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An Exceptionally Simple Space-As-Entanglement Theory
Terry Bollinger, 2018-02-26 Feb
Abstract. There has been quite a bit of attention in recent years to what has been called the holographic universe. This concept, which originated somehow from string theory (!), postulates that the universe is some kind of holographic image, rather than the 3D space we see. Fundamental to this idea is space as entanglement, that is, that the fabric of space is built out of the mysterious "spooky action" links the Einstein so disdained. In keeping with its string theory origins, the holographic universe also dives down to the Planck foam level. The point of this mini-essay is that except for the point about space being composed of entanglements between particles, none of this complexity is needed: there are no holograms, and there is no need for the energetically impossible Planck foam. All your need is group entanglement of the conjugate of particle spin, which is an overlooked "ghost direction" orthogonal to spin. Particles form a mutually relative consensus on these directions (see Karl Coryat Pillar #3) that allows them to ensure conservation of angular momentum, and that consensus becomes xyz space. Instead of a complicated hologram, its structure is that of an exceptionally simple direct-link web that interlinks all of the participating particles. It is no more detailed than it needs to be, and that number is determined solely by how many particles participate in the overall direction consensus. Finally, it is rigid in order to protect and preserve angular momentum, since the overriding goal in all forms of a quantum entanglement is absolute conservation of some quantum number.
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NOTE: A mini-essay is my attempt to capture an idea, approach, or prototype theory inspired by interactions with other FQXi Essay contestants. This mini-essay was inspired by:
1. The Four Pillars of Fundamentality by Karl Coryat
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Introduction
For this mini-essay I think the original text gives the thought pretty well "as is," so I am simply quoting it below. My thanks again to Karl Coryat for a fun-to-read and very stimulating essay.
A quote from my assessment Karl Coryat's Pillar #3
If space is the fabric of relations, if some vast set of relations spread out literally across the cosmos, defining the cosmos, are the true start of reality instead of the deceptive isolation of objects that these relations then make possible, what are the components of that relation? What are the "bits" of space?
I don't think we know, but I assure you it's not composed of some almost infinite number of 10-35 meter bubbles of Planck foam. Planck foam is nothing more than an out-of-range, unbelievably extrapolated extremum created by pushing to an energetically impossible limit the rules of observation that have physical meaning only at much lower energies. I suspect that the real components of space are much simpler, calmer, quieter, less energetic, and well, space-like than that terrifying end-of-all-things violence that is so casually called "Planck foam."
I'll even venture a guess. You heard it here first... :)
My own guess is that the units of space are nothing more radical than the action (Planck) conjugation complements of the angular momenta of all particles. That is, units of pure direction, which is all that is left after angular momentum scarfs up all of the usual joule-second units of action, leaving only something that at first glance looks like an empty set. On closer examination, though, a given spin must leave something behind to distinguish itself from other particle spins, and that "something" is the orientation of the spin in 3-space, a ghostly orthogonality to the spin plane of the particle. But more importantly, it would have to be cooperatively, relationally shared with every other particle in the vicinity and beyond, so that their differences remain valid. Space would become a consensus fabric of directional relationships, one in which all the particles have agreed to share the same mutually relative coordinate system -- that is, to share the same space[/]. This direction consensus would be a group-level form of entanglement, and because entanglement is unbelievably unforgiving about conservation of conserved quantum numbers such as spin, it would also be extraordinarily rigid, as space should be. Only over extreme ranges would it bend much, to give gravity, which thus would not be an ordinary quantum force like photon-mediated electromagnetism. It would also be loosely akin to the "holographic" concept of space as entanglement, but this version is hugely simpler and much more direct, since neither holography, nor higher dimension, nor Planck-level elaborations are required. The entanglements of the particles just create a simple, easily understood 3-space network linking all nodes (particles).
But space cannot possibly be compose of such a sparse, incomplete network, right?
After all, space is also infinitely detailed as well as extremely rigid, so there surely are not enough particles in the universe to define space in sufficient detail! Many would in fact argue that this is precisely why any phenomenon that creates space itself must operate at the Planck scale of 10-35 meters, so that the incredible detail needed for 3-space can be realized.
Really? Why?
If only 10 objects existed in the universe, each a meter across, why would you need a level of detail that is, say, 20 orders of magnitude more detailed for them to interact meaningfully and precisely with each other? You would still be able to access much higher levels of relational detail, but only by asking for more detail, specifically by applying a level of energy proportional to the level of detail you desired. Taking things to the absolute limit first is an incredibly wasteful procedure, and incidentally, it is emphatically not what we see in quantum mechanics, where every observation has a cost that depends on the level of detail desired, and even then only at the time of the observation. There are good and deeply fundamental quantum reasons why the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that found the Higgs boson is 8.6 km in diameter!
The bottom line is that in terms of as-needed levels of detail, you can build up a very-low-energy universal "directional condensate" space using the spins of nothing more than the set of particles that exist in that space. It does not matter how sparse or dense those particles are, since you only need to make space "real" for the relationships that exist between those particles. If for example your universe has only two particles in it, you only need one line of space (Oscillatorland!) to define their relationship. Defining more space outside of that line is not necessary, for the simple reason that no other objects with which to relate exist outside of that line.
So regardless of how space comes to be -- my example above mostly shows what is possible and what kinds of relationships are required -- its very existence makes the concept of relations between entities as fundamental as it gets. You don't end with relations, you start with them.
Conclusions
Quite few people who are reading this likely do not even believe in entanglement! So I am for you the cheerful ultimate heretic, the fellow who not only believe fervently in the reality of entanglement, but would make it literally into the very fabric of space itself. Sorry about that, but I hope you can respect that I have my reasons, just as I very much respect localism. Two of my top physicist favorites of all time, Einstein and Bell, were both adamant localists!
If you are a holographic universe type, I hope you will at least think about some of what I've said here. I developed these ideas in isolation from your community, and frankly was astonished when I finally realized its existence. I deeply and sincerely believe that you have a good and important idea there, but history had convoluted it in very unfortunate ways. Take a stab at my much simpler 3D web approach, and I think interesting things could start popping out fairly quickly.
If you are MOND or dark matter enthusiast, think about the implications of space being a direct function of the presence or absence of matter. One of my very first speculations on this topic was that as this fabric of entanglement thins, you could very well get effects relevant to the anomalies that both MOND and dark matter attempt to explain.
Finally, I gave this fabric a name a long time, a name with which I pay respect to a very great physicists who literally did not get respect: Boltzmann. I call this 3D fabric of entanglements the Boltzmann fabric, represented (I can't do it here) by a lower-case beta with a capital F subscript. His entropic concepts of time become cosmic through this fabric.