 |
|
Composition of Trans-Temporal Objects (TTOs) – Six elements of spacetimesource are shown in each TTO’s worldtube. A TTO is simply a compilation of such elements, as they account for the spatial extent of the TTO and the time-identified properties J that define the TTO. That the TTOs are themselves spatially separated means they must share elements of spacetimesource, so they must exchange J (interact). One such element is shown in this figure.
|
My PhD research (1987) was on higher-dimensional general relativistic (GR) cosmology. So, while attending a gathering of local astronomers in 1989, I was asked to explain the meaning of distance as obtained in astronomy textbooks at the time. The standard computation of “distance” in astronomy textbooks at the time was to use Hubble's law,
Hd =
v, where
H is Hubble's constant,
d is distance, and
v is recession velocity (proper time rate of change of proper distance in parlance of GR cosmology). So, this astronomer wanted to know whether the distance obtained was the distance at time of emission (billions of years ago) or the distance at time of reception (today). While finding an answer to his question, I realized the computation used in the astronomy textbooks assumed a globally flat spacetime structure per special relativity (SR), which is of course not consistent with the curved spacetimes of GR's Big Bang cosmology. Specifically, they used the SR Doppler shift equation to obtain
v from
z for large redshift
z. I found and sent him the correct formulae for
v(
z) in the flat, open and closed matter-dominated cases. To his and many others' surprise, this
v could exceed the speed of light
c for observable objects. I published this (and other clarifications of common misconceptions of GR cosmology) in
American Journal of Physics and began a campaign with other cosmologists to correct astronomy textbooks. The highlight of this campaign was probably the article by Lineweaver and Davis, “Misconceptions About the Big Bang” in the March 2005 edition of
Scientific American. Most textbooks have since been corrected.
In 1994, after the last of my series of Am. J. Phys. papers on GR cosmology, I read, "Bringing home the atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody," N.D. Mermin, Am. J. Phys. 49, Oct 1981, 940-943. I was immediately convinced that the conundrum introduced therein was the biggest outstanding issue of physics — at least for someone like me who wanted to teach physics. This area of study is known as "foundations of physics" and has grown quite popular since the turn of the 21st century. Coincidently, Dr. Michael Silberstein joined the E-town faculty in 1994 having just completed his PhD thesis on foundational physics. He and I began a collaboration that produced the Relational Blockworld (RBW) interpretation of quantum physics in 2005. RBW has since provided a candidate for “theory X,” as it's called in the foundations community, for the theory underwriting quantum physics. We have presented and published many papers on RBW and theory X; all my arXiv papers and publications are listed here.
 |
|
Analogy – The property Y is associated with the source J on the spacetimesource element shared by the worldtubes. As a result, property Y disappears from worldtube 1 (Y Source) and reappears later at worldtube 2 (Y detector). While these properties are depicted as residing in the worldtubes, they don’t represent something truly intrinsic to the worldtubes, but are ultimately contextual/relational, i.e., being a Y Source only makes sense in the context of/in relation to a Y detector, and vice-versa.
|
Theory X is an adynamical, background independent approach to quantum gravity and unification whereby the fundamental building blocks of Nature are graphical amalgams of space, time and sources (in the parlance of quantum field theory). The transition amplitude for these building blocks of “spacetimesource” is computed using a path integral with discrete Gaussian graphical action. The unit of action for a spacetimesource block is constructed from a difference matrix K and source vector J on the graph, as in lattice gauge theory. K is constructed from graphical boundary operators so that it contains a non-trivial null space (whence gauge invariance), and J is then restricted to the column space of K which ensures it is distributed in a divergence-free fashion over the spacetime defined by the block. This rule for the construct of K and J results in a self-consistency relationship between the spacetime metric and the stress-energy-momentum content of the block, rather than a dynamical law for time-evolved entities. In its most general form, the set of fundamental building blocks employed by lattice gauge theory contains scalar fields on nodes and links, and vector fields on nodes. To complete the fundamental set (unification per theory X), one adds scalar fields on plaquettes (basis for graviton) and vector fields on links.
My research came full circle when I used theory X to modify Regge calculus and correct proper distance in the Einstein-deSitter cosmology model yielding a fit of the Union2 Compilation supernova data that matches ɅCDM without having to invoke accelerating expansion or dark energy. This is in direct contradiction to the citation for the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics which reads, “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae.” An essay explaining this outcome won Honorable Mention in the Gravity Research Foundation 2012 Awards for Essays on Gravitation and was published in International Journal of Modern Physics D (2012).
