Science, Physics, Relativity, Faq's and Feedback

Historical Overview #5

Roughly 21 years ago I started with "My Homepage" and again it is time to give an overview of what I have done.

Contents


1. Understanding the Universe from a phylosophical point of view

One of the major chalanges of mankind is to try to understand the processes that take place in the Universe. Understanding means that we can describe these processes as accurate as possible, specific how these processes evolve in time.
The inflation theory is used as mean to explain the uniformity of the Universe. In order to understand this theory you have to describe the processes involved during the whole period that there was inflation. See for more detail: 2. Inflation theory

When you want to describe the physical processes that take place in the Universe you should start from the view point of the processes themself and not a human based view point. General speaking the evolution of physical processes are completely indepedent from human observations and behaviour, except
As such, physical speaking, a black hole is not a hole but a star (a very compressed star) and you should call it a black star. This is a much better name because it emphasizes that it does not emit light to the outside world. Also we should not speak about dark matter but always about baryonic and non baryonic matter. As such a black star is a very dense star, much denser than our Sun, but both made from baryonic matter. A black star like any star has a finite mass. From a physical point of view a black star has no singularity, there is no infinity.

The Universe is not static but dynamic, that means the whole Universe changes constantly, caused by the same processes which make up the Universe and which influence each other through space. The most important concept to study the evolution of the universe is what we call the state of the universe. The position of all the objects in the universe is part of the state of the universe. Also specific events, like a collision between two objects belongs to the state of the universe. The complete state of the universe is like a data base of facts which describes the whole universe at a specific moment. It is this state that changes continuously.

We humans have a memory (which is part of our brains) and in our memory we can store different physical images of what we observe. Each of these images show a part of the state of the universe. Our human capability is to compare these images and as such we humans realize that the universe evolves. We humans also realize that there is a now, a past and a future. The now is what we actual see, the past is what we have seen, and the future is what we are going to see.
The problem is that in reality there is no past and future. The only thing that exists is the physical reality, now, at present.

One of the most important concepts we humans what to understand of the universe is the movement of the objects through space.
One of the first things we have to do is to define a reference frame for the whole of the universe. This reference frame includes our solar system and our galaxy the milky way.
A different thing to realize is that we humans use light to make observations, but that the behavior light (which consists of photons) is a physical processes and is influenced by the same objects we try to understand. As such the path of photons is not straight but bended and the speed is also not constant.

As already set before starting point of our understanding should be the physical behaviour of the processes themself. When we study the movement of the stars in the universe their behaviour is controlled by the forces between the objects now, at present. These forces do not act instantaneous but are delayed by the speed of gravity which is a free parameter. Within this context there is no necessity for light or photons.

We humans in some sense are the center of the universe. The problem is that the only thing we are able to change are the conditions on earth, by our actions, good or bad. To perform these changes energy is needed in the form of fuel, but the influence of light is minimal except in order to make observations. One exception is a watch for time keeping which can be based on light signals.
The Sun is important because it is the primary source to make the conditions on earth as such that life is possible. At the same time it is also the primary day by day source of energy in the form of sun light. For the rest light in general is of no importance. Light (photons) can not be used to explain the movement of the planets around the sun. The primary reason to explain the movement of the planets is by introducing the concept of forces. These attractive forces act between all objects and are mediated by means of gravitons.
Here it is also important to remark that gravitons and photons behave rather different. Gravitons can travel through objects but photons can not. In that sense gravitons travel in straight lines but photons not. The path of photons is bended around an object. In that context it only makes sense to claim that space is bended when photons are considered but not when gravitons are discussed.
We are discussing here the movements of objects. Two important concepts to investigate are absolute versus relative. Newton's view started that the world, the universe is absolute. The problem is what does this mean.
IMO this means that there exists something globally 'everywhere' now. This something are objects. Within this reasoning there is only one reference frame, in which all the objects considered have a position and speed. Length contraction is not considered. Clocks are considered fixed (at rest) to this frame each with the same universal time and moving clocks run slower.
Within this frame the light of an explosion will propagate as a sphere. If this explosion is caused by a moving object this object will not stay in the center of this sphere.

Compared to this absolute world view there is also a relative world view. In this relative view each object is at rest in its own reference frame. A center of the earth based and a sun centered reference frame are two examples.
An observer on earth is also at rest in such a frame. The problem is that the earth rotates implying that at each instant the observer is in a different reference frame, which makes this concept rather tricky. An explosion near the observer is supposed to propagate in a sphere, centered around the observer. That means this sphere grows in two opposite directions (within this frame) with the same speed c. Within this frame there can be a second moving observer with a constant speed v. The question is what is this speed v relative to the speed c (based on observations). This is also a very difficult subject.

See also 4. Absolute versus Relative

One of the issues understanding the Universe is the concept of simultaneity. What happens simultaneous.
Using a absolute world view this is rather simple because all the events that happen now are happening simultaneous. Using the fixed clocks in the reference frame this can rather easily be established.
Using relative reference frames this is much more complex. Two events that are simultaneous for an observer (at rest) on a platform are most probably not simultaneous for an observer (at rest) in a moving train. The solution is to introduce fixed clocks in each reference frame. This raises an additional issue because moving clocks run slower and this are the clocks in the other reference system, which IMO is physical impossible to be true.

2. Inflation theory

The inflation theory is a famous case of a physical, albeit very complex, process. The inflation theory is used to explain the uniformity of the Universe and as the name implies means that the universe expanded. The point is to describe the processes involved in detail.
Direct after the Big Bang you can distinquish three periods: A very small period with slow expansion, a short period with rapid expansion and a period again with slow expansion untill the present. The period with rapid expansion is called the inflation period,
In between the first period and the inflation period there was acceleration and in between the inflation period and the final slow expansion period there was deceleration. These three periods also define four events: Startpoint of acceleration, endpoint of accelaration, startpoint of deceleration and finally endpoint of deceleration. I leave the question open if this are truely events, at least something special must have happened.
The physical related question is: What caused each these four events. The problem is, and that makes this so tricky, each event must happened throughout the (entire) existing universe simulataneous.
The problem is that if this assumption is true than the universe, at each of the events, must have be rather homogeneous, implying that the same physical conditions existed everywhere before and after.

3. Quantum Mechanics

To explain the microscopic world, also called the quantum world, is also largely based on human interpretations. There is nothing wrong with the elements of the periodic table or with the standard model. The problem comes with the concepts like the Schrödinger cat which claims that the cat can be both live and dead. Specific be both live and dead before I look inside the box. When I step inside (and I become part of the box) and look, then when I sea that the cat is dead than the cat is considered dead. But for you who did not look inside the box the cat is still both live and dead. IMO this does not make sense specific because the whole experiment is based on the half life time of a radio active element, which can be established by repeated experiments.
The central issue is that we humans can only make measurements at a certain level of accuracy, while the true values at every instant are completely out of reach. The smaller the scales the more difficult.
The uncertainty principle tries to address this issue, i.e. the human limitation to make observations. The theory by itself is not a physical law and cannot be used as a claim that uncertainty is a physical reality of the processes we try to understand.

4. Absolute versus Relative

The advantage of an absolute system is that it is physical based. One global reference frame for the whole of the Universe. It is also rather simple. Light only plays a minor role in this system.
The problem with a Relative reference frame is that in some sense it is local and human based. Light plays a large role in this system because to go from one frame to an other the speed of light is involved.

The General Relativity Theory is based on this concept. The problem is that performing simulations using GR (not simplyfied) is very complex and almost impossible.

5. True versus False

Is Newton's Law true or false? Is General Relativity true or false?
Maybe the answer is for both: only partly.
The problem is that the laws of nature, which are (mathematical) descriptions of the physical reality, should be as close as possible describe the physical processes involved.
Newton's Law describes the behaviour of objects and is based on physical forces. Newton's Law assumes that these forces act instantaneous which is not true.
To solve that the concept of gravitons is introduced which are packages of energy or information which are transmitted continuously from the sun and which allows the earth to home in on the sun. Our earth does the same. This same concept describes the behaviour of gravitational waves which are the same packages of energy transmitted from two rotating objects. In this case black stars. Specific I use the concept "packages of energy", because that is exactly what it is. Photons also can be called "packages of energy", but there is a physical difference between the two. Gravitons are not hindered in their path towards us by intervening objects. Photons are.

General Relativity and Special Relativity are very complex theories. The problem is that they are largely based on the speed of light. The problem is that the behaviour of objects including gravitons has nothing to do with the behaviour of photons and the speed of light. This behaviour only depents on photons when you want to observe the objects and when you want to compare the predictions of a simulation with the actual reality.

A description of the universe depents very much on three concept: To have one reference frame for the whole. To consider the concept Now (or present) and to have one fixed clock. All the events that happen Now we call simultaneous. Events is a very broad concept including the speed and positions of all the objects considered including gravitons and photons. One fixed clock has the advantage to monitor the position of objects through space (at regural intervals). Simulations are also based on such a fixed clock.
The strategy is to save the positions of all the objects considerd in an array. This allows one to trace backwards the retarded position of the object based on the distance between the objects and speed of gravity. The retarded position is the position which transmitted gravitons in the past which we observed now. It is the direction and the retarded distance in the past which describes the actual force we observe now.

A whole different question is: is what I write true or false?
IMO using Newton's Law and making some corrections it is rather simple to perform a simulation of the planets around the Sun, including the behaviour of the planet Mercury.
Using GR in all its glory is extremely difficult. A simulation with only Mercury and the Sun is very complex. Including all the planets is impossible?


Created: 31 May 2017

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