Whybringbacktheaether?

RobertClose (robert.close@classicalmatter.org) Firstofall,letsbeclearthatbythetermaether(sometimesconfusinglyspelledas ether),wedonotmeananewformofmatter.Rather,theaetherissimplyanother nameforthevacuumorspacewhichisassumednottobeemptyorvoidbutto havephysicalpropertiesthatenabletheexistenceofmatteranddetermineits physicalproperties. Themotivationforconsideringtheexistenceofanaethermaybesummedupinone simplequestion: WhyistheequationforwavesonastringLorentzcovariant? TheanswerobviouslydoesnotbeginwithEinsteinspostulatethatdifferently movingobserversmeasureasingle,constantspeedofwavesonastring(orlightin avacuum).Yettheonlytheoreticalrestrictionimposedbythespecialtheoryof relativityisthatequationsofmatterbeLorentzcovariant.Soanyonelookingfora theoryofmattershouldask,HowcanIderiveaLorentzcovarianttheory?or WheredoLorentzcovarianttheoriescomefrom?Theobviousansweristhat LorentzcovarianceisapropertyofwavesinGalileanspacetime,withthekey propertybeingalinearrelationshipbetweenthecurvature(orLaplacian)andthe secondtimederivativeofafielddescribingtheperturbation. Asfarasspecialrelativitygoes,aninterpretationofmatteraswavesinadeformable mediumoffersanexplanationforEinsteinspostulate:differentlymovingobservers mustusewavestomaketheirmeasurements.Sincethesewavespropagateatthe samespeedaslight,itisimpossibletomakeanindependentmeasurementofthe actualspeedoflight.Inotherwords,allmeasurementsoflengthareequivalentto measuringlightpropagationtime,andthespeedoflightisreducedtoaconversion factorbetweentheunitsoftimeandlength.Thisfactisacknowledgedbythe moderndefinitionofthemeterasthedistancelighttravelsin(1/c)seconds.Hence withaethertheory,specialrelativityisaderivedpropertyofmeasurementsrather thananaposterioriprincipleinventedtoexplainexperimentalobservations. Ofcourse,thereismoretophysicsthanspecialrelativity.Asuccessfultheoryof mattermustalsoexplainthequantumbehaviorofparticlesandgravity.Gravityis easilyunderstoodintermsofanaether,sincegeneralrelativityattributesphysical properties(suchascurvature)toemptyspace.Manyauthorshaveinterpreted gravityasbeingequivalenttowaverefractioninavariablemedium.Einstein himselfwrote,Accordingtothegeneraltheoryofrelativity,spacewithoutetheris unthinkable.

Themainshortcomingofaethertheoryhasbeenthelackofamechanistic explanationofquantummechanics.Withthestatisticalsuccessesofsuccessive quantumtheories,physicistshavealmostcompletelyabandonedattemptsto formulateamechanistictheoryforthebehaviorofmatter.Yettheabsenceofa mechanistictheoryonlymeansthatsuchatheoryhasnotbeenfound(asCarlSagan oncesaid,lackofproofisnotproofoflack).Thereisnoreasontothinkthatsucha theoryisnotpossible.Indeed,recentdevelopmentsofferpromisethatsuchatheory maybeimminent. Booksonquantummechanicsoftenpointoutthatthetheoryexplainsphenomena thathadnotpreviouslybeenexplainedbyclassicalphysics.Thisistrue.Butone shouldaskwhyclassicalphysicsfailedtoexplainthesephenomena.Wasitbecause classicalmodelsareintrinsicallyillsuitedtodescribingnature?Orwasitbecause realisticclassicalmodelsweretoocomplicatedforphysiciststoanalyze? Thehistoricalevidencepointstothelatterexplanation.Theearliestconceptionof theaetherconsistentwiththebehavioroflightwaveswasThomasYoungs observationthatlightseemedtobehaveliketransversewavesinanelasticsolid. Thistheorywassuccessfullyappliedtothestudyoflightbyahostofnowfamous 19thcenturyscientists,withcontributionsfromBoussinesq,Cauchy,Fresnel,Green, MacCullagh,Navier,Stokes,Rayleigh,Riemann,Thompson(LordKelvin),andothers (Maxwellusedamorecomplicatedaethermodeltoderivetheequationsof electromagnetism).Yetinspiteoftheelasticsolidsconceptualsimplicity,andthe extensiveeffortspentanalyzingit,noexactdescriptionofitsphysicalbehavior couldbeproduced.ThereasonforthisfailureisthenonAbeliannatureoffinite rotations.Nineteenthcenturyscientistsdidnothavethemathematicaltoolsneeded todescribearbitraryvariationsoforientation,andevenmoderncondensedmatter theoristshaveshiedawayfromtheattempt(Kleinert1989). Today,themathematicsofrotationsiswellunderstoodforquantummechanical systems.Thisfactmakesitreasonabletosupposethatrotationsinclassicalelastic solidsmightalsobedescribedbysimilarmathematics,therebyremovingthemain barriertosuccessfulanalysisofclassicalaethermodels.Understandingofsuch classicalsystemsisalsorelevanttootherfieldssuchasmechanicalengineeringand materialsscience.Othertheoriesofelementaryparticlesarenotlikelytohavebroad applicationtomacroscopicsystems. Onelastquestioniswhetherornotasuccessfulaethertheorywouldbean improvementovertheStandardModelofparticlephysics.Theanswerisclearly yes.SincetheStandardModelwasbuiltbydeconstructingexperimentaldata,it reliesontwentyormoreempiricalconstantsthathavedefiedanyunifying explanation.Anaethertheory,ifsuccessful,wouldprovideaderivationofall physicalparametersfromasfewasthreefundamentalconstants.Inthecaseofan idealelasticsolidaether,thesewouldbe,e.g.,inertialdensity,bulkmodulus,and shearmodulus.

Theabovediscussionexplainsthemotivationsforresearchintoaethermodelsof theuniverse.Thisresearchhasledtosomerecentsuccesses,whichmayprovide furtherinspiration: 1.Interpretationofthegaugestructureofthestandardmodelintermsofmotionin alatticeofelasticcells(Schmeltzer2009). 2.Derivationofquantummechanicalenergy,momentum,angularmomentum,and correlationoperatorsassociatedwithrotationalsolitonwavesinanelasticsolid (Close2010a). 3.Explanationofspatialreflectionintermsofknownparticlesusinganew geometrybasedparityoperator(Close2010b). References: R.A.Close(2010a)ExactDescriptionofRotationalWavesinanElasticSolid, AdvancesinAppliedCliffordAlgebras,tobepublished. R.A.Close(2010b)TheMirrorSymmetryofMatterandAntimatter,Advancesin AppliedCliffordAlgebras,tobepublished,2010. H.Kleinert(1989)GuageFieldsinCondensedMatter,Vol.IIStressesandDefects (Singapore:WorldScientific)p.1270. I.Schmelzer(2009)AcondensedmatterinterpretationofSMfermionsandgauge fields,FoundationsofPhysics,vol.39,nr.1,p.73.