Abstract

Both local measurements (e.g., radioactive dating) and astronomical measurements (e.g., the expansion of the universe) are usually interpreted to imply that the Universe has existed for at least five to twenty billion years. However, in this paper, a testable cosmological theory is constructed in which all these observations are consistent with the Universe coming into existence a mere several thousand years ago. If the most natural assumptions about the universal matter distribution are made, this theory claims that the Universe came into existence over a period of about 20 years, with our solar system coming into existence over a period of six days. Furthermore, the model predicts (1) a gamma ray spectrum in the 10 Mev to 120 Mev band which coincides with the observed gamma ray spectrum in that band; (2) that the isotropic gamma ray background should show structure on scales of 10 -3 radians; and (3) that there should be a large number of high energy gamma ray pulses with a certain definite angular distribution and waveform. It is also possible that the theory could provide a natural explanation for the cosmic rays with energy above 10 12 ev.