| Summary: | Local scale covariance posits that no privileged length scales should appear in the fundamental equations of local, Minkowskian physics—why should nature have scale, but not position preferences?—yet, they clearly do. A resolution is proposed wherein scale covariance is promoted to the status of Poincaré covariance, and privileged scales emerge as a result of ‘scale clustering’, similarly to the way privileged positions emerge in a translation covariant theory. The implied ability of particles to ‘move in scale’ has recently been shown by the author to offer a possible elegant solution to the missing matter problem. For cosmology, the implications are: (a) a novel component of the cosmological redshift, due to scale-motion over cosmological times; (b) a radically different scenario for the early universe, during which the conditions for such scale clustering are absent. The former is quantitatively analyzed, resulting in a unique cosmological model, empirically coinciding with standard Einstein–de-Sitter cosmology, only in some non-physical limit. The latter implication is qualitatively discussed as part of a critique of the conceptual foundations of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">Λ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>CDM which ignores scale covariance altogether.
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