Is There Really a Gravitomagnetic Field?

The predicted gravitomagnetic (GM) field, or Lense-Thirring effect, arising from rotating massive bodies, or spinning ions within a high temperature superconductor (HTSC), seems an unlikely source for the origin of reported gravitational shielding - not least because of the extreme weakness of the phenomena. It's estimated that the Earth's GM field has a strength of about one part in a few trillion of its Newtonian field - or regular gravity field (also denoted as the gravitoelectric (GE) field in this context). Yet, Podkletnov reported upwards of 2% shielding of the Earth's field in experiments performed with rapidly rotating HTSCs. While the rate of ionic spin, within an HTSC, is some 1012 times the rate of Earth's rotation, it is more than counterbalanced by a 24 magnitude reduction in the mass of the spinning system.

Similarly, the theoretical explanation for the detection of an acceleration field, in excess of 100 micro G's, from an angularly accelerated niobium superconductor8 is problematic. The effect was 30 magnitudes larger than predicted by classical relativity. A heavy graviton was invoked to account for this enormously magnified gravity field. But, quantum field theory equates the range of a field with the intrinsic mass of its carrier, not the field's strength.

Another objection to the GM field as the source of gravity shielding is its geometry. The total GM field in a superconductor is the summation of all the individual GM fields of the spinning ions. Now an ordinary bar magnet has a field which likewise is the sum of millions of spin aligned atoms. The resultant magnetic field is toroidal in shape. It follows that the geometry of the GM field in an HTSC should also be toroidal in shape. However, careful measurement by Podkletnov et. al. demonstrated that the gravity shielding field above his spinning HTSC formed a perfect cylinder, and did not extend beyond the edge of the disc.

Curiously, while gravitoelectromagnetism is concieved as a gravitational version of Maxwell's electromagnetic field, it falls short of a perfect analogy on at least three counts. Foremost, of course, is that the intrinsic strength of the gravitoelectromagnetic field is vastly weaker than Maxwell's field, since the GE part is simply ordinary Newtonian gravity. Secondly, the ratio of strength between the GE and GM components of a rotating mass is highly variable, being a function of the systems rotation rate, mass, and size. This is in contrast to the perfectly matched strengths of the electric and magnetic variables of Maxwell's field. Thirdly, and perhaps least apparent, the GE field does not essentially differ in 'substance' from the GM field, only in geometry and intrinsic strength. The GE and GM fields derive from, and are expressed in, the same units - mass (M), length (L), and time(T). The GE field is defined as acceleration - L/T2 - due to presence of mass - M. The GM field is defined as mass current per unit length or - M/LT. By contrast, the electric and magnetic fields are entirely distinct from one another - possessing uniquely different identities.

The definitions of GE 'charge' and GM 'charge' seem even more of a mismatch, with respect to being analogues of electromagnetic theory. GE charge is just ordinary mass - M, while GM charge is defined as velocity times a unit of length, or - L2/T. While 'sources' of GE charge are ready-built into the theory, it's hard to imagine a charge 'source' consisting of velocity times a unit of length. In contrast, a magnetic monopole - the magnetic charge quantum of the electromagnetic field - is readily visualizable and quantifiable. Indeed, one wonders if the GM (Lense-Thirring) field may ultimately turn out to be the 'aether' of the 21st century. Why should so-called frame dragging ( the stretching of space-time from the gravitational influence of every constituent particle comprising a larger mass that is in motion) result in a gravitational force at right angles to the motion of the mass? Grafting Maxwell's laws directly onto the gravitational field seems like an analogy too far, and overly simplistic, despite the formidable complexity of the resulting equations.

With the GM field of gravitoelectromagnetism discounted on quantitative, as well as epistemological, grounds as the source of the gravity shielding anomaly, quantum gravity effects remain as the only other plausible contender. Quantum gravity theory, however, is still in its infancy with many approaches being studied. In the following pages a somewhat novel approach to quantum gravity is presented, albeit speculative, but for which a case is made for being the source of the mysterious gravity shielding phenomena. This approach shares in common the electromagnetic analogue that characterizes the GE/GM field, but is a much closer mimicry to Maxwell's field, except in regard to range.


Outline of Quantum Gravity Model

Intriguingly, there is a simple expedient whereby a near perfect facsimile of the electromagnetic field can be applied to the gravitational field, and which requires only a simple symmetry translation - a transposition of variables between electromagnetism and gravity. It is only necessary to treat gravity as a two variable field. General relativity tells us that the presence of a gravitational field leads to the slowing of clocks, and the shortening of yardsticks. If one of these variables, say variation in length measurement, is assigned as the gravitational analogue of the electric field, then, by default, the variation in temporal passage becomes the gravitational analogue to the magnetic field. Substituting these variables for the electric and magnetic variables in Maxwell's equations provides the mathematical framework for this quantum gravity model. Since the shortening of yardsticks, and slowing of clocks, vary by exactly the same proportion in special (and general) relativity, the strengths of these variables in this newly proposed field should likewise be equally matched.

Such a reconfiguration of Einsteinian gravity into a length-time Maxwell field has never explicitly been seen in nature. It implies the existence of quantums of space (length) and time, which would be the direct gravitational analogues of electric charges and magnetic monopoles. These quanta would exist in opposite 'polarities' - e. g. 'positive' length quanta that contract space; 'negative length quanta that expand space; 'positive' time quanta that slow time; and 'negative' time quanta that accelerate time. Such a field would be a true local gauge version of gravity, in contrast to the GE/GM field, which resembles the local gauge form only superficially. In the following pages it's speculated that such a length-time Maxwell field, or pseudo-gravity field, does, in fact, operate in nature - manifesting in the guise of the non-classical behavior of the quantum realm. It's assumed that the 'photon' for this field has a mass in the supersymmetry energy range, and thus remains undetected. Nonetheless, this quanta should impact our world through its virtual proxies. Additionally, by the reciprocal rule between mass and range, the reach of this field would be in the neighborhood of 10-17 cm.. A tentative candidate for the identity of this length-time quanta is the gravitino - the superpartner of the graviton, and the lightest supersymmetry particle, according to present models.


Strong Gravity Coupling

If this pseudo-gravity field were as weak as normal gravity, it would have a negligible effect at the quantum mechanical level. However, integral to the duality giving rise to this conjectured field is a reciprocal trade of force strengths (between electromagnetism and gravity), imparting a 39 magnitude strength increase over ordinary gravity (see next section). With an intrinsic strength matching the electromagnetic force, its impact on our world, even though hidden at the quantum level, would be every bit as real as the influence of the two strong, but short range, forces of the Standard Model - quantum chromodynamics and the weak force. For a like reason, this field constitutes a far more plausible candidate for HTSC gravity shielding phenomena reported by the Russian materials scientist Eugene Podkletnov, than the gravitomagnetic field.

Since the length and time variables of this proposed pseudo-gravity field would each be bipolar, like their counterparts in the electromagnetic field, the net field would invariably be zero. This would effectively cancel any non-classical effects on the large scale. At the level of individual particles, cyclical forces of attraction and repulsion, of a gravitational character (see next section), should occur at deBroglie frequencies, with a net value of zero averaged over a complete wave cycle. In this regard, it must be emphasized that the length and time variables of this field would possess amplitudes 39 magnitudes, or one thousand trillion, trillion, trillion times greater than their counterparts in general relativity. The result would be oscillating acceleration forces of enormous intensity.

In Podkletnov's experiments it may be that the Bose condensate of countless cooper pair electrons, behaving as a macro-deBroglie wave, was nudged minutely out of an exquisitely tuned balance. The resulting macroscopic 'leakage' of the proposed pseudo-gravity field might then have coupled directly to the Earth's gravity field. Alternatively, the oscillations of the length and time elements of the residual pseudo-gravity field may have forced sympathetic oscillations of the local Minkowski space, within the superconductor, stimulating the emission of a low intensity beam of conventional gravity waves (the great mass of the pseudo-gravity field's quanta precludes its long range propagation). Assuming a very high frequency to this gravity wave beam, the non-divergence of the shielded region would be understood. This second interpretation would also provide a common mechanism for explaining the laser like beam properties of Podkletnov's Gravity Impulse Generator


A Hypothetical Reactionless Drive

As noted, S-dualitys exchange the variables of a unified field, as well as their intrinsic strengths (a strongly coupled field is mapped into a weakly coupled field, and visa versa). It's also speculated that S-dualities and supersymmetry transformations are virtually the same phenomena, which would result in an enormous simplification of fundamental physics. If extra dimensions lead to effective low energy unification of gravity with the other Standard Model forces, we expect two results. First the mapping of variables between the fields in question, and second the transposing of the intrinsic strengths of the two fields. For an S-duality, or supersymmetry, operation between gravity and electromagnetism, we note that each field has a pair of variables - length and time for the former, and electric and magnetic for the latter.

The first condition, for a gravity/electromagnetic S-duality, would be met by mapping the variables of length and time into the structure of Maxwell's electromagnetic field, and by mapping the electric and magnetic variables into the Lorentzian structural framework of General Relativistic gravity. The second condition would be met by transposing the intrinsic strengths of gravity and electromagnetism. Electromagnetism is 39 magnitudes stronger than gravity, so the gravity emulating length-time Maxwell field should be commensurate in strength with Maxwell's original field. Conversely, the newly formed electric-magnetic Lorentzian field will be as feeble as normal gravity. Each of these fields will have their associated quanta, mirroring the quanta associated with the original electromagnetic and gravitational fields.

It is the various quanta of the postulated length-time Maxwell field that auger a future technological revolution - namely a warp drive, or reactionless propulsion system. The electromagnetic field originates from electric charges, namely electrons and protons. The field could also be created by hypothetical magnetic charges, or magnetic monopoles. The equivalent particles for the length-time Maxwell field, or L-T field for short, would be charges of length (L) of opposite polarity, and charges of time (T) of opposing polarity. Here we need to digress. The electric field is bi-polar. Bi-polarity in a L field would correspond to an increase or decrease of the physical length of the local space around a L charged quantum particle. Arbitrarily, we attribute local spatial expansion to 'positively' charged L quanta, and spatial contraction to 'negatively' charged L quanta. This selection fixes the definition for 'positive' (and 'negative') T quanta. A positive T quanta will speed up time in its vicinity, falling off as the inverse square of the distance to the particle. Accordingly, a negative T quanta will slow time in its vicinity.

As detailed in the concept section an L-T 'photon', the quanta of the L-T field, would possess oscillating length and time vectors, corresponding to alternating contraction/expansion of length in one axis, and alternating slowing/speeding of time in the perpendicular axis. This is equivalent to alternating expansion and contraction of the local metric, so that, clearly, an observer entrained at a maxima node of an L-T wave train would experience the condition for an Alcubierre warp metric. It's suggested that the proposed L and T quanta could create the condition of an Alcubierre warp on a macroscopic scale, notwithstanding that the range of their fields are restricted to about 10-19 meters. In the concept section it was also noted that the very controversial "gravity shielding" phenomena detected above high temperature superconductors by Evgeny Podkletnov, and a few others, might well have resulted from coherent behavior of large numbers of 'virtual' L-T quanta.

Reportedly, Podkletnov achieved upwards of a 2 percent reduction in gravity above his HTSC disk, in his early experiments. Remarkably, a 2 percent diminuation in the Earth's gravity field would correspond to an infinitesimal offset in the proposed gravity-emulating, Maxwell field, of a few parts in 1041, or put more graphically, a hundred thousand trillion, trillion, trillion. Even his later claims of short duration 1000 g pulses, from his Impulse Gravity Generator, would still be a mere one part in two trillion, trillion, trillion, of the maximum strength of this field. This suggests that if macrosopic quantities of the proposed length (L) or time (T) quanta could be extracted from the vacuum, and their fields harnessed, that extraordinarily strong localized curvatures of the metric could be effected. Concievably, a field strong enough to implement an Alcubierre style warp might be attainable, making possible a reactionless drive for future interstellar travel. A rough outline of such a concept is suggested below.

As per the assumption that S-duality and supersymmetry operations are one and the same phenomena, the S-duality derived L and T quanta, and the L-T photon, will hereafter be referred to as supersymmetric type matter. Let us suppose that two parallel circular plates of steel or titanium, 10 meters in diameter, and coated with an angstrom thick layer of supersymmetric matter based metal, are fabricated. Supersymmetric matter, assuming it could stably exist, would certainly be as dense as neutron star matter, so to keep weight within reasonable limits you only want a thin coating of it. The extremely high density of the material, moreover, would proportionally increase its current carrying capacity.

Let these plates be spaced apart by about 2 meters, or a gap sufficient to accomodate a standing human, with a suitable mechanical structure to hold them rigid with respect to each other, and enclose the living space in an airtight compartment. Within this living space would be placed the machinery to refrigerate the upper and lower plates to a superconducting temperature. Also contained in this area would be generating equipment, composed in part, of supersymmetric metal (again thin coating on normal metal based wire conductors), that would create enormous currents of either L or T quanta (or both) that would be circulated in the supersymmetry metal plates.

With a sufficiently large amplitude, synchronized current 'sheet' of L and/or T quanta circulating in the upper and lower plates, one side (let us say the bottom) would simulate a mass 'source' of sub-planetary magnitude, while the other side would mimic a mass 'sink' of the same magnitude. On the source side the metric would be expanded, rather like the diverging lines of a magnetic north pole, while the sink side would lead to contraction of the metric, just as ordinary matter does, and correspond to the converging lines of a magnetic south pole. The interior living quarters for the crew would experience parallel lines of metric distortion and would constitute a 'stasis' field, that would neutralize acceleration on the occupants. Additional field coils, composed partly of supersymmetric matter, could be positioned at suitable locations around the craft to provide asymmetric forces for maneuvering and orienting the craft.

The detailed mechanism by which L and T, quanta would create the equivalent of sources and sinks of space-time is through the extra dimensional bulk space-time. It's assumed that L and T quanta are polarized just as electric charges and hypothetical magnetic monopoles are polarized. For a fundamental electrically charged particle there is a dipole magnetic field that circulates through the particle's spin axis. Likewise with a magnetic monopole there would be a dipole electric field that circulates through its spin axis.

For a fundamental T quanta its polarization would manifest as an L field circulating through its spin axis, while an L quanta's polarization would be in the form of a T field circulating about its spin axis. Due to mass-energy concentration it's proposed that both L and T quanta function as interfaces between our 3+1 brane and the extra dimensional bulk space-time. Thus the space emerging from one pole of a T quanta, would in actuality be from the bulk, while local space converging back into the other pole of the T quanta would be shunted into the bulk. The same situation would apply to an L quanta, only here it would be time that would be shunting into and out of the bulk. From this it follows that fundamental particles in our universe, polarized by virtual L-T quanta, funnel gravitons into and out of the higher dimensional bulk. In other words, the polarization induced by the L-T quanta would be manifested by the subduction of gravitons into the bulk on one side of the particle, and the emergence of bulk gravitons on the other side of the particle. This, of course, is the configuration of an Alcubierre warp - more spacetime on one side and less spacetime on the other side (the direction of acceleration).

Therefore, it is clear for the proper functioning of the reactionless drive mechanism that on both field generating plates the L and T quanta must be aligned with the axis of motion of the vehicle. In flat, circular superconductors, such as used by Podkletnov and Ning Wu, the alignment of ions was achieved bv spinning them on their axis at high speed (in this regard it is curious that discoidal UFOs are frequently reported to either be spinning as a whole, or just the outer rim spins). So, whether the L and T quanta are circulated mechanically, or as a current stream (like an electric current), the effect should be to intensify the flow of space-time across the bulk/brane divide with increased rate of mechanical circulation, or increased density of L and T quanta in the case of these quanta moving as a current stream.

Thus, on the plate facing the direction of the vehicle's motion, space-time would be subducted into the bulk at the angstrom thick boundary layer containing the circulating L and T quanta. At the rear facing plate of the vehicle bulk space-time would emerge from the angstrom thick boundary layer, also containing circulating L and T quanta, and be deposited immediately behind the craft. If this process occurred at a fast enough pace, a non-equilibrium state of the vacuum adjacent to the craft would be obtained, consistent with an Alcubierre warp. The result is that the craft's occupants (between the plates) would move along a geodesic in space-time. It's further speculated that the major problems associated with an Alcubierre warp operating only within our 3+1 space-time would be obviated by utilizing bulk space as the 'working fluid' to create the warp metric.

For mechanical rigidity and integrity, it would make sense to have both field generating plates somewhat convex in shape for the exact same reason that Hoover dam curves outward - to divert the millions of tons of force exerted by the water into a sideways thrust that compresses the dam's structure, and ultimately thrusts into the walls of the canyon. For the Lenticular Vehicle the canyon walls would be replaced by internal bracing that would absorb the outward thrusting. Of course, the 'sink' side of the vehicle would have extensional forces, but force distribution would still be improved by a convex shape. Moreover, if a near instantaneous reversal of flight direction was desired, it would only be necessary to reverse the direction of current flow in the top and bottom plates, thus converting the mass 'sink' side to a mass 'source' side and visa versa.

To develope such a metric engineering technology would require a program that would, without question, dwarf the Manhattan Project of the 1940s in scale and sophistication. Just to synthesize useful quantities of L or T quanta would require prodigious amounts of energy, since their masses are assumed to be in the supersymmetry sector, or the TeV range. Today's accelerator technology would be totally inadequate because of the abysmally low particle production versus energy input. Even with 100% conversion efficiency it would still be an immense undertaking. Then there would be other issues like storage and manipulation of these quanta once they are produced. All in all, metric engineering a la Star Trek, assuming it involves exploitation of large quantities of some as yet undiscovered massive particle, may not see fruition for centuries to come. Then again, some prominent physicists in the 1930s, appreciating the difficulty of separating U235 from uranium metal composed almost entirely of U238, believed fission weapons to be impossible. So, who can say what the next 50 or 100 years may bring?


Overall Concept Outline

Extra dimensions of 10-17 cm. would allow an exponential increase in the strength of gravity to where it would match the strength of the electroweak and strong forces at the remarkably modest energy of about 1 TeV. This is nearly 17 orders of magnitude below the Planck scale, the previously assumed unification energy of all nature's forces. If the extra dimension concept is valid, then gravity should participate equally with the strong and electroweak forces in the synthesis of exotic new quanta in the supersymmetry mass range. Arguments are advanced to support the thesis that at least one of these quanta should be endowed with a pseudo-gravity field, whose strength is equal to, or greater than, the electromagnetic field in its low energy form. The properties specified for this quanta's field are such that it would mimic an Alcubierre warp metric. Since the mass of this quanta is in the supersymmetry sector, its field is correspondingly restricted in range to something less than 10-16 centimeter, making it more akin to an Alcubierre-Broeck microwarp. Nonetheless, a substantial volume of space could be contained within this limit due to the nature of this proposed field. Oscillations of this field should manifest as extreme variations in the curvature of this enclosed space.

Assuming all fundamental particles, with rest mass, harbor one or more of these quanta (in virtual form) at their cores, where vacuum tension is maximal, the result would be a short range warp 'bubble' enveloping all particles with mass. Periodic reversal of this quanta's field would give rise to cavity oscillator behavior, subjecting its host particle to an alternating polarity warp metric, whose intensity would match the electromagnetic field. If the phase of this periodicity synchronizes with the cyclical acceleration/deceleration forces of an electron in elliptical orbit about its nucleus, and the warpfield is always aligned along the electron/nucleus axis, then the electron would follow a sinusoidal, timelike geodesic through spacetime - negating synchrotron radiation. The oscillations of this natural, micro-warp field are therefore proposed to be the essence of deBroglie matter waves, which are the basis of stable, non-radiating atomic orbits, and the starting point for wave mechanics.

The volumetric variations, within the warp 'bubble', are proposed to alternate between Minkowski space and the extra dimensions, giving rise to bi-polar relativistic sync shifts (relativity of simultaneity), due to the resulting bi-directional linear translations between particles. Consequently, all fundamental particles will appear to rapidly oscillate between the past and future at deBroglie frequencies, but average to the local present. Quantum oscillators should therefore be sources of both retarded and advanced electromagnetic radiation. Such bi-temporal EM waves form the foundation of John Cramer's Transactional Hypothesis - a quantized version of the Wheeler-Feynman Absorber theory.

Cramer noted that the fully relativized Schrodinger equation, describing the wavefunction for orbiting electrons, has two solutions - one corresponding to the flow of positive energy into the future, and the other to negative energy flowing into the past. But, while bi-temporality is embodied in both Maxwell's equations and the Schrodinger wave equation, no explicit mechansim is provided for this behavior. If length-time Maxwell quanta really exist, and related assumptions are valid, then these quanta in virtual form may constitute the physical mechanism behind bi-temporal electromagnetic emissions from quantum oscillators, and hence underlie quantum non-locality


More Detailed Discussion

It's postulated that nature requires the existence of a local gauge invariant field comparable in strength to the electro-magnetic field, whose variables are length (plus/minus) and time (forward/reverse) in place of electric and magnetic variables. Quantums of length, and time, would be the sources for this field, which would obey Maxwell's laws. These quanta would constitute the analogue of electric charges and magnetic monopoles in electromagnetic theory. A propagating wave for such a field would locally mimic an Alcubierre warp metric at certain points along the wave. Moving along the wave one would observe alternate expansion and contraction of the metric. A particle (or starship) entrained at a maxima node of such a wave would be continuously preceded by a region of contracting spacetime and trailed by a region of expanding spacetime - the recipe for an Alcubierre warpdrive.

Although highly appealing, such a macroscopic warp geometry is simply not tenable, even at the scale, of say, an electron orbit (10-8 cm.), because of unphysically large energy requirements. Moreover, it implies a massless quanta for the conjectured length-time Maxwell field (L-T field), and no such field is in evidence in our low energy world. The scaling of the energy needs to the size of the surface area of a warp region was enumerated by Dr. Chris Van Den Broeck in his landmark 1999 paper "A 'warp drive' with more reasonable total energy requirements". However, in a later paper he notes that naturally occurring warp bubbles of microscopic size might be concievable, as long as they are subluminal. This webpage addresses that particular idea, and postulates that something akin to microscopic Alcubierre-Broeck warp bubbles might be a natural and necessary feature of the quantum realm, accompanying every particle with mass.

If the proposed L-T field exists, its quanta must be massive for it to have escaped detection. A massive quanta equates to a confined range for the field, which in turn translates to a exponential reduction in the surface area of the warped region since the surface of an enclosed volume varies as the square of the region's diameter. That, in turn, yields a commensurate reduction in the energy needed to sustain the warped region. The question is, could natural vacuum fluctuations in proximity to electrons, quarks, etc., be sufficient to give rise to virtual L-T quanta with their associated warp fields, which would then interpose between the particle and its external environment? The answer depends, principally, on the mass of the putative L-T quanta, since the energy needed to sustain its warp field would effectively be part of its mass. Which then raises the question whether a warp geometry could exist whose energy requirement lies within the mass range of Standard Model particles, or possibly, the mass range of the conjectured superpartners - 100 GeV to 1 TeV.

At first glance the numbers are not too discouraging, although they come with a possibly unacceptable price. As described in John Cramer's Alternate View Column AV-99, Chris Van Den Broeck's modification of the Alcubierre warpdrive is something like a "bullseye target" with four concentric regions performing different functions. The innermost region (region 1) is a volume of flat space intended to contain the starship, with a radius of 100 meters. Outside this containment area is a spherical shell (region 2) which distorts the metric so intensly that the spacious starship zone is actually contained within a microscopic bubble smaller than a proton. Surrounding this region is a volume of flat space (region 3) that connects to the outermost shell (region 4) which duplicates the Alcubierre metric, but has a radius of only 3 * 10-32 meter. Region 2 would require only 4 grams of negative mass-energy. At ten times the speed of light, the outermost shell (region 4) would need only .06 grams of negative mass-energy. This energy rises exponentially (nearly a millionfold) to -56 kilograms of mass-energy at 100 times the speed of light. But, as Cramer points out severe engineering problems would likely be encountered with this metric configuration, since the warp bubble's diameter is near the minimum length scale of the universe - the Planck length.


Natural Micro-warp Bubbles

Unlike the artificial bubble, the proposed 'natural' microwarp bubble would originate from a vacuum derived L-T quanta assumed to be present at the core of fundamental particles where vacuum tension is maximal. Since this quanta is a natural quantum particle it presumably would not pose a problem with Planck-scale quantum effects, as would be the case for artifically engineered metrics. The natural micro-warp bubbles would also dispense with the need for a complex multishell geometry, and thus the extra energy required to sustain it. In its place would be a field emanating from a centrally located L-T quanta reaching out to between 10-16 cm. and 10-17 cm. - a magnitude, or so, less than the reach of the weak force (assuming a mass for the L-T quanta in the supersymmetry range). And instead of enclosing a multithousand ton spaceship with delicate human cargo, a natural micro-warp bubble would merely envelope a fundamental particle like the electron, whose mass is a puny 9.11 * 10-31 kg.

The need for negative mass would also be obviated for the natural micro-warp bubbles, since the bipolar field of the putative L-T quanta provides both expansion and contraction of the metric. This eliminates the problem associated with the Quantum Inequality restrictions, advanced by Ford and Pfenning. Additionally, all fundamental particles with mass travel at sublight speed, further reducing the energy requirement for the natural micro-warp bubble. Finally, the intrinsic strength of the L-T field is calculated to match the strength of the electromagnetic field, or 42 magnitudes larger than Newtonian gravity. This factor, in conjuction with all the other factors, would likely reduce the energy required to sustain a natural micro-warp bubble to electron shell energy levels. Nonetheless, based on the absense of detection argument, the L-T quanta must be outside the energy range of existing particle accelerators. A possible candidate for the identity of the L-T field's quanta is the gravitino, since the symmetry operation that gives rise to the supergravity family of particles is suggestive of the symmetry transformation embodied in the L-T field. Indeed, its conjectured that the symmetry embraced in the putative L-T quanta is but one of a set of such symmetry transformations.


Planck's Constant and DeBroglie Waves

Geodesic trajectories are ubiquitous in nature. Virtually all astronomical bodies, throughout the universe, follow such acceleration free paths. If nature makes such prolific use of this form of motion at the large scale, why not on the microscale - the scale of atoms? The answer is, of course, that the enormous disparity in strength between the gravitational force of attraction and the electrostatic force of attraction (1/1042) precludes the possibility of geodesic trajectories in electron orbits. In fact, the enormous angular acceleration experienced by orbiting electrons should result in copious electromagnetic emissions by classical physics. The absense of this synchroton radiation, which would lead to the radiative collapse of atoms, puzzled physicists in the first years of the 20th century. Not till Louis deBroglie showed that the quantization of electron orbits entailed an integral number of wavelengths (deBroglie waves) was it fully appreciated why electron orbits were stable.

But that still begs the questions: What exactly is it that is 'waving' in a deBroglie wave, and what properties of these 'waves' accounts for nullification of synchrotron radiation in electrons traveling at a significant percentage of the speed of light in inner atomic orbitals? The answer to these questions clearly ties in to the physical origin of Planck's constant h, which provides the fulcrum upon which all of quantum mechanics pivots. Every quantum mechanical relationship revolves on this constant, whose value is 6.625 * 10-34 joule-sec., and has the dimensions of an action, or energy multiplied by time. What establishes the magnitude of this fundamental quantum of action?

If, as proposed, in the previous section every fundamental particle harbors a virtual L-T quanta at its core, whose short range warp field envelopes the particle, it surely would affect the dynamical behavior of the particle. Since the L-T quanta's field is an analogue of the electromagnetic field, but confined to a 'bubble' of microscopic size, it should behave like a cavity oscillator. In consequence, the L-T quanta's field reflecting back and forth within its bubble cavity would subject the particle to a sinusoidal, alternating-polarity warp metric. To an external observer, a freely drifting particle, say an electron, would appear to have its physical position in space modulated by an amount proportional to the intensity of the warp field, but averaging to zero displacement. Assuming this virtual warp field fluctuates randomly, the particle's position could not be pinned down with precision. This, of course, is a qualitative description of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

If the random oscillations of the L-T field, within the confined range of its micro-bubble, underlies the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, then we have the following relationship. In the case of the conjugate variables of position and momentum the uncertainty principle states that the uncertainty in position times the uncertainty in momentum must be equal to, or less than, Planck's constant h. The product of these quantities is expressed in units of energy multiplied by time, which are the units of Planck's constant. In the electromagnetic field the energy transported by the field is measured by the Poynting vector. Since the proposed L-T field is a gravitational analogue of the electromagnetic field, there must be an equivalent of the Poynting vector for this field. It follows that the rate at which energy flows back and forth within the micro-bubble will be a function of this gravitational Poynting vector. But, unlike the massless photon, the L-T field's quanta has mass. Consequently, this energy flow will not be infinitely variable from zero on up, but would be pegged at some minimum value, related to the energy needed to sustain a virtual L-T quanta at the core of massive particles. This energy plateau, which ultimately would be fixed by the size of postulated extra dimensions, must then figure into the numerical value of Planck's constant.

The notion that Planck's constant, and hence all quantum related phenomena, arise at the supersymmetry scale flies in the face of traditional assumptions regarding the origins of this fundamental constant. The natural Planck scale (1016 GeV) is predicated on the assumption that gravity retains its weakness at all distance scales. In reality, the inverse square law has only been tested down to .1 mm. An ingenious proposal by a group of physicists at CERN in 1998 would alter long held assumptions. Arkani-hamed and his colleagues postulated the existence of large scale dimensions, penetrable only by gravitons, that would drastically affect the strength of the gravitational interaction at distance scales comparable to the size of these dimensions. For every additional dimension the exponent in Newton's inverse square law would increment by one. The result is a dramatic increase in the force of gravity as one goes to smaller and smaller distances, or correspondingly, higher energies. If the extra dimensions are coiled up to 10-21 cm., gravity would approach the strength of the electroweak and strong forces at only 103 GeV, rather than the traditional 1016 GeV. The unification of these forces would therefore occur at the top end of the supersymmetry range. Since the symmetry transformation embodied in the conjectured L-T field involves a duality, or role transposition between electromagnetism and gravity, it could only take place at an energy where these forces merge. The assumption that Planck's constant, and thus all quantum processes, arise at a deeper, more fundamental level, might therefore be open to revision.

Of course, the creation of virtual quanta is a consequence of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which poses a paradox for this hypothesis, since the virtual L-T quanta are proposed to underly the uncertainty principle by fixing the value of Planck's constant for matter in our universe. What, then, fixes the equivalent of Planck's constant for the L-T field? Reciprocity, or a natural synergy between fields, provides the answer. The symmetry transformation that gives rise to the L-T field entails transposing the roles of Maxwell's electromagnetic field and Einsteinian gravity. Therefore from the perspective of the L-T field, the mass of the electromagnetic photon would be the determinant of the L-T field's minimum quantum of action. Of course, in our universe the photon is massless. But supersymmetric particles, of which the L-T quanta is assumed to be, embody a symmetry-breaking, imparting mass to them. From the perspective of a universe in which the L-T field exists naturally, our photon would acquire mass through a symmetry breaking. It follows that even in our universe the L-T quanta (treated as an observer) would percieve our photon to possess a mass in the supersymmetry range (it's highly noteworthy that the 'principle of perspective', which plays such a central role in Relativity should show up in another guise here, hinting that it is a deep principle of nature).

The Alcubierre warp metric is endowed with another important property. When a warp bubble is undergoing acceleration a particle, or starship, within its flat-space zone follows a time-like geodesic, and is thus shielded from acceleration forces. For an electron, enveloped in its proposed natural micro-warp, an external agency causing it to accelerate, like a nearby proton would, under the proper conditions, leave the electron in an acceleration free state. This situation would obtain if the warp field was aligned with the electron's acceleration vector, and its magnitude and phase perfectly matched, and opposed, the externally induced acceleration. In the case of an electron orbiting a proton, as long as the phase and intensity of the electron's alternating-polarity micro-warp field matched and opposed the acceleration-deceleration forces of the elliptical orbit, the electron would always follow a time-like geodesic. In consequence it would not emit synchrotron radiation. This oscillation of the micro-warp field, around fundamental particles with mass, is proposed to constitute the essence of what a periodic deBroglie wave is.


Other Aspects and Consequences of L-T Field

Of course the negation of synchrotron radiation in orbiting electrons cannot be taken in isolation. A consistent theory should apply generally. Nucleii precess about their common center of mass with orbiting electrons, and every fundamental particle spins on its axis. All these motions are quantized. In the latter case, the proposed natural micro-warp bubbles could resolve several longstanding puzzles of the quantum world. The classical picture of an electron, or any charged particle, as a spinning sphere of charge to account for its magnetic moment and angular momentum, is incompatible with special relativity, as it would require individual charge elements to exceed the velocity of light. But, as the Alcubierre-Broeck micro-warp attests, superluminal motion is not forbidden locally when the proper metric geometry is applied. This localized warpfield provides a clear mechanism linking the magnetic moment of a particle, and its moment of inertia, and might figure in to reports of gravity "shielding" arising from spin-aligned cooper pairs in superconductors. And, such a microscale-metric could be implicated in another quantum mystery. All quantum particles completing one revolution on their 'axes' must rotate through 720 degrees. The same micro-warp field, distorting the local vacuum about fundamental particles to allow superluminal motion of distributed charge elements, might also be responsible for the strange doubling of the particle's apparent circumference.

Keeping in mind that the L-T field is bipolar, shares the same variables as gravity (length and time) at 42 magnitudes greater intrinsic strength, the volumetric pulsations of the proposed microwarp bubbles should be substantial. But the negative portions of these volumetric cycles could have no physical meaning in ordinary Minkowski 4-space: nothing can shrink smaller than a mathematical point. Unless, that is, the shrinkage continues smoothly on into a higher dimensional space like that concieved by Arkani Hamed and colleagues. Their proposed large scale dimensions work in favor of this hypothesis in two vital ways. Firstly, as imputed, to allow the microwarp bubble to contract (and then expand into the higher dimensional space), and secondly to drastically lower the unification energy of gravity with the other forces to the supersymmetry range. The latter factor is crucial in that the proposed symmetry transformation that leads to this field could only occur at an energy where gravity merges with the other forces, so that the gravity force can participate in the creation of new field configurations and associated particles.


Mach's Principle

The volumetric pulsations within the confined range of the L-T quanta's field would have another profound effect for external observers. The expansions and contractions of the metric inside the L-T quanta's 'bubble' should lead to an oscillatory desynchronization of clocks (sync shifts) for external observers, whose center frequency would be proportional to the mass of the particle harboring the virtual L-T quanta. The more massive the particle, the higher the frequency virtual L-T quanta that could be supported. The result of these sync shifts is that an observer aboard one particle would see all other particles oscillating between the past and future (relativity of simultaneity), but averaging to the local present.

The universe is estimated to be 10 billion light years in diameter. Curiously, this is 40 orders of magnitude larger than the classical radius of the electron (10-13 cm.), and matches the ratio of strength between the electromagnetic and gravitational fields. Since the imputed strength of the L-T field is about 40 magnitudes larger than Newtonian gravity, and its range is comparable to the classical radius of the electron, the implication is that the metric expansions and contractions, within the confined reach of the L-T quanta's field, compare to the radius of the universe. If, as proposed, such sync shifts underlie the wave equation, this accords perfectly with the quantum mechanical viewpoint since the wavefunction of any given particle has a finite, but real, probability of extending to the farthest reaches of the universe. This may also tie in to "Mach's principle" - the notion that inertia arises from the instantaneous interaction of each particles with every other particle in the universe.


Like Charge Attraction as Function of 'Time'

Assuming the average phases of L-T quanta induced temporal oscillations, modulating two separate electrons, were locked they would always see each other in their relative present (and consequently feel one another's electric fields continually). Richard Feynman observed that a positron (positive electron) could be thought of as an ordinary negative electron moving backwards in time. Since 50% of the time an L-T quanta mediated temporal wave is flowing backwards in time, an electron under its influence should appear more positive in charge during that interval. Conversely, the forward sweep in time for the other 50% of an L-T quanta induced wave cycle should lead to enhancement of the electron's negative charge, so that overall, the electron's charge polarity is conserved. This would neatly explain how particular portions of outer electron clouds in neighboring atoms can attract one another in chemical bonds in contradiction to the classical rule that like charges repel. It would likewise explain the attraction of cooper pair electrons in superconductors towards one another, despite being the same charge. This further suggests that the square of the wavefunction (psi), which was interpreted by Max Born as the probability distribution of an electron in 3d space, might within this definition, also embody the 'distance' the electron is from the local present in either the past or future.


Non-Locality and the L-T Field

That L-T quanta mediated temporal waves cyclically flow equally into the future and past, implies that electron transitions between orbits will result in the evolution of an equal mix of retarded and advanced electromagnetic waves during these transitions. The existence of advanced EM waves, along with the usual retarded EM waves, provides the foundation for John Cramer's Transactional Hypothesis - a quantized version of the Wheeler-Feynman Absorber Theory. Cramer noted that the fully relativised Schrodinger equation, describing the wavefunction for orbiting electrons, has two solutions - one corresponding to the flow of positive energy into the future, and the other to negative energy flowing into the past. But, while bi-temporality is embodied in both Maxwell's equations, and the Schrodinger wave equation, no explicit mechanism is provided for this behavior. If the L-T field really exists, and related assumptions are valid, then vacuum derived virtual L-T quanta may constitute the physical mechanism behind bi-temporal EM emissions from quantum oscillators, and hence underlie quantum non-locality.



Return to Index

1st Chapter UFO Book