Thank you Steve! It is good to hear from you.
Photon Theory by Jason Mark Wolfe
Alan,
I look forward to watching you're simulation.
[deleted]
Hi Jason the creative,
You are welcome and thanks also, it's nice.
Steve
Jason,
Thanks but I'll probably end up leaving that to someone better equipped than myself. Notice how the above moons of Saturn appear to adhere to the 'inclination hypothesis' i.e. that gravity is stronger towards the rotational plane of large solar system bodies.
Best wishes,
Alan
Hi Jason,
I just had a thought. From Wikipedia it says "Laplace had shown that if gravity would propogate at a velocity in the order of the speed of light then the solar system would be unstable, and would not exist for a long time." I don't believe it personally, but how do you reconcile this with your photon theory?
Kind regards,
Alan
Jason,
Apologies, I've just read this from Wikipedia:
In the context of classical theories of gravitation, the speed of gravity is the speed at which changes in a gravitational field propagate. This is the speed at which a change in the distribution of energy and momentum of matter results in subsequent alteration, at a distance, of the gravitational field which it produces. In a more physically correct sense, the "speed of gravity" refers to the speed of a gravitational wave.
The speed of gravitational waves in the general theory of relativity is equal to the speed of light in vacuo, c.[1] Within the theory of special relativity, the constant c is not exclusively about light; instead it is the highest possible speed for any physical interaction in nature. Formally, c is a conversion factor for changing the unit of time to the unit of space.[2] This makes it the only speed which does not depend either on the motion of an observer or a source of light and/or gravity. Thus, the speed of "light" is also the speed of gravitational waves and any massless particle. So far, the only candidates for massless particles in physics are the photons that light waves consist of, and also the theoretical gravitons which make up the associated field particles of gravity, if a quantum mechanical theory for gravity is ever successfully constructed.
The speed of physical changes in a gravitational or electromagnetic field should not be confused for "changes" in the behavior of static fields that are due to pure observer-effects. These changes in direction of a static field, because of relativistic considerations, are the same for an observer when a distant charge is moving, as when an observer (instead) decides to move with respect to a distant charge. Thus, constant motion of an observer with regard to a static charge and its extended static field (either a gravational or electric field) does not change the field. For static fields, such as the electrostatic field connected with electric charge, or the gravitational field connected to a massive object, the field extends to infinity, and does not propagate. Motion of an observer does not cause the direction of such a field to change, and by symmetrical considerations, changing the observer frame so that the charge appears to be moving at a constant rate, also does not cause the direction of its field to change, but requires that it continue to "point" in the direct of the charge, at all distances from the charge.
The consequence of this, is that static fields (either electric or gravitational) always point directly to the actual position of the bodies that they are connected to, without any delay that is due to any "signal" traveling (or propagating) from the charge, over a distance to an observer. This remains true if the charged bodies and their observers are made to "move" (or not), by simply changing reference frames. This fact sometimes causes confusion about the "speed" of such static fields, which sometimes appear to change infinitely quickly when the changes in the field are mere artifacts of the motion of the observer, or of observation.
In such cases, nothing actually changes infinitely quickly, save the point of view of an observer of the field. For example, when an observer begins to move with respect to a static field that already extends over light years, it appears as though "immediately" the entire field, along with its source, has begin moving at the speed of the observer. This, of course, includes the extended parts of the field. However, this "change" in the apparent behavior of the field source, along with its distant field, does not represent any sort of propagation that is faster than light.
Hi Alan,
Photon Theory states that ALL experimental phenomena can be decomposed into two categories: photons and wave-functions. All particles (fermions) can be annihilated by their partners into photons. Whatever can't be broken down into photons must be a wave-function. Photon theory therefore pushes space-time and gravity into the wave-function category, where we want it.
Photons are obligated to travel at the speed of light in a vacuum because
[math]c = \lambda f[/math]
The background that light travels through, whether it's a vacuum, glass or a gas, decides how fast light travels via the index of refraction, c/n. In the case of glass, the background wave-function is a bit more obvious. For a vacuum, the existence of a background is open to philosophical debate. However, Photon Theory still requires the background to consist of wave-functions.
I'll have to continue on my next break.
Alan,
Every experimentally verifiable phenomena is decomposed into either photons or wave-functions. Any particle or force that is mediated by photons must also be bound by the restrictions of photons. Photons are restricted by the speed of light. Photons also carry energy. In fact, energy itself cannot travel faster than the speed of light.
The Schrodinger equation is solved to find the corresponding wave-function. For the hydrogen atom, the potential energy around the proton is described as V(r,phi,theta). The wavefunction of the orbiting electron is calculated using V(r,phi,theta). The position and momentum of the electron is completely probabalistic; the existence of the wave-amplitude itself cannot be verified because wave-functions influence and are influenced by energy, but are not directly part of the energy currency.
What if the charges are not electrical, but instead are energies +E and -E? The -E energy of gravity will produce a graviational potential. Whatever gravity is, it must be a wave-function of some kind. That means that this wave-function called gravity can exert forces on mass-energy, but is not itself energy...
I didn't explain that very well. I'll try again on my next break.
Alan,
After re-reading the "speed of gravity" link, it seems to be saying that the whole extended static field moves with the charge or source of gravity.
Jason,
Okay, I'm happy with the notion that light and gravity can't travel faster than c. It fits with my working model ideally. Thanks for the explanations.
All the best,
Alan
Alan,
In the sense that gravity is an extended object.