INTRODUCTION TO THE PAPERS
(revised June, 2014)
JOHN A. GOWAN
email:
jag8@cornell.edu
johngowan@earthlink.net
home page (page 1)
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Abstract
Because the papers themselves can be difficult for the uninitiated, in spite of my efforts to make them simple and clear, I have written a series of introductory papers intended as a guide to assist the interested reader in working through them. I will try to bring out the main points of the paper, its relation to the remaining body of work, and perhaps make a few comments on its history and structure. There is almost no mathematics in these papers; for the most part, the papers deal only with conservation principles, although of course I make reference to the mathematical theories which provide the formal basis for the conceptual synthesis of this work (Noether's theorem, Einstein's "Interval" and energy relations (Special and General theories), Galois "Symmetry Groups", the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics, etc.).
The theory presented is a "Unified Field Theory" or "Theory of Everything" (which I refer to as the "Tetrahedron Model") and is embedded in the universal context of a 4x3 General Systems model. The model is thereby given a general significance far beyond the unification of the "four forces of physics", extending into biology and the origin of life, for example - even touching upon religious or "spiritual" human experience.The symmetry-conserving requirement of charge invariance (and of "Lorentz invariance" in Special Relativity) is the key to understanding the local action of the forces, including the quantization of charge and other conserved parameters. In the mathematical terms of Evariste Galois' "Group Theory", the "Tetrahedron Model" is a description of the symmetry group of light, including its destruction by asymmetric weak force decays (producing our matter-only Cosmos), and its on-going restoration in obedience to Noether's Theorem of symmetry conservation (as seen for one example in the conversion of bound to free energy in stars). A simple principle unifying the forces is drawn from Noether's Theorem: the charges of matter are symmetry debts of light.
TranslationsThis paper has been translated into Hungarian by Elana Pavlet. 26 May, 2016. Many thanks, Elana! (http://sc-journal.com/bevezeto-a-papirokat/)
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Columns
Rows
The Unified Matrix
Connections Between the "Tetrahedron Model" and the "Standard Model"
Links and References
Section I: Unification
Theory - "Scientific" Section
(See also: Section 9: "Symmetry:
Noether's Theorem and Einstein's Interval";
Section 10: "Conservation";
Section 13: "The
Sun Archetype")
This is the "flagship" paper of the
"scientific" unification section. It is
one of my oldest papers and consequently has
been reworked many times. The first version was
written about 1982. When I revise a paper, I
generally throw away the old version.
Eventually, I often do not know either when the
first version of a paper was written, or what
was in it. This is also one of the longest
papers, as I try to say something about
everything. An earlier version of this paper was
submitted to the Archives of Physics on 4 July
2000 (and has been updated several times since -
the website version has been revised many more
times).
See:
The first thing to note about this paper is its peculiar organizational format; it is written in sections which correspond to the rows and columns of a 4x4 table of "Forces and Energy States". Hence it is a good idea to look at the table and actually print it out for ready reference while reading this paper. This 4x4 "matrix" or "tabular" form of the theory is its earliest form, and remains particularly useful for organizing and sorting out the detail of the theory. In some ways it is like the Periodic Table of the Elements in its organizing function, and like that classical table, the very act of organizing the data in a nontrivial manner carries with it a certain degree of information and explanatory power. In this regard it is important to note that the tabular sequence of horizontal rows of forces and vertical columns of energy states follows a purposeful order.
The four forces of physics head the vertical columns of the table. The first force is the Electromagnetic Force, the primary energy form and force of our Universe. In second place are the dimensional forces of spacetime - Gravitation and Inertia. The logic here is that free electromagnetic energy (which I often refer to as simply "light") actually creates spacetime (as an energy-conserving metric or regulatory domain) by its intrinsic (entropic) motion. Moreover, as a matter of General Systems organizational principle, I wish to keep the long-range "spacetime" force pair separate from the short-range "particle" force pair. Finally, this is an energetically balanced positive-negative force pair - the negative gravitational energy balancing the positive electromagnetic energy of the primordial universe. The third force is the strong force, the primary source of quarks and most massive forms of bound energy. Here we envision the creation of symmetric pairs of particles and antiparticles by the interaction of highly energetic light with the metric structure of spacetime (and all the other forces), in the very early moments of the "Big Bang". The fourth force is the weak force, responsible for breaking the symmetry of the particle-antiparticle pairs formed in column three, and by this action plunging the Universe into the asymmetric state of matter, time, and charge we are all familiar with. (The actual mechanism of particle formation and symmetry-breaking remains unknown, but possibly involves the "Higgs" boson, "leptoquarks", and the "X" Intermediate Vector Boson.) (See: "The Particle Table"; and: "The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs"; and: "The Origin of Matter and Information".)
Hence the columns of the table tell the story
of creation in terms of the sequential action of
the four forces. These forces are moreover
organized in two pairs: 1) the long-range or "spacetime
forces", electromagnetism and gravitation;
2) the short-range or "particle
forces", the strong and weak forces of
atomic matter. Whereas the long-range,
spacetime, or "metric" force pair is relatively
simple, the short-range particle pair of atomic
matter is very complex.
The four horizontal rows of the table are likewise ordered in a purposeful sequence, consisting of four states of energy. The first row represents free energy (light) as expressed in the various modes of the 4 forces (see above). The second row is bound energy, "mass-matter", derived from the symmetry-breaking action of the weak force in cell 4 of row 1, again as expressed in various modes appropriate to the 4 forces. Row 2 therefore represents the conservation of the raw energy of row 1 in terms of the mass and momentum of particulate and atomic matter. Row 3 represents "charge"; these are the charges appropriate to each of the 4 forces as carried by the massive particles of row 2. These charges represent the symmetry debts of light, and are conservation consequences of the breaking of the symmetric energy state of light by the weak force in row 1, a conservation required by "Noether's Theorem". Hence row 3 represents symmetry conservation (via charge conservation and inertial forces) while row 2 represents raw energy conservation (via mass and momentum). Row 4 represents the "forces" generated by the charges of row 3 as they act to return the material system to its original symmetric state of light, fulfilling Noether's symmetry conservation theorem (and hence "paying" (discharging) the symmetry debts represented by their conserved charges). Row 4 therefore repeats row 1 (in terms of forces), but whereas in row 1 we see the forces in their creative modes (producing matter), in row 4 we see the same forces in their destructive modes, annihilating and returning matter to its original and more symmetric form, light. Hence the table represents a completed conservation cycle, beginning and ending with a perfectly symmetric energy form, light.
To reprise the vertical sequence of rows: symmetric high-energy light interacts with a spatial conservation metric (of its own creation), producing symmetric particle-antiparticle pairs whose symmetry is broken by the weak force during the early moments of the "Big Bang" (this is the original wave-particle duality of light, expressing the potential of electromagnetic energy to exist in two related forms, light and matter, or free and bound forms of electromagnetic energy: hv = mcc). These particles (quarks and leptons) conserve the raw energy of light in their mass and momentum, and in addition bear conserved charges - charges which generate forces acting to return the asymmetric material system to its original symmetric massless state (light). The forces therefore exist to pay the symmetry debts of free energy represented by the conserved charges of matter, in obedience to "Noether's Theorem": charge conservation = symmetry conservation. The charges of matter are the symmetry debts of light. The invariance of charge, as required by charge and symmetry conservation, is the key to understanding the "local" compensating activities of the forces ("local gauge symmetry currents") - magnetism, time, quark confinement, IVB mass, etc.). The four final energy states are described in terms of the actions (produced by the field vectors) of each of the 4 forces. In cybernetic terms, the rows are ordered as "input" (energy, row 1), "thruput" (conservation of raw energy and symmetry, rows 2 and 3), and "output" (system resolution and symmetry debt repayments, row 4).
The 4x4 matrix is a "well ordered" system representation (in the sense of ordered data sets such as the Periodic Table of the Elements), which tells the story of the creation of matter horizontally, and the return of matter to its symmetric origin in light, vertically. The matrix essentially plots the various symmetry debts of light (horizontally) against the conservation modes of light (vertically) - it is a "light crystal" telling the story of the devolution, evolution, and restitution of free energy in the Cosmos. This is why the 4x4 matrix is such a special and valuable form, why it is ordered in this particular way, and why it can give us so much information.
The program of unification consists of the identification of light's symmetry debts as held by matter in the form of conserved charges - one charge and symmetry debt corresponding to each of the four forces. Each charge is identified in terms of a specific broken symmetry of light which it represents, carries, and conserves. Unification subsists in tracing all the forces back to their common origin as (broken) symmetries of light (including gravity).
The unification of the forces, however, is not
the whole story of the Cosmos, nor indeed, of
unification. In addition to the four forces,
there is a deeper layer of conservation law
which regulates and orchestrates the activity of
the forces within an evolving universe. Four
major conservation principles and their
corollaries relating the forces to each other
and governing their activity are discussed in
this and other papers. These four principles
are: 1) The Conservation of Energy; 2) The
Conservation of Symmetry; 3) Entropy; 4)
Causality-Information (the Law of Cause and
Effect - "Karma" - which by implication includes
"Information"). The interrelationship of these 4
conservation principles and corollaries
constitutes a further expression of unification,
at a level of abstraction, generality, and
significance anterior to the four forces, and is
extensively discussed in the section on the Tetrahedron Models
of the conservation laws of energy. (
See also: "The
Tetrahedron Model".)
Finally, any unification model must address
the phenomenon of life and the evolution of
biological information systems. To this
end the overall 4x4 form of the force
unification table is specifically
directed: this form is part and parcel of the
fractal series of forces and energy states which
make up our Universe, as discussed in the
section on the "Fractal
Organization of Nature". Hence the force
unification table, by virtue of its
carefully ordered 4x4 fractal form, is embedded
in the organizational structure and dynamic of
the wider Universe, indeed forming the base of
the fractal series as the "prime iteration" and
motivator of the cosmic fractal algorithm, the
fundamental note, frequency, or vibration of a
resonant universal harmonic, a distinction which
confirms our expectation for the essential role
of the Unified Field Theory. As the Periodic
Table of the Elements forms the base of the
Information parameter of the Cosmos, so the
Unified Table of the Forces forms the base of
the dynamic system of the universe. Together
they will produce and direct the evolution of
the Cosmos, including the emergence of life -
the rationale for the existence of our universe.
Connections Between the "Tetrahedron Model" and the "Standard Model"
I see now (after 34 years' work) that most of my effort toward unification has been concentrated on the "rebound" or evolutionary phase of the Universe, as we find it today, driven by gravitation, entropy, symmetry conservation, and biological evolution, simultaneously building complex structures while returning asymmetric matter to its original symmetric energy state, light. Conversely, most of the effort of the physics "establishment" toward unification has been concentrated on the "cascade" or devolutionary phase of the Universe, the stepwise descent from the perfect symmetry of the Multiverse and Planck scale unity, as the forces decoupled from one another in an entropy-driven rush toward our familiar electromagnetic "ground" state. The electromagnetic "ground" state is the common domain from which both unification efforts began, but I worked my way forward in time toward the ultimate macroscopic symmetry of the "Big Crunch", while the "establishment" worked backward in time toward the ultimate microscopic symmetry of the "Big Bang". My symmetries are (mostly) conceptual, involving the long-range forces and the macro-world, theirs are (mostly) mathematical, involving the short-range forces and the micro-world. It is also true that "I saw the forest while they saw the trees", and that symmetries (and therefore conservation laws) recognized from one perspective went unnoticed from the other. In this exchange I had the advantage, since I read their work, but they did not read mine. Nevertheless, the two systems are neatly joined by the synthetic power of General Systems, both expressed in a 4x3 and 4x4 matrix format. (See: The 'Tetrahedron Model' vs the 'Standard Model' of Physics: A Comparison".)
I explore the General System form of the micro-world, the "Big Bang", and the full energy spectrum of the weak force in the "Higgs Cascade" papers. The macro-world is modeled in a General Systems format in such papers as "The Information Pathway", "The Fractal Organization of Nature", and "Nature's Fractal Pathway". Humanity's role in all this is considered in "The Human Connection". The general principles of physical law which underlie all our unification models, whether conceptual, mathematical, macro, or micro, are explored (also in a General Systems format) in the papers "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory" and "A Tetrahedron Model". The interaction between "non-local" light and "local" matter is considered in the "Global vs Local Gauge Symmetry" series of papers, which also suggest connections between my work and "establishment" unification models (through the common theme of charge invariance and "local gauge symmetry currents"). The joining of both micro- and macro-unification models within a common General Systems 4x4 format illustrates once again the synthetic power of General Systems, as well as the great value of looking at a common problem from more than one perspective.
One must finally ask: Why bother with an "alternative" unified field theory? - why not simply let "establishment science" figure it all out with their giant machines, government funding, complex math, and thousands of professional scientists? Well, for one thing, despite all the heavy artillery, they haven't yet managed to incorporate gravity into their synthesis, so there is a gap in either understanding, method, or both needing to be filled; for another, the general public will never be able to understand the final form of their heavy-math synthesis, whereas anyone who can read English and has a high-school understanding of general science and physics should be able to fully comprehend my work. A third reason is that the establishment's "Standard Model" of physics has nothing whatsoever to say about the human condition - and only a tangential connection, through chemistry, to the biological sciences. In my own work, this issue is addressed by an appeal to the methods of General Systems, in which the unified field theory is embedded within the wider domain of information, biology, and the fractal organization of Nature and Natural Law.
I should say at once, however, that we all owe "establishment" science and its practitioners and mathematicians an enormous debt of gratitude for the work they have done to bring us to our current level of understanding. Because of their great work, which properly began with Galileo, we are now in a position to understand the unified field theory from the perspective of conservation law alone, without having to understand the details of the math - just as the efforts of generations of automotive engineers have enabled us to drive our cars without having to understand the details of how they actually work. In an important sense, the hard work of the experimental and theoretical scientists has allowed us to return to a more intuitive understanding of the Cosmos, but one achieved through the general principles of the conservation laws which they have discovered and established. Often enough, we find these same conservation principles have ancient analogs in the traditional symbology of myth and religion.
I remain convinced that the Cosmos, despite its apparent complexity, is simply motivated and can be simply explained, at least in its major features, in terms of a few conservation laws and adjunct principles. It is therefore to the general public that this work is dedicated - that we may all share in a better understanding of the beautiful, mysterious, and majestic Universe we inhabit.
Links:
home
page (page 1)
home
page (page 2)
E-Book
email:
jag8@cornell.edu
johngowan@earthlink.net
References
Related
Papers: