The Giant Noodle
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…suggesting that mass, time, and length can be converted into one another…
PhysOrg.com) -- By suggesting that mass, time, and length can be converted into one another as the universe evolves, Wun-Yi Shu has proposed a new class of cosmological models that may fit observations of the universe better than the current big bang model. What this means specifically is that the new models might explain the increasing acceleration of the universe without relying on a cosmological constant such as dark energy, as well as solve or eliminate other cosmological dilemmas such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem.
Shu, an associate professor at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, explains in a study posted at arXiv.org that the new models emerge from a new perspective of some of the most basic entities: time, space, mass, and length. In his proposal, time and space can be converted into one another, with a varying speed of light as the conversion factor. Mass and length are also interchangeable, with the conversion factor depending on both a varying gravitational “constant” and a varying speed of light (G/c2). Basically, as the universe expands, time is converted into space, and mass is converted into length. As the universe contracts, the opposite occurs.
“We view the speed of light as simply a conversion factor between time and space in spacetime,” Shu writes. “It is simply one of the properties of the spacetime geometry. Since the universe is expanding, we speculate that the conversion factor somehow varies in accordance with the evolution of the universe, hence the speed of light varies with cosmic time.”
As Shu writes in his paper, the newly proposed models have four distinguishing features:
• The speed of light and the gravitational “constant” are not constant, but vary with the evolution of the universe.
• Time has no beginning and no end; i.e., there is neither a big bang nor a big crunch singularity.
• The spatial section of the universe is a 3-sphere [a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere], ruling out the possibility of a flat or hyperboloid geometry.
• The universe experiences phases of both acceleration and deceleration.
CONTINUED: Model describes universe with no big bang, no beginning, and no end
Intresting.
While I lack the specific education to appreciate the mathmatics of such theories, I like to read the general concepts.
I think Relativity does need to be challenged; it has become too much of a Sacred Cow. I'm sure it is no more the be-all end-all of cosmology and physics than Newton was... correct within a certain context, but not correct in ALL contexts.
No, light "slows down" in matter because it takes time to interact with it. In a vacuum the speed of light is constant to all observers.The speed of light isn't constant anymore than the speed of sound.
PhysOrg.com) -- By suggesting that mass, time, and length can be converted into one another as the universe evolves, Wun-Yi Shu has proposed a new class of cosmological models that may fit observations of the universe better than the current big bang model. What this means specifically is that the new models might explain the increasing acceleration of the universe without relying on a cosmological constant such as dark energy, as well as solve or eliminate other cosmological dilemmas such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem.
Shu, an associate professor at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, explains in a study posted at arXiv.org that the new models emerge from a new perspective of some of the most basic entities: time, space, mass, and length. In his proposal, time and space can be converted into one another, with a varying speed of light as the conversion factor. Mass and length are also interchangeable, with the conversion factor depending on both a varying gravitational “constant” and a varying speed of light (G/c2). Basically, as the universe expands, time is converted into space, and mass is converted into length. As the universe contracts, the opposite occurs.
“We view the speed of light as simply a conversion factor between time and space in spacetime,” Shu writes. “It is simply one of the properties of the spacetime geometry. Since the universe is expanding, we speculate that the conversion factor somehow varies in accordance with the evolution of the universe, hence the speed of light varies with cosmic time.”
As Shu writes in his paper, the newly proposed models have four distinguishing features:
• The speed of light and the gravitational “constant” are not constant, but vary with the evolution of the universe.
• Time has no beginning and no end; i.e., there is neither a big bang nor a big crunch singularity.
• The spatial section of the universe is a 3-sphere [a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere], ruling out the possibility of a flat or hyperboloid geometry.
• The universe experiences phases of both acceleration and deceleration.
CONTINUED: Model describes universe with no big bang, no beginning, and no end
Interesting read, but this theory violates one of the fundamentals of physics, namely causality. If this can be proven, it will throw the whole study of physics into chaos.
Yes it is.The speed of light isn't constant anymore than the speed of sound...
Whether light is matter is question of definition. If mass is a defining aspectIt is matter and like all matter light can be affected by other matter, which is all over the place even in "space" though less so...
Relativity is no sacred cow, despite voluminous experimental confirmation,Intresting.
While I lack the specific education to appreciate the mathmatics of such theories, I like to read the general concepts.
I think Relativity does need to be challenged; it has become too much of a Sacred Cow. I'm sure it is no more the be-all end-all of cosmology and physics than Newton was... correct within a certain context, but not correct in ALL contexts.
Interesting read, but this theory violates one of the fundamentals of physics, namely causality. If this can be proven, it will throw the whole study of physics into chaos.
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