Tag Archive: general theory of relativity


WAVE/PARTICLE :: UNCERTAINTY=POSITION/MOMENTUM

In Einstein’s 1917 paper The Quantum Theory of Radiation, photons stimulate the emission of photons by striking and being absorbed by molecules and by raising energy to the point at which new photons are emitted, thus lowering the energy (coincidentally, the theory behind the MASER, LASER, and quantum entanglement) by utilizing the equivalence of mass and energy (e=mc2). This posits the existence of the light quantum, radical since photons were not recognized as yet by the physics community, hence the title. Einstein felt his theory had a weakness—he really wanted there to be a “union with wave theory” and found this to be the greatest weakness of the quantum theory of radiation. He is searching for something but cannot reach it. He knows there must be something about this that explains particle-wave duality but cannot come up with it utilizing the level of experimental knowledge of the time, and cannot therefore arrive at ways to experimentally verify what he intuitively “knows” is true.

Now (2014), a hundred years later, the gap is closed. New work (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/24/quantum-physics-easier-to-understand_n_6370570.html) suggests wave and particle duality are the equivalent of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in which there is a relative duality between position and momentum. That is, like particles vs. waves, position and momentum can only be measured separately—if one measures a particle’s position one can no longer measure it’s momentum–but are really identical.   Vice versa if one measures its position and knows where it is, how fast it is going can no longer be measured. This article states that they are relative—two sides of the same coin.  To put it bluntly, momentum and position are relative, just as space and time are relative and particle and wave are relative.

The equivalence principle founds much of Einstein’s later work and led to the generalization of the Special Theory of Relativity. It took from 1905 until 1916 to attain this goal in the Theory of General Relativity, which forced physics to relativize space and time. Now the principle of equivalence leads to a further relativisation—particle and wave are now relative not only to each other but to position and momentum. It took a century but Einstein was proven right again. What interests me is the implication that there might be a bridge here between quantum theory and relativity theory.

The implications of equivalence can immediately be applied to cryptology. What simple mathematical formula describes this four-part harmony between matter, energy, where that matter is, and how fast it is moving? With so many variables, we should be able to avoid anyone hacking into and stealing records of our credit cards because they are encrypted on so many levels. For me—leaving cryptologists to the Turing test—I ask the question: what simple mathematical formula describes this four-part harmony?            I sense we are approaching unity—the nexus of Einstein’s model of a macro universe and the Copenhagen school quantum theory of Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, and Schrödinger. This nexus fascinates me because I do not believe Einstein would have predicted it and neither would Heisenberg. This may throw light on whether or not Schrödinger’s cat is alive or dead.

Einstein’s quest for a unified theory extends: Kaluza-Klein theory adds a 5th dimension, string theory adds six more to that, and still there is no experimental proof that there is a 5th or an 11th dimension. The first—Kaluza-Klein— disappointed Einstein secondary to lack of data, and the second—string theory/M theory—disappoints a couple of generations of string theorists. What if the results of the classical double-slit experiment—the essential paradigm of particle-wave interaction—represent Einstein’s idea that both wave-particle and uncertainty theory are relative to one another? Well, they are, but only if measuring momentum or position are flip sides of the coin of the principle of uncertainty and there is an equivalence between this and wave-particle theory.

I visualize a multidimensional propagating wave whose particle manifestation can be measured either as velocity or position. It’s like one of the Star Trek movies came to life and you can beam up Captain Kirk. Add to this the relativity of space and time and I see the Tardis ripping through the fabric of the elegant universe.

Too bad the article I read skims the finding because, even though I AM NO MATHEMATICIAN, I’D LIKE TO SEE SOME FORMULAE. THE NEXT STEP IS THE FORMALIZATION OF THESE EQUIVALENCIES SO AS TO MAKE PREDICTIONS. THAT’S when the pedal hits the metal!

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Consider a black hole similarly to the way one considers a star, except you can’t see it.  Black holes have prominences, ejects large bodies of matter and energy along gravitational warps, and matter and energy explode along the poles of their revolving bodies.  No one can directly observe black holes but for the effects they have on their environment.  So, if they are stars, similar to a neutron star, revolving at a speed close to that of light, they will attract to them matter and energy which this extreme gravity well weaves into long strings at the most basic—Planck length—level of existence and spin out long bursts of gamma radiation which are composed of strings at the higher levels of energy.  At some high level of energy the string may become transparent to the gravity well of the hole.  In a way the well is spinning and that which enters the hole’s accretion disk goes down in a vortex of increasingly energetic particles like water being drained from a sink.

At the higher energies I posit an increase in dimensional unfolding unseen at the lower energies of the observable universe such that, at some point or threshold, the string forms, but it is transparent to the laws of gravity.  That string weaves itself around and vibrates at a high pitch which in effect bends space and time to the breaking point, the point reached at the earliest point of origin—the big bang.  That is to say its transparency to the laws of Einsteinian physics permits it to inflate faster than the speed of light because of the energy levels attained in the maw of the spinning, waving, sucking vortex—and the string escapes.  That it is observable at all is the resultant of the string—a long line of ejectant observable in quasars—returning to a level of energy at a distance from the source subjecting it once again to the laws of physics operant in the macro universe where gravity applies and the speed of light is a constant.

In a way, you can picture it as a gravity well.  Matter spins around it as it descends the well.  Matter passes through the event horizon and its energy increases as it spins ever faster the closer it approaches the center  of the well.  When it goes through the bottom of the well it has reached the Planck length of 10-33.  It drains through to the “other side,” transparent to gravity, faster than the speed of light—superluminal—along a straight line, kind of like going through a worm hole which warps space-time so that it reappears outside the event horizon where it once again can be observed.  The stuff of our universe is going down the drain and is spun into an ejectant and thrown off much like a spider composes its web of highly gelatinous silk that is extremely sticky and which has extraordinary tensile strength.

Energy at such metaphysical levels does not obey the laws of the physical universe.  But, that energy condenses matter and energy along its path so that it is observable in the form of cosmic radiation emitted from a quasar.  Young stars are born from the coalescence of energy around these vibrating strings.  The black hole births the stars by destroying the old shape and form of the matter/energy.

Once information is destroyed by the swallowing of the energy after it enters the accretion disk, it comes out the other end and the information is restored.  The process of evolution is initiated once that occurs.  Time has  been suspended once the energy reaches the 11th power.  When the 11th dimension unfolds, all hell breaks loose!  The inflaton is unleashed.  Nothing happens.  The nothing referred to in the Tao seems to me to relate to what cannot be observed “because” on that “plane of reality” a universe which follows its own laws exists within which these forces operate out of our space-time continuum.

I suppose, since I am speaking metaphorically throughout this thought piece or gedankenstücke, we are then in a kind of exalted state in which space-time does not exist, where eternity replaces space-time.  Nothing is no longer the negation of thing, but is in itself a plane of existence that occurs only at the Planck length at the Planck energy, attainable in black holes.

The hole becomes a spider, spinning out its web of power.  In effect, the web creates space-time.  In a way this could be a theory of continuous creation.  Space-time comes from somewhere, so why not postulate a higher level of unfolded 11th dimensional “reality” out of which space-time emerges?  In space-time, as opposed to eternity, the 7 dimensions fold up into unexpressed Calabi-Yau manifolds, multi-dimensional curlicues, leaving the 4 dimensions of our observable universe according to M Theory, the meta-string theory now referred to as Superstring Theory.  In a way I’m stating that if M Theory is correct, and at the levels of energy in black holes potent enough to light up into a quasar, the dimensions unfold—out of nothing comes something, out of metaphysics comes physics.

I could go on to make a connection between metaphysics and Metaphysics.  But here I am on shakier ground (if that is possible considering the thesis I am proposing is contrary to the laws of physics as we know them), so I will only suggest a correspondence.  If “true,” the black hole might become a metaphor for God the creator.  The creator would be the Creator.  I don’t think this is a stretch since religion appears to have prefigured not only physics but psychology and chemistry.  Religious thinking seems to me to be an intuitive grasp of our world.  Creation myths emanate from intuitive apprehension of worlds beyond our own.  Artist create pieces describing these worlds.  Now we have computer-generated graphics of galaxies colliding; then we had Jacob’s Ladder, a heaven and a hell, incarnation and reincarnation, levels of consciousness both previous to and following death, a spirit realm.  The major theses of western and non-western religions speak of realms beyond our own in strong terms.  All I am saying is they resonate with some of the ideas I am presenting above, but in a pre-scientific manner of thinking.

I am using words to describe a compositional device I utilized when composing my piece in seven movements, Black Hole.  In it, I place in the middle a movement that is conceived as the movement of energy from the heart of the black hole and is described in the literature as a jet.  However, I do not see jets coming from black holes like normal astrophysicists do (surprise).  I see them as 11-dimensional jets defying the laws of physics—M Theory—which I extend as a form of artistic license.  If you want to hear this piece it is recorded by PRO VISO and is out of print.  On special request I can make it available.  Please correspond to me through this post if you want me to burn a copy for you.

The strength of my speculations, axioms, and theses ultimately rests on observation.  Hopefully, mathematical models can be developed or have already been developed describing these interactions.  Nothing becomes everything and every thing becomes nothing.

Gödel universes spin around an axis determined by geometrical laws that are extensions of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

Gödel universes spin around an axis determined by geometrical laws that are extensions of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.  Time as we know it, intuitive time, may exist for us, but time from an objective perspective does not.  As a consequence of both the spinning of our entire universe, and of a subset of spinning universes, time disappears.  We have a choice of either a universe or of time, and since the universe exists, time does not.  “For Gödel, if there is time travel, there isn’t time (Yourgrau, Palle, A World Without Time, The Forgotten Legacy of Gödel and Einstein).  Ontologically neutral are both temporal distance—past and future—and spatial distance.

 

Gödel and Einstein were brought together by circumstance.  Both accepted a position at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in the ‘30s when neither could remain in Europe any longer because of Nazism.  Their outsider status also brought them into close proximity and as a 70th birthday present Gödel contributed an original essay that radically extended Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

 

I first read about Kurt Gödel last year (2011) and it caught my eye because I had had a similar idea to his about five years ago.  What if the universe spins? I asked myself, and then a couple of other physicists and scientists.  They had no idea, and had never heard of Gödel’s model.  Then I read about Cooper’s interest in spinning universes and how she queried Arthur Gamow about them.  She went on to develop concepts of dark matter and dark energy from this foundational perspective.  So I pursued the original source and unearthed this fabulous book (above).  Put yourself on my mailing list—I am sending it to all my interested friends as pre-Chanukah presents (or choose your reason to celebrate physics and the mathematics of the iconic Einstein and Kurt Gödel).

 

Einstein finds Gödel’s reasoning entirely reasonable and considered it an extension of his own mathematical understanding of the cosmos.  There is a deep philosophical foundation they shared, most specifically that of the later works of Husserl, the phenomenologist.  Husserl may be one of the most profound influences on my thinking.  I am amazed he was just as influential for Einstein and Gödel.  I am not the one to expound upon the philosophical principles at play here—read the book and get back to me.

 

This is the logic of an outsider, the logician whose Incompleteness Theorem establishes that mathematics cannot completely describe all phenomena.  This is the person who Stephen Hawking failed to take down with his “chronology protection conjecture.”

 

Why do I care whether or not time exists?  Music for me has rested upon a temporal structure.  “Time is the skeleton upon which the flesh of music hangs”  has been my mantra.  I love meter.  Indian ragas consist of tals of different meters and I have written pieces of various meters.  I love playing with tabla players because their training is to improvise within complex meters.  Jazz, too boring with 4/4 and ¾ and 6/8, needs to stretch out.  Free jazz ignores meter at its own risk.  No meter—better beware of boring.  So if time does not exist, time must be imposed upon reality by someone.  We are at the intersection of East and West.  East—no time.  West—time.

 

So, to a logician, which I am not, in a world without time, existing in spacetime, does consciousness impose time?  Is there a “western” consciousness that imposes time?  And does this western consciousness, the father of the scientific method, contain within it the seeds of no time?

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