BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

4-5 March 2010

Laurent Nottale
CNRS LUTH, Paris-Meudon Observatory

http://www.luth.obspm.fr/~luthier/nottale/

Buddhist philosophy: Emptiness (shunyata) All phenomena are empty of intrinsic existence; their mode of being is always relative, interdependent, never absolute Western science: Relativity Physical quantities like position, orientation, motion (speed, acceleration), scale (resolution), cannot be defined in an absolute way, but only relatively to the coordinate system.

> same principle ?

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Prajnaparamita sutra: Form is empty, emptiness is form

Theories of relativity: Bruno ~~1590: relativity of position Galileo 1600: relativity of inertial motion and orientation Einstein Poincar 1905: relativity of inertial motion (generalization to high speeds), relativity of space and time Einstein 1916: general relativity of motion (accelerated), of gravitation, of geometry (curved), of space-time Modern attempt (1980-2010): relativity of scales, of geometry (fractal) > of quantum objects + gauge fields
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Galileo, 1630 (Dialogo): relativity of (inertial) motion for all things that take part equally in it, it does not act, it is as if it were not; [...] the motion is as nothing. Let us therefore set as a principle that, whatever be the motion that one attributes to the Earth, it is necessary that, for us who [...] partake of it, it remains perfectly imperceptible and as not being. Nagarjuna (~0-200) (Philosophy of the Middle Way) The agent of motion does not move Motion, its beginning and its cessation are analogous to motion The agent of motion, motion, and the place of motion do not exist (according to their proper nature)
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Form is empty
Buddhism: form (first of five aggregates = physical aggregate): not only geometry, but all physical properties (are empty of proper existence). Science: -position (translation in space and time) and therefore energy (derived from time uniformity) and momentum (derived from space uniformity); then color (energy of electromagnetic wave = light) -orientation (rotation in space) and therefore angular momentum (derived from space isotropy) -motion : inertial (rectilinear)> kinetic energy; accelerated > gravitation / geometry But: what about elementary particle quantum properties (mass, spin, charges) ? > new suggestion: originate from relativity of scales
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Example: Galileos boat

Impossibility of detecting by a local experiment the existence of an inertial motion (rectilinear uniform at constant speed)
Motion is only relative, between the boat and the Earth. Absolute motion, in itself, has no meaning. Motion or rest are not properties intrinsic to Earth or boat. They are not ascribable to a single object, but characterize couples of objects. There is no individual motion in itself, but only inter-motion. Other well-known example: two trains in a station, which one moves, which one is at rest ? 6

Example: Newtons and Einsteins views about gravitation and geometry

NEWTON : apple falls then moon falls !

EINSTEIN : moon doesnt fall then apple doesnt fall !

In both case, use of relativity principle: change of reference system, non absoluteness of statement (falling, not falling) in dependance of the choice of reference system (for the same motion)
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Einstein 1907: an observer in free fall does not feel any longer his own weight (> equivalence principle) In the reference system involved with the movement (locally): no force, no field, no acceleration, no gravitation > relativity-emptiness of gravitational field no form: the parabolic trajectory seen from Earth becomes a point at rest or a straight line > relativityemptiness of geometry

Curved space-time: trajectory = geodesic

Other example: banked bicycle race ring. Form (circle motion) seen by spectators does not exist for cyclists (straight motion: they do not turn their handlebar).
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Emptiness is form
More mysterious statement ? But : *implemented by Einsteins general relativity methods *generalized to scale relativity i.e., -in relativity theories, the principle of relativity is not only a universal truth, but it also yields a method for finding the laws of nature -it is the emptiness aspect of the principle which provides this universal tool
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The relativity-emptiness method for constructing laws of nature:

- Things, objects, properties, etc have no proper existence. They appear in some manner in a reference system, in another manner in another reference frame. In their proper frame, they disappear: (Inside motion, no motion; inside color, no color, inside form, no form, etc) In buddhist view: empty appearances. -Therefore, they find their existence in the very change of reference system itself. - Then, instead of attempting to establish laws in observer frame: (1) write them in proper system (2) change system
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- Since, in the proper reference system, the searched law is known (disappearance of the property : A = 0, for example, of acceleration in geodesic free falling reference system), all the work of constructing laws is brought back to the description of various changes of reference systems. - Consequence: evolution of theories of relativity since Galileo = account of more and more complicated changes of coordinate systems (and of geometries of space-time): inertial Cartesian, flat space (Galilean relativity of motion) inertial, speed close to speed of light, flat space-time (special relativity of motion) curvilinear coordinate systems, curved space-time (generalized relativity of motion, gravitational field) fractal coordinate systems, fractal space-time (relativity of scales, quantum laws, gauge fields)
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THEORIES OF RELATIVITY: FIRST PRINCIPLES

RELATIVITY

COVARIANCE weak / strong Action

EQUIVALENCE

Geodesical

CONSERVATION Noether
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Example 1: derivation of Lorentz transform from mere principle of special relativity

- Principle of relativity (Einsteins statement, philosophical): the laws of nature are valid whatever the state (here, of motion) of the reference system > - Principle of covariance (physical translation of the principle): the equations of physics keep their form in changes of reference system - Axioms (mathematical translation of the principle: cf Galileos the book of nature is written in mathematical language) * special relativity > linear transformation *form invariance of transformation (continuous) > internal composition law (one of the axioms of group theory) * arbitrary character of axes orientation (discrete relative transformation) > reflexion invariance From only these three axioms, one derives Lorentz transformation !
(LN 1992, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A7, 4899) 14

Example 2 : equation of motion in Einsteins general relativity

- definition of a covariant derivative which accounts for the effects of curved reference system /geometry (rotation of vectors induced by translation):

- geodesic principle (minimize proper time) - strong covariance (same form of equations of motion as Galileos inertial free motion in vacuum, i.e. acceleration = 0) - equivalence principle (locally, between gravitational field and acceleration field) All three > same vacuum equation:
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Example 3 : geodesic equations in scale relativity > quantum mechanical equations

- definition of a covariant derivative which accounts for nondifferentiable / fractal space

- geodesic / strong covariance principle > equation of motion:

Including external field -> Newton fundamental equation of dynamics

-change of variable > Schrdinger equation (Dirac in fractal S-T)

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