The laser star hypothesis is a hypothesis put forward by the physicist Y. P. Varshni in the early to mid 1970s in response to several developments in astrophysical and earth-based research, coupled with the acknowledgement of the fundamental difficulties suffered by the existing body of work on quasar. Modern observations have shown that stars with highly-energetic solar winds may be capable of natural lasing. This, along with laboratory based experimental and theoretical work involving plasma lasers, has lent support to the laser star hypothesis. Late twentieth century and early twenty-first century observations, coupled with reviews of previous observations in light of the decades-old discoveries made by experimental plasma physicists, demonstrate that the classical quasar model suffers many problems that have persistently been dealt with in an ad hoc fashion. The laser star hypothesis is not a per se challenge to the classical hypotheses regarding quasars, but is an overarching hypothesis which implies that many, if not all, quasar, or "quasi stellar objects," are instead laser stars. Indeed, the hypothesis was developed within the first ten years of the initial discovery of quasars.

Overview

Since the development of plasma lasers in the 1980s, the growing consensus has been that, due to the fully-ionized nature of the lasing medium, there seems to be no upper limit to the power output of such lasers. Plasma lasers are self-organizing, but not always coherent. Lasing media amplify anything within their bandwidth range, including spontaneous emissions in the medium itself, and plasma lasers are known to spontaneously produce polychromatic spectra. This is the proposed action which results in quasar activity. Within the laser star model, observational evidence exists which indicates that some quasars populate the local Virgo cluster, and may even be within the Milky Way galaxy.

Publications

• "Redshifts in quasi-stellar objects", Varshni, Y.P., Phys. Can., vol. 29, no. 24, pp. 23-24, 1973

• "Alternative explanation for the spectral lines observed in quasars", Varshni, Y.P., Astrophys. Space Sci., vol. 37, no. 1, pp. L1-L6, 1975

• "Laser action in stellar envelopes", Varshni, Y.P. and Lam, C.S., Astrophys. Space Sci., vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 87-97, 1976

• "The red shift hypothesis for quasars: is the Earth the center of the universe? Part I", Varshni, Y.P., Astrophys. Space Sci., vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 3-8, 1976

• "The red-shift hypothesis for quasars: is the Earth the center of the Universe? Part II", Varshni, Y.P., Astrophys. Space Sci., vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 121-124, 1977

External links

• Plasma Laser Astrophysics, John Talbot et al - Plasma recombination lasers in rapidly cooled stellar atmospheres.
• Timeline of History of Lasers, John Talbot - Noted are discoveries of laser action in quasars (1973), CO₂ lasers in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus (1981), far-infrared laser star by Kuiper Airborne Observatory (1995) and ultraviolet laser star by Hubble Space Telescope (1996).
• Plasma laser star model of QSOs, Banerji, S. and Bhar, G.C. - Highlights striking corroboration between laser-star predicted emissions and observed spectra of quasars (QSO's).
• Plasma Laser Stars, Varshni, Y. P. - Comprehensive outline of laser star hypotheses and numerous abstracts. Beginners to the laser star hypothesis might find this to be a complete source in itself for learning about laser stars.
• The quasar 0805 + 046 as a helium-rich shell star, Varshni, Y. P. - Abstract describing correlation between predictions of laser star hypotheses and observable reality.