that during the inflationary epoch, the Universe expanded rapidly and then transitioned to a more gradual expansion with the appearance of matter and radiation, and that the cosmic microwave background emerged around this same period.

Modern science holds that inflation ended about 10^-32 seconds after the Big Bang, while the cosmic microwave background appeared about 380,000 years later. The formation of protons and neutrons occurred significantly after the end of inflation, when the temperature of the Universe had dropped to appropriate levels. The emergence of matter and radiation immediately after inflation is impossible, as the state of matter at that time did not allow radiation to propagate.

Questions About the Composition of Elementary Particles

The publication also mentions massless neutrinos, although current research confirms that these particles do have mass. In Dirac equations, neutrinos are sometimes considered massless, reflecting outdated views.

Features of the New Hypothesis

The "Einstein ether" hypothesis suggests that dark matter consists of axions. Such assumptions are fairly common in modern science. The novelty of this hypothesis lies in the idea that the "dynamic ether" is considered a component that controls both the initiation and cessation of rapid particle formation in the early Universe, distinguishing it from previous inflationary theories.

Compatibility with Modern Physics

The release does not mention that the described ether hypothesis, like other similar theories, contradicts the special theory of relativity, which remains a cornerstone of modern physics and is supported by extensive empirical data—unlike ether hypotheses and the existence of axions.