Due to the Hubble redshift, photon energy, chiefly in the form of CMBR photons, is currently disappearing from the universe at the rate of nearly 10 55 erg s −1 . An ongoing problem in cosmology concerns the fate of this energy. In one interpretation it is irretrievably lost, i.e., energy is not conserved on the cosmic scale. Here we consider a different possibility which retains universal energy conservation. Treating gravitational potential energy conventionally as 'negative', it has earlier been proposed that the Hubble shift flips positive energy (photons) to negative energy (gravitons) and vice versa. The lost photon energy would thus be directed towards gravitation, making gravitational energy wells more negative. Conversely, within astrophysical bodies, the flipping of gravitons to photons would give rise to a 'Hubble luminosity' of magnitude −UH 0 , where U is the internal gravitational potential energy of the object. Preliminary evidence of such an energy release is presented in bodies ranging from planets, white dwarfs and neutron stars to supermassive black holes and the visible universe.
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