Variable rate of expanding universe (fixed)

I need to make a correction to my article “Variable rate of expanding universe” posted 7/26/11. The correction is in the second paragraph first sentence which should have indicated “vacumn”, not “matter’s” expansion rate as greater. From context I was portraying a difference not an agreement. The corrected version follows

Variable rate of expanding universe (corrected )

If matter and vacuum expand at different rates, then we would only be aware of the difference. The rate of expansion of matter would be invisible to us as we and our tools are expanding together. Matter would appear to be coming closer together if vacuum’s expansion rate is slower.

This is in fact what we see on the local level. At the galactic level matter appears to be racing apart, making it look like vacuum expansion rate is greater. As “further away” also means “further back in time” a case could be made that the relative speeds of expansion of vacuum vs matter has not been constant but has changed over the lifetime of the universe.

We notice a difference in the motion of the galaxy that leads us to believe in the existence of missing mass or dark matter. Perhaps there is another explanation.

Gravity is indistinguishable from acceleration. Much has been written about the expanding universe and the fact that the speed of expansion continues to increase. Could gravity be the effect of accelerating expantion? If so it would follow that the strength of gravity has changed with the aging of the universe. This change however may be masked by the invisibility of matter’s rate of expansion as previously mentioned.