Process physics

Process physics is a model of reality that replaces general relativity and unifies it with quantum theory. The limitations of formal information systems discovered by Gödel, Turing and Chaitin, are used to replace the geometric modeling of time constructed by Galileo, Newton and Einstein, and to account for the measurement process in quantum theory.

Reginald Cahill of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia developed process physics using the assumption that reality can be modeled as self-organising semantic information, that is, information that is internally meaningful, using a self-referentially limited neural network model. This system has no prior objects or laws, and evolves using an iterative system. The Process physics model demonstrates that space and quantum physics can be seen as emergent and unified, with time a distinct non-geometric process, that quantum phenomena are caused by fractal topological defects embedded in and forming a growing three-dimensional fractal process-space, which is essentially a quantum foam. Other features of process physics are explanations of inertia, time dilation effects, gravity and the equivalence principle, a growing universe with a cosmological constant, black holes and event horizons, the arrow of time and the 'now' effect and the emergence of classicality .

The founder of process physics, Reginald Cahill, praises Heraclitus of Ephesus, the Greek philosopher, as the first process physicist, who argued that common sense is mistaken in thinking that the world consists of stable 'things', rather the world is in a state of flux and the appearance of 'things' depend upon this flux for their continuity and identity. Process physics has been described as a Heraclitean Process System, with the flux identified with self-referential noise.

Process physics comes together with physics, automata theory, and cognitive science into a holistic area known as generative sciences, towards the unification of all systematic knowledge about the universe and the world.

Modeling process physics

The Universe is rich enough to be self-referencing but Gödel proved that there are true theorems that cannot be deduced for most sets of axioms in mathematics. Chaitin expanded on this and defined random truths as ones that cannot be derived from the axioms of a given formal system. A random truth therefore has no explanation, it just is. Physics suggests that most of the everyday truths of physical reality, like most mathematical truths, also have no explanation. Therefore randomness can be seen as more fundamental than physical objects. Gottfried Leibniz believed that reality was built from things he called monads, which owed their existence solely to their relations with each other.

If you take a 2D matrix representing the strength of connections between pseudo-objects, and then add a little randomness and let the whole mix evolve, structures start forming made of 'trees' of strong connections, and a lot of much weaker links. The trees branch randomly, but if you take one pseudo-object and count its nearest neighbours in the tree, second nearest neighbours, and so on, the numbers go up in proportion to the square of the number of steps away. This is exactly what you would get for points arranged uniformly throughout three-dimensional space. So something like space can assemble itself out of complete randomness. These trees are called gebits because they act like bits of geometry.

Space and dark energy

The connections between pseudo-objects decay over many iterations, but new connections are created faster than old ones decay. Eventually, the number of gebits increases exponentially. Space in this model expands just as it does in our Universe which has been described as dark energy but can be seen as a natural consequence of a growing network. As the expansion of space is formed on a background of random processes, many independent spaces can form. This means that the Universe we inhabit may not be unique and there may be an infinite amount of other Universes, but with essentially the same laws of physics.

Matter

The expanding space is not empty. Topological defects turn up in the forest of connections, pairs of gebits that are far apart by most routes, but have other shorter links. These defects are like matter, as described by the wave functions of quantum theory. This is because they have the property of nonlocality shared by quantum entities. The mysterious phenomenon of quantum measurement can be seen in the model. In observing a quantum system any detector ought to become entangled with the system in a joint quantum state, but it doesn't because the nonlocal entanglements disappear after many iterations, and 3D space reasserts itself.

Mass and inertia

For quantum matter to 'move' in this model the pattern of gebits that make it up must move with respect to the underlying quantum foam which is also made of gebits. It can be seen that matter in motion will have its new links created preferentially in the direction of travel, and this can only occur within the iterations of the reconnecting links, effectively giving a resistance to a change motion. Once in motion the patterns will be self sustaining and appears as matter moving with respect to the quantum foam. Quantum matter exhibits dynamical effects at higher velocities relative to the quantum foam and will manifest itself as Lorentz contraction effects and time dilation as described by special relativity. This then reintroduces the idea of absolute space allowing relativistic effects, which is forbidden in special relativity, but not in process physics.

Gravity

Space in the model can be described as quantum foam and matter as topological defects embedded in it, which are self-replicating and self-sustaining, even though the constituent parts are continuously being replaced. One attribute of quantum matter is that it is effectively a sink for the quantum foam, which is analogous to a flow of the quantum foam into matter. This models the phenomenon of gravity. Quantum matter flows within the quantum foam causing matter to move together. The propagation of light is also effected by this flow. With massive bodies, such as stars, the flow of quantum foam towards the surface of the star is fast enough that it appears to bend the light as it propagates through the quantum foam past the star. This is equivalent to the 'warping' of space predicted by general relativity. If the mass of the body is high enough then the flow will be greater than the propagation of quantum effects and will produce an event horizon. This is Process Physics version of a black hole.

G

G is the gravitational constant introduced by Newton, and first measured by Henry Cavendish. G is one of the least accurately measured constants in physics and the margin of error has actually gone up in recent years. This makes sense in process physics as G is dependent on alpha, the fine structure constant and the distribution of matter, and is not really a constant.

Dark matter

The rotation velocity of spiral galaxies is too high according to the inverse square law of gravity discovered by Newton. Dark matter has been used to explain this discrepancy by adding more mass to the galaxy than can be seen but so far the nature of this dark matter is unknown. With Process Physics, gravity is seen as a flow of quantum foam into matter rather than a force and the distribution of the matter is important to this flow. In a spherically symmetrical distribution of matter such as the solar system with most of its matter centered on the Sun, the drop off of gravity with distance is equivalent to the inverse square law but in a highly non-spherical distribution such as a spiral galaxy then the drop off of gravity would become almost linear nearer the edge. This therefore does not need extra dark matter to explain the high rotation of the edges of spiral galaxies. It is interesting to note that elliptical galaxies, which have a more spherical distribution of matter, appear to have little dark matter and it has been speculated that a large amount of dark matter is necessary to create spiral galaxies, but in process physics the shape of the galaxy determines its 'dark matter' content.

Other gravitational anomalies (to be expanded)

Other gravitational effects that are not explained by Newton or Einstein are, bore hole anomalies, precision of pendulums during eclipses, the paths of Pioneer 10 and 11 etc.

Absolute Space and Motion

Michelson and Morley's infamous experiment of 1887 to detect the passage of the Earth through the luminescent aether may have failed not due to the non-detection of absolute motion but because of a flawed analysis of the data using the prevailing theories of physics. It can be seen clearly in the data that there are fringe shifts even though they are of a much smaller magnitude than predicted using Newtonian physics. The small magnitude of the fringe shifts was put down to experimental error and the results reported as a null effect. This was then used as a basis for Einstein's theory of special relativity which assumed that absolute motion was not meaningful. This has perpetuated in physics for the last 100 years and now absolute motion is a controversial subject even though many other experiments seem to have detected absolute motion including Miller's interferometer experiments of 1925 and DeWitte's coaxial cable experiments of 1991, which also agree with the direction and magnitude of the speed of Earth relative to space using very different methods. Relativistic effects can be seen to be produced by Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction caused by the dynamic nature of process physics rather than by special relativity.

Interferometer experiments only seem to detect absolute motion in the presence of a gas and not in a vacuum. Most interferometer experiments are conducted in a vacuum and very low temperature to reduce the effect of temperature. There seems to be something special about having a gas, such as air, present in the interferometer to detect absolute motion, maybe due to the lack of change of refractive index of a gas due to contraction. An interferometer using a transparent solid such as glass as its medium also fails to sho fringe shifts maybe due to its refractive index changing due to Lorentz contraction of the glass which cancels the effect out.

Gravity probe B

Gravity Probe B is a gyroscope precession satellite experiment. This is designed to test general relativity by measuring the Lense-Thirring effect on the precession of gyroscopes to a very high accuracy. Process physics predicts the probe will also have the absolute motion component apparent in the data.

External links

Process Physics