Peter I agree with your statements that spacetime is nowhere empty - there is no real vacuum anywhere in the universe. Hence there are indeed preferred local rest frames everywhere. This is tied in to the point that universe on large scales is better described by general relativity than special relativity. Any cosmologically realistic general relativity solutions has preferred rest frames. But this does also mean that special relativity calculations are not sufficient to analyse all this in depth - one needs to extend to general relativity (which I tried to explain using only ordinary calculus in my book Flat and Curved Spacetimes, written with Ruth Williams).

George Ellis

George

I'm pleased you agree, most seem not to, or not to see the issue. The frames are equivalent to the CMBR 'Frames Last Scattered'.

But rather than simply reverting to the maths of general relativity and leaving SR unresolved what I have done is suggested a full physical ontology compatible with QM to bring the effects of both SR and GR within one real process.

Any views on that process, or any perceived inconsistencies, would be very welcomed.

Many thanks

Peter

Hi Peter

Just to let you know that I enjoyed reading your interesting essay and I found it in agreement with view. I realized that in general you also hold that there is some matter in the intergalactic space and that there is a preferred system of reference. The speed of light above all must be defined by a medium and not by "empty space" as currently proposed.

Congratulations for your work and good luck in the contest

Israel

Israel

Thanks, essays can be fun as well as incisive, and findings predictive. At least that's what I set out to show. Perhaps I used too many layers and concepts, the really important bits take some thought to prise out, but evidence requires wide consistency.

I think the key is at the end, where stellar aberration is derived with a real quantum mechanism, consistent logic and without the use of photons. I think the importance of that is so far missed, but perhaps it needs another astronomer to see it, and one not hidebound by past assumptions.

Do review that (last fig) and comment if you can, but I'm very glad you enjoyed it and agreed anyway. Many thanks.

Best wishes

Peter

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  • Post #88

Dear Peter,

Thank you for an interesting and enjoyable essay! Apologies for being tardy in making my way over here. We're all dealing with the usual FQXi embarrassment of riches in terms of new essays to read and think about. I enjoyed your theatrical and poetic flair! You'll certainly not be open to criticism for lack of ambition here! You've provided much to ponder.

Reading your essay recalled to my mind a 2003 paper by Joao Magueijo, 'New varying speed of light theories' ( http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0305/0305457v3.pdf ), which you might find interesting and at least tangentially related, if you've not already seen it. My own thinking, fwiw, leads me to conjecture that speed should be thought of as a dimensionless quantity. Regardless, it certainly does appear that the idea of space as "empty" is passe. Eddington has referred to space as "a mere negation," which is an interesting way to think of it.

Best of luck in the competition!

Cheers,

jcns

jcn

I appreciate your comments. Magueijo went off on a different track. I've read his book but can't recall reading that paper, which sounds broader, so will do so.

I suspect I was a little over ambitious as the volume and quality of essays means we often have to skim or speed read, which means it's hard to follow constructions of complex concepts and effects of application. I appreciate that you did so, obviously an experienced reader.

Best of luck to you to. I hope you don't forget to score mine, as I won't yours.

Many thanks

Peter

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  • Post #90

Peter,

I just read your comments on Topic 1400. When Boscovich made the statement, "Again Boscovich first found no two entities can occupy the same space.", he had incomplete information, he was unaware of the existence of electromagnetic fields. These fields can occupy the same space and do not alter each other. Solitons are a different issue.

Superposition

Frank

I agree, but I read the Boscovich derivation very differently. He was talking of 'atoms' or particles of non zero spatial dimensions, not relevant to 'fields' etc. And simply but I think brilliantly pointing out that they are NOT 'points' which means they are mutually exclusive spatially. Descrtes kind of agreed, as did Pauli in concept.

I find this is seminal for physics. Cartesian co-ordinate systems cannot 'overlap' as we assume. Frames are 'states of motion' not 'interlocking frame'-like. The structure of logical constructs then models them perfectly.

I may have shocked you with a soliton having 'spin'. I have good reason to suggest this, but it is a different conception and conversation which is consistent.

Do you know much of plasmons?, or Navier-Stokes magnetohydrodynamic turblence? A very important truth lurks there concerning frame changes. (a logical physical model for LT's).

Peter

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    • Post #92

    Peter,

    The following is a repeat of the post I placed in response to your comment on my essay. The post is actually equally appropriate for your essay site, so here it is again.

    I have read your essay and I believe that the description of spacetime I develop in my book will help you quantify some of your ideas. For example, I show that spacetime is an elastic medium with impedance of Zs = c3/G. This is obtained both from gravitational wave equations and from vacuum zero point energy density. The quantum mechanical model of spacetime that I develop has energy density of 10113 J/m3. This energy density is equal to the famous 10120 ratio of vacuum energy density obtained from QED to the observed energy density of the universe obtained from cosmology and GR (10-9 J/m3).

    This large QED energy density is usually assumed to be impossible, but I show how it is not only possible but also essential for the existence of all particles, fields and forces. The point of interest to you is that I go on to characterize an electric field as a distortion of spacetime (a new constant of nature is suggested). When this constant is applied to electromagnetic radiation it is shown that the impedance of free space Zo is equal to the impedance of spacetime obtained from gravitational waves. What this implies is that photons are a quantized wave disturbance that propagates in the medium of spacetime. This short post cannot address all questions but ultimately this relates to the perception that the speed of light is constant. The details are available here.

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    • Post #93

    Peter,

    I have no knowledge of plasmons or hydrodynamic processes, but they are definitely phenomena that can transfer electromagnetic energy.

    You use the term "spin" in relation to a soliton and I am not sure exactly what it means.

    Photonic folks refer to helical waveforms as light with "orbital angular momentum" (OAM), but it is a misnomer. The photonic references I cite in my Helical EM Gravity paper are displaying a wavefront that propagates with the same characteristics as a regular EM wave with circular polarization. The wavefront gives the appearance of spin when it passes by a fixed point because the phase positions of the EM fields are generated with different angular positions at the source. The phase positions are fixed by the orientation of the generating process.

    EEs never refer to a circular polarized wave as having OAM.

    Frank

    Mixing between particle kinetic states or streams is the core of physical Inertial Frame Transitions in the DFM. The Navier-Stokes (unsolvable) magnetohydrodynamic equations apply to all shock turbulence. But the real revalation is applying this mechanism to the 'Transition Zone' between Maxwells near and far field terms for emitters (and receivers, and indeed all refractive planes). [Where the 'poorly understood' non-linear optics effects appear and Snel's Law fails].

    Light is scattered at c locally by each electron. Ergo, the shock 'kinetic state mixing zone' is a 'boundary' between frames that enacts the transformation c' = c, (c locally each side). It does so via the quantum mechanism of coupling (absorption) and scattering, to produce all the effects we see, including implementing the postulates of SR. i.e. Unification of physics. This simple solution may indeed be so much of a shock it can't even be recognised!

    The falsification is in the way this 'Discrete Field' mechanism resolves every paradox and anomaly in the book. I'll check out the photonic references in your paper, but plasmons may be a bit peripheral to that, though the surface magneto optic and (electro optic) Kerr effects (SMOKE) are at last explained, as is ellipticity.

    Let me know if you can assimilate the mechanisms kinetics and implications.

    I agree OAM is poorly understood. Is there anything that's not!? Perhaps think of a wavefront quantized and a plasmon as an 'overall shape' which may contain internal oscillations at a smaller scale.

    Peter

    Frank

    An analogy; A jet of water is fired into a hot tub. Within the water at rest in the frame of the jet light does c/n (140,000miles/sec.) in the jet frame.

    Light in the bit of water at rest in the hot tub frame is doing c/n with respect to the tub (140,000miles/sec).

    Now the physical explanation of the LT. The light reaching the particles of the water in the jet is absorbed, then re-emitted at c by each particle, as at a lens.

    Ergo; c' = c via a Quantum Mechanism, = Unification.

    In a near vacuum the process takes a little more time and space. There's plenty out there.

    The problem with this solution is that our assumptions get in the way, making it unfamiliar, so it remains the elephant in the room, too big to recognise as the elephant we're searching for. Can you make out it's shape?

    Can anybody?

    Peter

    Peter

    Thank you for your appreciation of my essay. Many people believe that the infinite nesting of matter is more preferable than the limited number of levels of matter. In philosophy, the same many prefer motion as a more general concept than rest. But in reality, motion and rest, infinity and limitations are opposites and can not exist without each other. Of the rest there is movement, if you look at the situation from a moving frame of reference. The same is in the structure of matter - even if the universe appears limited, outside you can expect a lot of similar universes.

    I find in your essay the questions about real diffuse particle 'medium' in Universe, and how is the constant speed of light (CSL) logically explained. About the constancy of speed of light, see the article Extended special theory of relativity , where the question be raised.

    Sergey Fedosin

    Sergey

    I was astonished you found 'CSL logically explained' by the Quantum Mechanisms in my essay, but very pleased. Unfortunately the logical kinetic relationships seem too complex for most to penetrate and assimilate in application. The speed we have to read at to keep up with all the essays is a problem when concepts are multi faceted and unfamiliar.

    But I've just found and looked over your MTR (your direct link didn't work) and it seems you had an unfair advantage; you'd found similar conclusions already, though analysed from a more complete mathematical, if less physical, basis.

    I had also just to 'speed read' for now, but initially assess your theory as excellently derived, proved and presented and far more complete in many areas than the DFM. I have not yet penetrated it's inner depths, but I hope and think I have additional and complimentary aspects, so some merging is possible to the greater benefit. You may wish to explore other areas of the DFM, i.e. the emergent astronomical aspects discussed in Robert Oldershaw and Hope he's blogs etc. I'd be honoured if you did and will pass you some links.

    I'm impressed you've established a place on wikiversity. How serious has your theory been taken by mainstream so far?

    Best wishes

    Peter

    4 days later

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    • Post #98

    Peter

    Ken Wharton has not responded yet to any post.Maybe a manifestation of the arrogance of a professional before layman?

    Yuri

    Perhaps, or maybe we can be charitable and assume he is busy or on holiday.

    Have you analysed the important kinetic effects emergent from the mechanism in my essay yet? It seems I may have made it too difficult to do so. Do you think so?

    Peter

      Peter, I am working on an Intuitive Explanation for the Existence of Everything. It begins with one initial state of being...perfection. It anything existed in the beginning it was perfect. The only other possibility was nothingness. Then perfection created all possible objects, forces, and relationships that are not perfect. A point in nothingness was spherically expanded into a universe of possibility. This was the creation of space. Perhaps a simpler way of expressing it is to describe the universe as filled with imperfect objects, forces and relationships that actually exist. What we conceptualize as empty space is actually the existing potential for all objects, forces and relationships that could exist but do not exist.

      If we are only looking for things that exist at the moment of observation we will see a universe that is filled with potential and very sparsely populated with evolved things. I value nothingness as a valuable gift. It is actually the potential to do the impossible. Everything that was impossible in the past and is now real in the present and future comes from the "empty space" in our universe. The dimension of space measures all of the possibilities that are within it. It accommodates what could happen which is a much greater magnitude of possibility than what has actually happened.

      I appreciate your work and find it challenging. For me it supports the idea that when we observe with more accuracy we have to accept the possibility that some portion of previously empty space can become real.

      Irvon

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        • Post #101

        Dear Peter,

        Your paper is very interesting and is agreed with my paper. Please read my new paper which is related to your essay, http://vixra.org/abs/1208.0018

        I think you indicating in your paper and agree with me the Lorentz factor is equivalent to refractive index. What I did I modified SRT in order to accept that. According to my theory the Lorentz factor can be determined by the difference of the vacuum energy, which is depending on the the difference of temperature, pressure and effective density. Thermodynamic laws are applied here. Hawking law of black holes proofs my idea, where Hawking connected the GRT with thermodynamic and quantum, and according to my theory I connect the SRT with quantum and thermodynamic by MSRT. Logically if GRT which is derived from SRT is connected with thermodynamic and quantum, also SRT must be. Please read also my comment on http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/1392 relative to the Hawking law of black hole.

        Azzam

        Irvon

        "Impossible means only it hasn't been done YET". Not only my favourite axiom but the way I live my life and view science. I can find an analog of your intuitive explanation. It is a real mechanism, as I'm a very 'locally real' guy.

        It comes from recycling and re-ionization (an astrophysical anomaly not previously explained) by AGN's (SMBH's). Re-ionization breaks the matter of a galaxy (and other scales) down to it's purest form. More completely fresh matter condenses from the dark energy field by perturbation. That then makes the unique (less 'perfect' collections of evolving mass. The whole universe is then 'potential'.

        My work explains how that non zero spatial matter evolves over non zero time on interactions. Present physics does not. It is indeed challenging to those only used to math to visualise the evolving effects of motion.Ken Wharton rationalises why correct maths can't do this. I hope my essay may make the top 35 to be studied more closely and judged and hope you think it worth helping.

        Best wishes

        Peter

        Azzam

        There is much we agree on, but I read your paper and find it departs from or does not refer to the logical space-time structure mine uses, rather reverts to maths without establishing the mechanism.

        I may have misunderstood parts, perhaps due to your imperfect use of a foreign language in explanations such as; "the time required for the light beam to pass the length of the moving train for the earth observer is independent of the direction of the velocity of the train compared to the direction of transmitting the light beam (Robertson [33]). Thus, if the light beam is sent inside the moving train from the end to the front -at the direction of the velocity- in this case for the earth observer according to his clock the required time

        separation for the light beam to pass the length of the moving train is ∆t..."

        I find refraction and c/n of all light at the train windows and medium, and thus invariant t to the 'Earth observer', but APPARENT (not real local) c+v. This is explained conceptually, ontologically and mechanistically, i.e. with no mechanical abstraction, and rigorously using the rules of logic. It meets observation, but I can't seem to renormalise (map) some of your results back to reality to do so.

        Perhaps you can say if you get the same result as me for the classic 'lightning flashes at each end of the train. I find the observers on the train and embankment see them simultaneously, (at 1st order) but are not opposite each other when they do so. (by D= train v during propagation time t).

        Although many other areas seem common to us, I also find up to apparent 10c for pulses in quasar jets (M87) from Earth but with no violation of local c due to collimation. This does seem contrary to your own explanation, or am I mistaken? Do you have any real mechanistic analogues for your maths?

        Peter