Dear Jouko Harri Tiainen,

After reading Armin's comments on your page, I want to expand on my remarks. I admire Armin's work very very much, but I don't think I agree with all of his statements, perhaps because I ignored your use of bra and ket, and also your treatment of entanglement. I pretty much ignore everyone's treatment of entanglement, for reasons I have already published, but as it is a common belief today, I do not generally downgrade essays for expressing this belief, or even a novel way of trying to make sense of it. Armin makes some good points, such as E=-m if i=c. Perhaps i~c would be more appropriate? You do use +i and -i so one might get E=m. Or perhaps this can relate to the negative energy of the gravitational field. I simply need more thought on this matter.

Nevertheless, my perspective here is that you are simply letting the speed of light take on a unit value and similarly Planck's constant take on unit value and you are trying to make sense of the imaginary i in key physics equations.

Why is that i there?

I have concluded, with many others, that geometric algebra is the most powerful tool available for physicists today. In geometric algebra the function of i is that of a duality operator, which transforms the element it is operating on into its dual. That is how I'm interpreting your work. As I say below, your essay (for me) requires more study, but I do not dismiss it out of hand. Perhaps because physicists are so comfortable with complex analysis and so used to using the imaginary i in Minkowski geometry and Schrödinger's equation they see no need to think further. For pure geometry this is probably reasonable, but physicists tend to treat the i in quantum mechanics as somewhat mystical. Again, I want to spend more time thinking about this, and I will do so in the framework of the geometric algebra duality operator.

By equating i to the speed of light (i=c) you suggest that the speed of light is a "constant of motion" if "the laws of physics (or the equations) are the same in all inertial reference frames."

If one believes as Einstein, that "space does not exist absent of field" and that the gravitational field fills space, then the Galilean invariance of the Maxwell-Hertz equations implies only one time dimension, and this is consistent with constant speed of light in a local gravity frame. Coordinates fixed in the gravity frame see constant c. But for other objects moving in the frame with velocity v, the constant local c appears as c+v from the perspective of elapsed time. This preserves the geometry of the Minkowski differential, without implying different time frames.

You then postulate that the mathematical definition of +i and -i can be associated with GR (c=i) and QM (h=i). That is truly fascinating, and may relate to the energy-time conjugation I develop in my essay. My own interpretation of the relativity of a self-interacting field (such as gravity) leads to unidirectional time. I will try to see how to understand this in terms of your postulate. The Minkowski geometry does not imply multiple time dimensions. It is compatible with 'same time' Lorentz formulations in one inertial frame.

You interpret h=i in Schrödinger's equation to satisfy 'Planck's quanta is constant' and "all time is equal for all observers", compatible with time as universal simultaneity. As I mention above, my own interpretation of the 'imaginary' i is as represented in geometric algebra, i.e., i is the duality operator that transforms one element of geometric algebra into its dual.

I think this part of your essay is potentially very deep and requires thought. I plan to give it more thought and will score it accordingly. Congratulations.

Best regards,

Edwin Eugene Klingman

Dear Richard,

Thanks much for reading and commenting. Didn't mean to give you a headache, or a need for a drink. You're right, Einstein didn't get to say much. Most physicists can (and probably do) fill in his arguments as they are standard special relativity explanations, while Hertz's, Heaviside's, and the Tavernkeeper's arguments are not as well known. And I plead nine pages!

The reason to derive Lorentz with 'just one frame' is to show that the Lorentz transformation can be derived with only one time dimension. All SR derivations are based on two inertial frames, each with its own universal time dimension, and leads to the 'relativity of simultaneity', which is nonintuitive and leads to nonsense: "your clock runs slower, while my clock runs slower", etc. And many seem to think that the very existence of the Lorentz transformation implies two inertial frames with two time dimensions. My derivation still handles transitions between states of motion, but not between different time dimensions. There is a very big difference. The focus is on the difference in energy of the 'states of motion' not the difference between different 'space-times'.

Probably our conceptions are very different. I've found that the more a physicist is comfortable with special relativity, the harder it is for him to understand my point. That's probably to be expected.

Come back to the Tavern. The drinks will be on the house!

Best regards,

Edwin Eugene Klingman

Dear Richard J Benish,

As you note elsewhere, we both have high regard for Tom Phipps' contributions to physics, despite certain disagreements with his approach. You further point out something I believe often goes unnoticed:

"...understanding a theory about gravity (i.e. GR) is often confused for understanding the physical phenomenon of gravity itself."

As you say with reference to "matter tells space time how to curve, and space-time tells matter how to move", no academic physicist bothers to point out that we have no idea how these orders are carried out. You extend this line of criteria to "quantum gravity", and to how "gravitons" work, in that they make no physical sense. Just part of quantum field theorists attempt to force the universe into a bookkeeping scheme.

With respect to your comments above, your first paragraphs effectively summarize the situation. I agree that one-way measurements are hard, perhaps impossible, hence the average back-and-fourth measurements predominate. I have designed an experiment that should be capable of measuring the velocity of the local frame from within the context of the local frame with no outside information. This should establish whether my approach is valid or invalid.

The experiment you discuss has never been done, yet, like other 'gedanken' experiments, it is typically accepted as reality. It's not quite clear to me why achievable experiments that question the status quo are not performed. I hope both of our experiments will be performed.

You then discuss maximum geodesics and accelerometers. My own perspective is that "curved space-time" outside matter is equivalent to energy density distributions in flat space. As you probably know, Weinberg, Feynman, and others have shown that iterated flat space approaches lead to Einstein's field equations in "curved space" so my inclination is to reject "curved space-time" (incapable of dealing with "density" or with "self-interaction energy") and this bias extends to rejecting higher dimensional theories of physics. You identify the motion as not through space, but of space, and view this as curvature in (4+1)D. My perspective on the gravito-magnetic ('C') field is analogous to electro-magnetic circulation, i.e., circulation of the field with characteristic angular momentum. Circa 2006 Martin Tajmar used accelerometers to measure gravito-magnetic field circulation. I reject higher dimensions of space, from 4 to 11, however it might be possible to interpret circulation in space as a fourth dimension. This is more a mathematical representation, like the Minkowski representation, than a true description of the physics. Clearly n-dimensional representations are of utility in physics. Having read your essay several times I'm still not exactly clear on how your (4+1)D model is to be interpreted. My 3D mind, operating in time, works well with n-dimensional math, but does not grasp spatial models greater than 3D.

As for the accelerometer questions (ignoring gravito-magnetic issues) it is probably not purple-winged horsies, but the gravity gradient dG/dt that imparts momentum and induces local gravito-magnetic circulation. How this registers or not on an accelerometer is not clear to me, having not studied accelerometers in ages. The equivalence principle that falling 'cancels' gravity, does not prevent the accumulation of kinetic energy.

In summary, I do not intuitively grasp how a gravitation field 'pulls' and I don't think 'gravitions' is the answer, nor do I accept 'curved space' explains anything physical. 'Pushing' seems to bring with it another set of problems, and might work for a universe with only one central body, but I can't envision a many-body dynamics in such a case. Gravity to me is the great mystery, acceptance of which seems to unlock other doors big time. Neither gravitons, curved space-time, 'dynamic space' nor (4+1)D do it for me, yet I feel the field as I just sit here typing. It's real, and when I accept the reality, and play with the equations, lots of the universe falls out. I know this doesn't answer your questions, but it's a mystery to me.

I appreciate your many comments. If we ever meet, let's drink to Tom Phipps.

Edwin Eugene Klingman

Gary,

Not sure I understand the question. Since energy = work = force x distance, the distance the earth moves, for the reaction force, will be much less than 6 inches. When you reach the height, and fall back, presumably the earth is falling back to you. Don't try to measure it.

I live on the coast, and to get to Silicon Valley I cross a reservoir/lake which is on a fault line. On my side the ground is moving north, on the other side of the lake the ground is moving south (if one believes plate tectonics). I never experience a jolt, and I've never seen them repair the bridge. Some things we almost have to take on faith?

Best regards, Edwin Eugene Klingman

Ed,

If I move 6" away from the Earth, doesn't relativity say that is the same thing as the Earth moving 6" away from me? Wouldn't it take more energy to move the Earth than to simply move me?

Best Regards and Good Luck,

Gary Simpson

Dear Gary,

You're correct of course that if you move 6 inches away from Earth, the earth is now 6 inches away from you. But the movement is measured from the ground you stand on. You move 6 inches away from the initial ground surface, while the earth moves an infinitesimal distance away from the initial origin. Since initially there was zero linear momentum in the system, the momentum of you moving up is theoretically canceled by the momentum of the Earth moving away from you. Since momentum is mass times velocity, the velocity of the Earth moving away is infinitesimally small, which means it will not have moved very far by the time you reach 6 inches (ignoring gravity). This is essentially in the frame of the earth. Special relativity is not concerned with this, only with your velocity relative to the Earth (and the speed of light c, relative to each of your inertial frames).

The classical relativistic system in which you are the rest frame and the Earth is moving away from you, or the Earth is the rest frame and you are moving away from Earth is not a very useful formalism here; in the 'space-time' perspective the energy is ignored. In theory, from the Earth's rest frame perspective, your clock will run slower, whereas if you are the rest frame, a clock on the Earth will run slower. Similarly, in the special relativistic formulation where you are one inertial frame and the earth is the other inertial frame then the speed of light with respect to you is c, where your velocity is the equal zero. At the same time when the Earth is viewed as the rest frame then the speed of light with respect to the Earth is c and the velocity of the Earth is considered equal to zero. This makes about as much sense as Einstein's railway based gedanken experiments.

In special relativity the energy that got you moving or got the Earth moving is not really the issue. What is at issue is your velocity and the speed of light. If you are at rest it is the velocity of the Earth and the speed of light that is the issue. The relative energies (and gravity) are ignored. Particle physics treats relativistic energies in terms of the Lorentz transformation, but doesn't treat where that energy came from -- for example how long one had to accelerate a particle in a collider to reach that energy. Similarly, as I interpret what you're asking, if you wish to say that you are at rest and the Earth is moving away from you at a certain velocity, the energy required to move the Earth away from you is not part of the problem. Special relativity assumes that one frame is at rest and the other is moving. It does not ask what it took to get the other frame moving. It's assumed moving when one formulates the problem.

What my essay focuses on is 'time dilation' and I claim that you and the Earth share one universal time. In this case your atomic clock will run 'slower' than the clock in the rest frame of the Earth, but that is an energy-time effect, not a space-time effect. In special relativity the view is symmetric however in reality, for example in the GPS system, the symmetry is not found. The clock on earth is always the fastest clock. This is because you were initially at rest and then your energy changed, in such a way that your atomic clock measures a different frequency, or energy, which special relativity falsely interprets as measuring your 'time dimension'.

That's probably enough answer for a comment. Is this more what you had in mind?

Best regards,

Edwin Eugene Klingman

I had to make a new post sorry I oouldn't reply to your first comments.

Thank you and a big thanks to Armin as well (he sent me a reply that made clear what he meant by his comments).

Your comments have been wonderful and I really do appreciate your time and effort in responding. Since I cannot work how to put equations and images into this post I have attached a PDF it contains Peter Jackson's red/green sock trick and a "two slit" diagram as well. Also if you have more question see the first post in my thread there is a FAQ rejoinder. Your and Armin's remarks and deep intuitions have been very very helpfulAttachment #1: Edwin.pdf

Ed,

That is an excellent answer. I believe I owe you a few beers:-)

Very Best Regards and Good Luck,

Gary Simpson

Dear Mr. Klingman,

your essay is interesting indeed.

I would be glad if you find a moment to go through my essay, and to have a discussion about convergences and differences between our works.

Best of luck,

Flavio

    Dear Flavio,

    Thank you for reading my essay and commenting. Your invited me to read your essay and compare and contrast. It's difficult for me to summarize in a few words. My last essay, The Nature of Mind, offers nine pages that address the issue of intuition, which you appear down on. You seem to lump determinism and absolute simultaneity, local realism and conservation laws into the same category of 'prejudice'. My current essay argues for absolute simultaneity, and I elsewhere argue for local realism, while I have a more nuanced view of determinism, and I have argued against conservation as a consequence of symmetry, as all symmetries I am aware of are approximate.

    I recently watched a YouTube discussion between Jordan Peterson and Camille Paglia, a goodly portion of which dealt with Derrida, Foucault, and other deconstructionists and radical relativists. For a number of reasons I feel this nonsense is beginning to infect physics, probably because physics is chaotic in the extreme, based (in my opinion) on fundamental false assumptions and prejudices that have endured for about a century, both in relativity and QM.

    Once one discards intuition, one is left with 'word hash', combining words/equations in 'narratives' [see Gibbs] and having no idea how to discriminate reality from story. My current essay focuses on one non-intuitive narrative, while previous essays address other such instances. As you spend quite a bit of time on Bell I will address Bell.

    You refer to Bell's theorem as "momentous no-go theorem" and spend a couple of pages on his logic. If you look at his first paper, his first equation determines the outcome: A = +/-1, B = +/-1, where A and B are measurements on Stern-Gerlach. This is based on the (prejudiced) assumption of quantum qubits. You clearly state that QM provides only probabilistic predictions. Many-body experiments on spin yield qubit outcomes, as should be expected. Stern-Gerlach does not yield qubit outcomes but smeared results that match 3D spin dynamics in an inhomogeneous field. However Pauli's mathematical projection of qubit mechanics: O|+> = +|+>, O|-> = -|-> is Bell's prejudiced assumption of reality. In other words Bell claims to look for a classical (local variable) description of Stern-Gerlach, but then constrains the problem to quantum results based on the mathematical projection of Pauli, not on the empirical results of Stern-Gerlach.

    Feynman later put the final nail in this coffin by assuming that his favorite two-slit photon experiment could be carried over directly to a two-slit spin analog (the SG experiment). Of course the same equations apply, because he's making the same mathematical projection, but the actual physics of the photon in two-slits is vastly different from the physics of atoms in a homogeneous magnetic field, and Feynman's extended SG model has never been tested.

    Since Feynman and Bell's math and logic have been accepted as gospel, local realism has been excluded from physics. A no-go theorem based on atoms in a magnetic field, constrained to never-tested single-qubit spin results, is then "proved" by photon-based experiments which actually do produce two-state results: on/off detections.

    I repeat - the entire industry is based on the erroneous assumption that the results of the Stern-Gerlach atomic experiments are +1 and -1 deflections, "tested" by photonic experiments that use +1 and 0 detections. The atomic data produced by Stern-Gerlach clearly conflicts with Bell's initial assumption, but instead of trying sophisticated tests of Stern-Gerlach using modern technology the whole entanglement industry is based on 1922 experiments that clearly do not yield +1 and -1 results. The confusion of 1920s quantum mechanics is locked in. Here is your fundamental 'prejudice'.

    My suggestion is if one wishes to 'deconstruct' physics, look for the basic assumptions that violate intuition and that lead to nonsense. Of course that is dangerous for those toiling in the establishment, so generalizations are preferred.

    This is how I would contrast your approach with my approach.

    Good luck in the contest and in your careers.

    Edwin Eugene Klingman

    Thank you for the answer. I accept your point about not being able to represent Einstein given the space limitation. I also agree that Poincare's conventionalism has long-since been surpassed by Einstein's relativity. In fact a lot of people fail to understand the difference in Poincare's philosophical view and therefore claim he discovered relativity before Einstein. He was almost there but not quite. It is easy for us to see the right idea now but at that time conventionalism must have seemed like a reasonable alternative to some.

    Dear Peter,

    Special relativity means different things to different people (I know this from a year of discussions). In your opinion light is to define a 'preferred' reference frame. I cannot believe this makes sense in reality, and as I point out, the nonsense flows from space-time symmetry [i.e., light as 'preferred' frame] and vanishes with energy-time asymmetry.

    You're also of the opinion that one needs to understand quantum gravity to appreciate your point. You claim to understand quantum gravity; I have an understanding that I'm sure differs from yours.

    For many I talked with last year, the first statement that they disagree with tends to shut them down, rather than try to understand how their belief may be reinterpreted. Although quantum mechanics has probably a dozen interpretations, almost all of which yield the same calculations, there is surprising resistance to an interpretation of special relativity that makes sense, but differs from the received wisdom. I'm disappointed that you "didn't dig into the remainder of the paper" but with 200 essays, it's hard to study them all.

    I'm fairly knowledgeable about GA and I do not see an E8-type assignment of GA product terms to the standard model as meaningful, so we do agree on the significance of GA, but not on all physics. On your thread you were happy to hear about Arthur's "Understanding geometric algebra for electromagnetic theory". I suggest after you read this book you may wish to reread my essay.

    Best regards,

    Edwin Eugene Klingman

    Dear Bashir,

    Thank you for your kind remarks.

    You cover many aspects of physics in your essay. I interpret your "indivisible atom" to be the fundamental "substance", which you seem to postulate to be the photon. You say all other composite particles have two key categories, "charge and neutral". My suggestion would be to focus on mass and charge, in terms of gravitational fields in electromagnetic fields, as described in equations (1) in my essay. Since gravitation interacts with itself, while the electromagnetic field does not have charge so does not interact with itself, we have a linear field and an interacting non-linear field. I do not believe this situation has been sufficiently explored, but mine is a minority view. Your intuition seems to be good, but I do not believe your basic model will take you as far as you wish to go. I encourage you in your efforts to understand nature.

    My best regards,

    Edwin Eugene Klingman

    Dear Avtar,

    I hope you will read my essay again, as I do not believe you have understood its potential significance for your work. You say your photon model depends on special relativity, as it matches the observed universe expansion data. But that is not based on the relativity of simultaneity as you imply. Cosmic microwave background on which all cosmology models are based is essentially Machian, and time is considered absolute with respect to this background. So contradicting "the relativity of simultaneity" does not seem relevant, as it is not involved in cosmological 'universe expansion' models. My impression is that you reached this point and decided not to go further. This is unfortunate, as Hertz's extension of Maxwell's equations address the problem you address, but as "disturbances in the ether", with implied local energy density. Moreover, the recent observation of colliding neutron stars has demonstrated that gravitational disturbances propagate at the same speed as electromagnetic disturbances in the field. There is no "acceleration time" involved!

    This Hertzian extension of Maxwell's theory envisions energy flow in a body, while Maxwell/Einstein envisions energy flow between systems. It seems de facto true that cosmology 'universe expansion' observations concern energy flows within the cosmological frame, not simultaneous flows between frames. (When one frame is the universe, what is the other frame?)

    The problem here for your model, is that there is no acceleration. As soon as a disturbance occurs in the field, it immediately propagates at the speed of sound (the generic term for perfect fluid models) - no acceleration.

    The significance for you is that this lack of acceleration required to reach speed c implies that light never has value v < c. Of course you refer to recent experiments in which light impinges on a semiconductor material and is absorbed, whence it photons become 'excitons'. In my opinion, such interactions are phonon-like, not pure photons, and are more likely explained as many-body phenomena, rather than pure photons. Of course I may be wrong, there is not enough information to determine this yet. If the phenomenon is essentially one of absorption and re-emission then formulas with the inverse square root of (1-(v/c)**2) are undefined. These are in most of your equations, since you seem to conceive of local 'photon' mass density as a material body, instead of the equivalent mass density of the disturbance in the field. The v-based equations for the photon are inappropriate in the Hertzian framework, which you seem not to have understood in my essay. In spite of this, and for reasons too long to include in a comment, I do find your Postulate 1 on page 5 to be is very astute and appropriate to the problem. It is that which first excited me about your essay.

    My best regards,

    Edwin Eugene Klingman

    I posted this on Gary D. Simpsom comments --

    I try to justify +i and -i and the pure number i=c with c(metre)=i(sec)

    Read the 4-square essay by Gary Simpson here https://fqxi.org/data/essay-contest-files/Simpson_Four_Squares_rev00.pdf

    here is my comment on Equation 1 below the double lines

    ======================================================

    Every time I read your essay I seem to understand, it more and more.

    I have a couple of questions about Equation 1

    (a² + b² + c² + d²)u² = f²u²

    A quote page 3

    "The meaning of Equation 1 is that in a 4-D geometry, if a right triangle is constructed from an integer number of basis lengths in each of the four dimensions (a, b, c, and d), then the hypotenuse (f) that traverses through the 4-D space will also have an integer number of the basis lengths."

    In Equation 1

    Clearly it is the area u² that is common to both sides. Since its area's four squares when summed gives a transcendent "number" to both (a² + b² + c² +d²) and the area f². So if we have a 5-d hypotenuse cut from area f² within our 4-d space-time based on a well understood four squares geometry with an invariant length "the square root of s²". How do you avoid this "cut" being s and not the area s²=(a² + b² + c² +d²) which what equation 1 is saying. That the total area of (a² + b² + c² +d²) times the common area u² equals the common of area of u² times the area f². And ever body knows that (the sign of s²) times (the sign of area u²) equals (the sign of area u²) times (the sign of the area f²).

    "Yes, I am treating an octonion as a bi-quaternion. That is what makes the multiplication table work.

    The matrix multiplication is interesting. If the complex i commutes normally with the unit vectors, the coefficient matrix uses B. But if the complex i anti-commutes with the unit vectors, the coefficient matrix uses B*."

    Bi-quaternions are just directed areas, that is, an area with a + and - sign. Clearly the matrix works because we have the invariant area ijk which then allows us to use octonian logic "based on + and - signs" which are attached to the bi-quaternions' areas. Hence in equation 1 the need of the 5-d hypotenuse cut from the area f² in our 4-d world which is based on an invariant four squares space-time summation.

    Your 5-d area's four squares summation gives us the length of 4-d hypotenuse "the invariant length of the square root s²" not the total invariant area summation. You have 4-d areas with a 5-d hypotenuse length of the four squares for the area f². We have literally have a 5-d hypotenuse length within our 4-d space-time that any four square summation must obey. Since the area of u² is the one common transcendental number that bridges both sides of Equation 1, while the 5-d hypotenuse is an invariant 4-d length that any summation must have available to have closure for the geometry of the area of f².

    A number (which is a perfect square) is the summation of four squares. If the area of f² is n square metres d²ct, then the physical manifestation of that area is a n invariant unit lengths of dct in our 4-d space-time. Not an area. We have an area f² on the right RHS, then on the LHS, equation 1 has a 5-d hypotenuse cut -- length c(metre) -- an invariant length that, by the 4-S theorem and equation 1 - each and every, any and, all - four square invariant summations must obey within our space-time.

    Of course your multiplication matrices Eq 5.4 and Eq 5.5, clearly ties "i" with c(metre), via the common area u² which is on both sides, where we have units of the summation of transcendental i if we use the 4-S theorem on both sides at once but using your multiplication rules A,B*,A,B* for - and + sign matrix Eq 5.3, which is, after all, a + and - sign summation using "octonian" logic directed bi-quaternion areas i.e. the column [C,D], using Eq 4.1 about a stationary "ijk" invariant the area f², using f a length "the square root of the area of f²" to transverse the equal sign, Equation 1 uses a 5-d length, so cannot be associated 1-1 with a summation of four square labelled A,B,C,D thought of as a "a perfect number as an area". It is - the area u² - that is, the common "four square summation" i.e. the perfect square, that spans the equal sign using the 4-S theorem on both sides of Equation 1. A number (which is a perfect square) is the summation of four squares). Your Eq 5.3 is a dance using A,B,C,D where A,B,C,D do integral steps on directed areas ALL on the geometry of the area of ijk. More simply the dance is with the directed areas which have a + or - sign, that is, i and * are not moving, i.e. they don't lead! It is --- i and * --- that are stationary and it is Eq 5.3 that moves areas that equal + or - throughout a basic multiplication table page 6, clearly Eq 5.3 only gives the square root of s², a length not an area for how the multiplication table works in your matrices Eq 5.4 and Eq 5.5.

    The full 4-S multiplication "of the areas on both sides of Equation 1" is:-

    (the sign of the area (a²+b²+c²+d²)) times (the sign of the area u² on the LHS) equals (the sign of the area u² on the RHS) times (the sign of the area f²).

    You will find Eq 5.3 octonian area + and - logic uses only the "square roots for the area u²" on the LHS for the bi-quaternions areas plus and minus signs attachment. That is, it is the common area of the transcendent "number" (a summation of four squares) which transverses the equal sign in Eq 1. as perfect numbers). Not your A,B*,A,B*,-,+ matrix dance Eq 5.3. which is after all + and - sign summation using "octonian" logic directed bi-quaternion areas i.e. the column [C,D]; clearly uses Eq 4.1 a stationary "ijk" invariant the area f².

    More simply, the area of f² is ijk equals -1 and then we take the square root of the area of ijk. that is, √-1 the imaginary unit. Clearly the full 4-S multiplication table for the "equal sign" invariant + and - unit count across the equal sign for Equation 1 is a transcendent dimensional process with "a unit of the square root of the area u² (see below)"; we will call the invariant unit of the times table a "sec"" for the area of the total summation of the area of the four squares of space-time. Then the 5-d hypotenuse cut would have a pure number a "transcendental" 5-d number c=i and it's "4-d length" of the times table is i(sec). The full 4-S sign multiplication times table used for how the LHS and RHS signs of the area u² common area behave across the equal sign, are;

    same signs on the LHS and RHS give +ve while different signs on the RHS and LHS give -ve.

    Or the appearance of the bridge (common area) across the equal sign is in units of -- +i and -i -- that is how we cross the equal sign using the area of u² on the LHS and using the area of u² on the RHS.

    Gary said in my comments

    You have some interesting ideas but they are very speculative. Essay contests such as this are a good place to present such ideas:-)

    I don't think you can set i=c or i=h but I do think you can construct something similar to the following:PSI = exp(omega) = sqrt[1 - (v/c)^2] + (v/c)i

    Then for v=c, PSI=i. I looked at your work instead, to see how you bridged with a common 5-d length (of the square root of f²) the areas on both sides of the equal sign. Your method mixes lengths with areas across the equal sign. While in the full 4-S, it is the four sums of +i and -i that are the "invariant count" lengths of the area u². The hypotenuse of the area geometry of f² is an invariant 5-d length "f" which isn't an area on the LHS.

    =======================================================

    Hello Edwin,

    Thank you for your comments on my essay and apparent rating of 7, it's only the second rating I've had - and thanks for saying you enjoyed reading it immensely, and that it deserves to be doing better than it is.

    I'm glad we both think (the apparent flow of) time is not emergent, as the 2015 experiment I've outlined makes it harder to take that view. Although it needs reproducing, the experiment had press coverage at the time, as it showed for the first time that the world at the quantum scale is not reversible, but is subject to entropy, just as in the large-scale world. It leaves time very much unexplained.

    I've seen quite a few attempts to explain the direction of time, where the given cause turns out to be a process, needing another flow of time underneath it. I don't know about your idea that the direction of time arises from the self-interaction of the gravitational field, but any forces (or pseudo forces) are at risk of needing time already in place, if they are to have what we call effects - just as cause and effect implies a time sequence.

    Good luck, best regards,

    Jonathan

      Hi Jonathan,

      You say, "I've seen quite a few attempts to explain the direction of time, where the given cause turns out to be a process, needing another flow of time underneath it. I don't know about your idea that the direction of time arises from the self-interaction of the gravitational field"

      I just posted a variant of the following on Phil Gibbs page:

      At one point Phil suggests that "quantization as a sum over histories is more fundamental than particles or field or even time and space." What is history without time or path without space? He then asks if there is a fundamental law which is not derived from anything deeper? Well, if we assume that a law governs something, there must exist at least one thing. Since I cannot conceive of this one (and only) thing being a particle, I assume it's a field, or at least a continuum. Phil then says that such law must be as it is because it could not be any other way, and asks "Why would those answers be incomprehensible to us?"

      Conscious experience is our contact with the universe; Phil says "information is everywhere" crossing the universe. I prefer "energy is everywhere" crossing the universe. When energy triggers a change in structure (absorb the photon, switch a logic gate, ...) the structure is 'in'-formed and becomes a record (~bits of information). It has no meaning absent a codebook or context: "one if by land, two if by sea." Thus it's hard for me to find meaning in the statement: "the information in a wave function is conserved." Most wave functions describe situations in which energy is conserved, so in that sense "information" might be conserved. He notes we're dealing with idealizations. If information implies energy and change of structure, where is the energy of the wavefunction and what does it change? Phil notes that such "informative" 'records' are more real than the 'past'; "Our reality is what we experience."

      Phil then sets up the problem, noting that recursion can take us places independent of the starting point:

      "... we must define this recursion... in algebraic terms and see how the physics of space, time, and particles can emerge..."

      He notes this iteration will be algebraic without a Lagrangian, and conjectures that the holographic principle may argue for 'complete symmetry'. I believe one can formulate the holographic principle in terms of energy, with no mention of information. Would this imply such symmetry?

      Phil suggests a "free algebra" generated from a vector space V and says that "if it requires information to specify how it works then a theory can't be fundamental"; concluding by expecting to find symmetry in a pre-geometric meta-law that transcends space-time, taking a purely algebraic form, beyond which point it will be emergent.

      Jonathan, based on Phil's formulation of the problem, I suggest how this might work?

      I don't believe a 'lattice' can satisfy his requirements for 'fundamentalness', so I assume a continuum, f. "Pre-geometric" must mean there is only one such, else we would have two different things and can subtract f1 from f2 and begin geometric correlations between continuums (kind of like Einstein's inertial reference frames). So if there is only one continuum, f, it can only interact with itself, as there is nothing else to interact with! This provides a basic principle for the pre-geometric, primordial law, based on algebra only:

      The Principle of Self-interaction is that any operator O acting on the continuum f must be equivalent to the continuum f acting on itself, represented as

      Of = ff.

      This iteration is fundamental, not derived from anything deeper, and is infinitely recursive. One can solve this for characteristic features of the continuum, and the operator spectrum might determine the feature spectrum. Let one operator be the essential derivative d/dq and the second operator be the generalized derivative 'Del' = d/dp. [it's hard to find symbols that don't bring something to mind, so I've already biased you.]

      As it turns out we have two unique solutions corresponding to these two operators. For O = d/dq we find that f = 1/(-q) solves the algebraic equation, Of = ff, and for O = d/dp we find that f = 1/p solves Of = ff. We assume geometric algebra (Clifford/Hestenes) is our context. Therefore we need only interpret q and p. These may of course be anything we can get away with that agrees with our experience, but I believe the most fundamental (or at least the most useful) fundamental interpretation's are q = time t and p = spatial vector r.

      Jonathan, please note that there is only one solution to the self-interaction equation of the form 1/t, and that is 1/(-t). That is, if t is time, then only one 'direction' of time solves the self-interaction equation!

      Thus our Self-interaction Principle leads to a unidirectional time and a general 3D space. One feature of the continuum is the frequency f ~ 1/t and another feature is a 1/r spatial dependence, with appropriate gradient, ~1/r.r . All of this is easy to prove (except the identification of q with time and p with space) once one adds a 'connector' c ~ r/t then ccf is an acceleration and f is a frequency. The dimensions thus associated with f and f are those of the gravito-magnetic field: G ~ cc/r, C ~ -1/t --- acceleration and frequency. When one brings rotation into the picture the self-interaction equation generates a quantum solution, and the minus sign associated with the frequency yields a fundamental left-handedness such as that characterizing neutrinos and amino acids.

      The equations that govern these fields are in my essay's equation (1). A result of iteration is figure on page 12. Of course there's much more of interest than will fit into a comment. For example, the Self-interaction Principle leads to Newton's law, Einstein's equations, and the Klein-Gordon equation, for starters, when augmented by E = mcc. I do believe "we arrive at a final level where everything is possible and the whole theory is described with zero information."

      My very best regards,

      Edwin Eugene Klingman

      Edwin Klingman,

      [My pledge: goo.gl/KCCujt] First I will assess your essay, then discuss your conclusions. Positives:

      -- Wow, you know your targets well! I sort of kept hoping for Maxwell to drop by to, but it would have distracted Einstein from the main topic. I think the main reason that Einstein never modified SR after GR forced him back to the ether was , well... he couldn't quite figure out how to do it? You really need a more modern computer modeling concepts of how to handle binding times to implement the virtual frames with absolute fidelity, and that concept suite and was flatly not available to him. So ironically, he stayed block universe to keep SR happy, even as he defined a unique "ether slice" sequence that was curved but on average remained orthogonal to your universal simultaneous time.

      -- I like very much that you pulled out the GR ether connection. People still are shocked by that, and at the time Einstein's fellow physicists tried very hard to pretend Einstein never went back to the ether. There is an attraction in the mathematical symmetries of SR that is incredibly appealing to many folks, especially if you are mathematically inclined. The idea that such symmetries might be nothing more than virtual limits in a reality that like to fake people out does not appeal in the same way, unless you happen to be more computer-science-ish in mind set.

      -- You pull in lots and lot of really good, highly specific threads of though, though there are so many that a seriously deep look at them could take days or months (or years).

      -- Your conversation format is entertaining, though at times it makes it a bit difficult to recognize exactly what the main point is going to be.

      Negatives:

      -- You pull in lots and lot of really good, highly specific threads of though, though there are so many that a seriously deep look at them could take days or months (or years).

      -- Your conversation format is entertaining, though at times it makes it a bit difficult to recognize exactly what the main point is going to be.

      -- My standard complaint: The intent of the FQXi request as I read it was to write an essay on how to recognize a fundamental theory, rather than write an essay to provide a fundamental theory.

      --------------------

      Now, let's see if I understand your point (I may not!). When you end by saying:

      "the fundamental nature of time as universal simultaneity"

      I think you are saying that there exists a singular curved foliation of spacetime, which Einstein in his post-GR years would have called "the ether", in which all causality unfolds at the "same time" (e.g. as measured by a hypothetical solid sheet of tiny clocks all making synchronized hand-shake time measurements with their immediate neighbors).

      That is of course utterly heretical to SR perspectives, because it would make that single foliation absolutely unique and the only "real" source of causality. However, again, it is not even all that difficult from a computer simulation perspective to define structures in which the primary foliation creates asymmetric embedded virtual foliations -- other frames -- that internally look exactly like the primary frame though a combination of directionally-dependent early and late binding of causal events in the primary frame. In fact, you can do that so well that there is no way to distinguish internally between the cases... which is of course exactly what SR requires!

      Again, assuming that I'm even understanding you correctly, your frame of temporal simultaneity would almost certainly be the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) frame, the frame that has undergone the least number of acceleration-deceleration events over the history of the universe. As long as matter in that CMB frame remains unaccelerated, any other matter in the universe that "come to visit" the lazy CMB matter will be guaranteed to have less elapsed time; that is, the CMB frame will always have the fastest time in such comparisons, and no arrangement of other matter in the universe can overcome that speed advantage, no matter how you arrange the test.

      The CMB frame will also be the only frame that "sees" the real minimum energy of the universe as it looks out and assesses the total relativistic energy of the rest of the universe. Any frame moving relative to the CMB will see overly high energy totals.

      So, your "single simultaneous time" will both be the fastest possible time in the universe -- which just makes sense if it is the real driver of all causality in all possible frames -- and it will be the home of the only accurate "view" of the total mass-energy of the universe.

      Finally, I think a test for the existence of such a primary frame - that is, for your simultaneous-time ether foliation -- may in fact exist, but it will necessarily be a very subtle test. I brought this issue up in a comment under Del Santo (topic 3017).

        Dear Terry Bollinger,

        Thanks for your gracious comments. I'm pleased that you got so much out of it, although as you note, it could take a while to follow all the lines of thought. You're probably correct to criticize the essay for veering from the assigned topic. You actually do address the topic in specific manner in terms of Kolmogorov complexity, but many focus on generalities, and reading 200 such is painful to contemplate. FQXi is a unique forum, offering reasonable visibility, archival storage, and a very effective comments scheme that cross-fertilizes. Establishment physicists probably come here to win a few bucks, but those who left academia long ago, or are otherwise locked out of establishment journals, see a venue for their own theories, which as you have discovered, span a wide range. Some, taking advantage of feedback, improve their ideas year after year, and often twist their theme into the current essay topic.

        Your interpretation of my essay is essentially correct --- that all causality unfolds at the "same time" [as measured by perfect clocks, i.e. clocks not subject to local conditions.] Your use of 'curved' and 'space-time' are probably orthodox. Weinberg, Feynman, and others have derived GR from flat space, and I prefer flat space energy density distribution to curved geometry, although they are interchangeable in theory. Space-time as 4D is so misleading that I prefer 3D +1, as elaborated on in many of the above comments. The CMB approximates absolute space, and time is time - orthogonal to space. x,y,z can project onto each other, but time projects only onto itself.

        Your discussion of the CMB frame as the only frame that "sees" the minimum energy of the universe is well stated. My focus has been less global and more local in the sense that I wish to explain the muon, the global positioning system, Einstein's railway cars, and other specific phenomena relevant to SR. I view the entire 3D universe as existing "now", i.e. it is the same time everywhere in the universe. Messages from one part of the universe to another flow at the speed of light through gravity. Einstein and recently others postulate that the speed of light may vary as a function of strength of the gravitational field through which it propagates, but I am uncommitted on this idea. We do have proponents of 'block time' among our FQXi essayists, but, as you note, mine is not a block-time theory. Your statement that "single simultaneous time" will be the fastest possible time in the universe is compatible in a sense. In reality (according to my approach) all time is the same time and has the same "speed". Local clocks cannot measure time -- they measure oscillating systems whose oscillating frequency is a function of local energy, so that changes in frequency show up on clocks as "changes in time". But in fact there are no changes in time; time flows equably throughout the universe. I don't believe any other scheme could have endured for 14 billion years with time willy-nilly changing relative to all the moving parts.

        I will look at your test. I too, have a proposed test, and welcome others.

        I've read your essay and will comment on your page.

        Best regards,

        Edwin Eugene Klingman

        Hi Edwin,

        Thank you. I think the concepts we use when we think about these things are so dependent on an implied flow of time, that it's hard to remove that. You mention 'action', as in 'interaction' or 'self-interaction' - to me you can't explain time with those concepts, because you need time already in place to use them, as they wouldn't exist. You say there's only one thing that exists, so it can only interact with itself, but if so, in some sense it has 'moving parts'.

        So it's hard to 'get underneath time' in order to do any physics and try to explain it, for instance with a mechanism, because it's hard to find a mechanism that would work at all - mechanisms need time if they are to work.

        And I think mathematical concepts are equally at risk of having this kind of problem, or more so, as they're often two steps away from what we need to get at, instead of one.

        I felt there were four or five main avenues for getting to a better understanding of time, and explored them while trying to write a book. The conclusion was that all of them, without exception, are blocked in some way. I then looked at the question of whether any of them might become unblocked if there was a fundamental change to the underlying assumptions, and found that one of them, and only one, had the possibility of becoming unblocked.

        I'm all for creative thinking on the subject, and don't want to sound otherwise, but I think the way people take time out of the mathematics, and feel they can move things around here and there, is often inappropriate. Incidentally, Huw Price, who takes absolutely the opposite view from me, is also very strict about removing a pre-existing flow of time from our thinking. But he does that for different reasons!

        Anyway, best regards,

        Jonathan