This post was meant as a response to the Anshu, Tejinder post.

Dear Ed,

You have obviously put a lot of effort into trying to put a visual model for quantum phenomena, and the visualizations are very pleasing. Your models remind me a little of DeBroglie's standing wave model, but they are prettier, and the extension to a torus gives your model greater expressive power.

But let me ask you these questions:

1. How do you reconcile your visual model with, say. that of the wavefunction in the position basis of a single particle spread over a region of space? I have the impression that you advocate something like an upward scaling proportional to the wave-length (at least your discussion of photons suggests this), but this way of visualizing quantum objects seems to run into difficulties when the wavelength in question approaches mesoscopic scales. How do you visualise its the process of its collapse to a small region upon a measurement? Is it the reverse scaling process only much faster?

2. Can you derive novel predictions (ideally testable) from your model? Can you predict any particle masses currently not theoretically predictable? Can you predict the neutrino masses?

I enjoyed your visualizations and wish you all the best,

Armin

    Hi Ed, I see unfair, outrageous votings also on your essay so I have to compensate this undervaluated work and give you the highest. I have planned a little bit less but there is no choice. Your essay is one of the best...

    Thanks for the note, much appreciated. The votes showed up this morning, I sent a message to mail@fqxi.com asking if it could be reviewed. Hopefully it can be.

    Hi Armin,

    Thank you for the comments, most of the comments on my essay have had to do with wave properties. Unfortunately, my answer is that it would require another essay to properly present it. To give you an idea of the type of models that can be used to model wave nature, consider:

    All particles can exhibit wave properties. A particle that expands and contracts as it moves, will behave differently if it hits another particle when expanded compared to when it is contracted. In 1924, a physicist named Louis deBroglie proposed that the electron would exhibit a wave-like nature based on the electrons kinetic energy. His theory, together with the Davisson-Germer experiment done in 1927, established that an electron, accelerated by an electric field does have wave properties. Based on deBroglie's calculations, an electron, accelerated through a field of 54 volts, has a wavelength of 0.167 nanometers. Based on this wavelength, the electron takes 5.6 attoseconds to complete one expansion/contraction cycle. When these electrons are shot at a surface of nickel atoms where the spacing between atoms is a similar size, the electrons show a recoil pattern that allowed the spacing between the nickel atoms to be calculated.

    The wave nature of electrons is only visible when the electrons are accelerated to very high speeds. For photons, mostly all you see is the wave property for understanding of refraction, defraction and interference. For neutrinos, the wave nature is even more important as the neutrino type also changes over time.

    Best regards,

    EdAttachment #1: collision.jpg

    13 days later

    Dear Ed,

    I enjoyed your essay and the beautiful examples and illustrations concerning the standard model.

    I particularly enjoyed the quotation in the summary:

    When one accepts one theory and rejects another which is equally consistent with the phenomenon in question, it is clear that one has thereby blundered out of any sort of proper physics and fallen into mythology - Epicurus, Letter to Pythocles

    Well it does beg the question of how we decide which theory is physics and which theory is mythology. In fact it is quite likely that both theories have merit, for example the theory of gravity as expounded by Newton and Einstein.

    I find myself in the difficult position of having a theory (the Spacetime Wave theory) (see Solving the Mystery) which seems at odds with the Satandard Model of particle physics. It treats the fundamental particles (electron, proton and neutron) as looped wave disturbances of spacetime. Further it shows that the idea of a quark does not fit in with this new theory as an independent stable particle.

    I am not saying that the standard model is wrong. What I am saying is that it does not provide a good unified description of reality. When we do have such a complete unified description of reality (including all fundamental forces, mass and charge) I expect that it will be possible to explain why the standard model is so effective in using ideas of symmetry to describe the particles whose real nature is described elsewhere.

    This must sound like mythology (or even heresy?).

    Best regards

    Richard

    Dear Ed,

    I think Newton was wrong about abstract gravity; Einstein was wrong about abstract space/time, and Hawking was wrong about the explosive capability of NOTHING.

    All I ask is that you give my essay WHY THE REAL UNIVERSE IS NOT MATHEMATICAL a fair reading and that you allow me to answer any objections you may leave in my comment box about it.

    Joe Fisher

    Hi Ed,

    I enjoyed your impressive visualizations of the Pythagorean faith in the logical beauty of nature. "The laws of nature are described by beautiful equations", as Dirac put it, and you are wonderfully showing that. May be, you would be interested to read our essay where we are doing metaphysical conclusions from this primacy of mathematical beauty.

    Good luck in this contest!

    Alexey Burov.

    Dear Ed,

    Thanks again for the kind comments of my essay. I finally got to read your interesting and visually impressive essay. I agree it is very useful to find visual models of particles, and that if they are found to contradict reality, should be replaced. Cool movies and animations!

    Best wishes,

    Cristi

    6 days later

    Dear Ed Unverricht,

    Your essay is very good. It deserves high score. Perhaps you could help to model the relationship that is important in my essay.

    If we define x=classical electron radius / proton Compton wavelength = 2.13252558524. Using this ratio, we can define the following dimensionless value:

    DeltaP =2-1 / (2pi * x 2) =1.935060944. The model would help to understand the possible physical significance of DeltaP. I would be very grateful.

    Regards,

    Branko

    11 days later

    Dear Ed Unverricht,

    In my search for pieces to the Great Cosmic Puzzle and for mathematical toolsets with which to assemble a Cosmological Model based on a True Understanding. Your paper impresses me as being 100% relevant and MOST useful to Quantum Mechanics. I hope to apply these understandings to my idea of Combinatorial Quantum-wave Mechanics (CQM).

    Your paper stands above most in that it clearly lifts up the understanding of anyone who reads it.

    You have earned my respect BIG TIME! First, you realized the importance and relevance of the subject matter to have studied it so well! Second, you have presented a clearest and most concise description of Group Theory I've ever seen. Third, and to me the most important, is your description of quarks fits nicely into the 4D Space~Time "framework" of my paradigm called the Cosmic Onion Model. In the context of this model quarks are NOT entities in-and-of themselves but are the geometric interactions of three wave functions interacting with a 4th wavefunction type (wave-icle) which are the root-causes of protons and neutrons. (These interactions manifest as quarks -- that's why neutrons decay into electron, proton and photon energy - NEVER into quarks. The wavefunction of a decaying neutron twists into the wavefunction of a proton plus splits into an electron and anti-neutrino and sometime with gamma ray emission. Not to mention other "bounded" decay modes.)

    Just as challenge to anyone reading this, maybe there exists a physicist who can explain the Electromagnetic Wave diagram showing the electric field and magnetic fields perpendicular to each other, yet perfectly in-phase with each other. Why would they propagate one way or the other? (Nature does not include the little arrow.) Without the help of the little arrow what "propels" the wave one way or the other? (My best guess is that the wave is constructed from photons (h*c) (packet of energy in the form of angular momentum moving at c) temporally spaced so that they construct the overall EM wave -- at the photon level there must be a phase shift between E vs. M.)

    Not to worry, I don't hold that against you. I only mention it as a challenge to anyone who can offer an better explanation.

    Overall, your paper desires more than 4.8 so here is a boost to 5.1.

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