Tests of Non-Standard Cosmological Theories

This dissertation investigates some propositions that fall outside the main-stream of the standard big bang cosmology. We begin with partial evidence fromthe Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that the universe may be finite, com-pactified and flat, or at least nearly flat. The simplest interpretation of a flatuniverse is that it is infinite and non-compact. However, there are a great varietyof ways that infinite universes can be 'wrapped up' and given a compact finite vol-ume, without the need to modify general relativity. Detailed analysis of the CMBcould potentially tell us the nature of the compactification, except that there isconsiderable uncertainty over sources of error. Another approach is to correlatethe positions of distant luminous objects. While this cannot probe so broad aset of possibilities, it may be more sensitive for those that it can. In this thesisa new technique is developed that is much more sensitive to the very-nearly flatcases than previous tests of this type. Application to existing catalogs rules outa compact dimension smaller than 90% of the present horizon radius. The testrequires that the position of objects is corrected for relativistic aberration. Thisgives rise to a second piece of work that systemizes corrections for objects andalso the microwave background.The final part looks at an unusual explanation for galaxy rotation curves.These are conventionally thought to be the result of a dark matter halo thatDylan R Menzies-Gowenshrowds each galaxy. Such dark matter also helps to account for the largequantity dark matter deduced from observations of the CMB. However, it hasbeen suggested that the rotation curves could be a classical general relativisticeffect, despite the non-relativistic velocities and densities involved. Such a claimis very unusual and has created considerable contraversy. The chapter presentsa conclusive analysis to demonstrate that the suggested model is unphysical byimplying an infinite mass for each galaxy.