TITLE:
Alternative to Inflation. Variable Speed of Light Cosmological Model with Lorentz and Fine Structure Constant Invariance Maintained
AUTHORS:
Jean-Pierre Petit, Gilles D’Agostini
KEYWORDS:
Lorentz Invariance, Variable Speed of Light, Variable Constants Regime, Radiative Era, Compton Length, Inflation, Generalized Gauge Phenomenon
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Modern Physics,
Vol.17 No.10,
October
28,
2026
ABSTRACT: Within the framework of the Janus cosmological model, we investigate an alternative to the inflationary scenario based on the existence of an early phase preceding decoupling and the radiation-dominated era. During this phase, the six fundamental physical constants—along with the space and time gauge factors associated with the model’s two sheets—evolve in a correlated manner through a generalized gauge process. This evolution is constrained by the invariance of the fundamental equations of physics, the Einstein constant appearing in the coupled field equations, and the fine-structure constant, while Lorentz invariance is preserved in both sheets. We show that this generalized gauge process is consistent with the conservation of various forms of energy and implies that characteristic physical lengths evolve in proportion to the corresponding spatial scale factors—notably the cosmological horizons. Since radiation itself acts as a source of the gravitational field, Jeans instability can occur during the radiation-dominated era. Due to the intrinsic asymmetry between the two sheets of the Janus model, their cosmological horizons evolve on vastly different scales. Consequently, fluctuations developing in the negative-mass sector can affect the positive-mass sector during its subsequent matter-dominated era. This mechanism provides a possible alternative origin for the primordial fluctuations observed in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), without invoking an inflationary phase. A quantitative test of this scenario requires determining the spectrum of non-linear fluctuations generated in the negative-mass sector, establishing their transfer to the positive-mass sector, and then comparing the resulting spectrum with CMB observations. This asymmetry also leads to a higher speed of light in the negative-mass sector. Should a material object transition to this sector by inverting the sign of its mass, this property would open up the possibility of significantly reducing interstellar travel times as measured in the positive sector. In this context, we outline a geometric mechanism for transition between the two sheets, based on a localized concentration of energy around the object in question.