FIRTH@TL-20B.ARPA (12/04/85)
[Moderator - feel free to condense, edit, discard, &c]
Some brief comments on Mr Sarfatti's message:
(1) please could we have some references? His text was highly condensed.
(2) " Fiber bundles generalize the Cartesian product
of linear spaces to include global twists. For example,
a cylinder is the Cartesian product of a circle base
space with an untwisted line segment fiber. But, the
nonorientable Mobius strip has the same base space and
the same fiber with a global twist. "
When I follow these instructions, I get a cross-cap, not a
Moebius strip. Have I goofed?
(3) " Thus, physics is geometrodynamical fulfilling Einstein's Vision. "
Sorry, I don't understand this. Einstein envisaged a single tensor
equation that would comprehend all the basic interaction forces.
The theory proposed here seems to make each force a special case,
described by a particular gauge transformation.
(4) " The electromagnetic U(1)spherical S(1) fibered vacuum is only the
first approximation to the real vacuum...
The second approximation would be the nonabelian U(1)xSU(2)
electroweak gauge bundle [S(1)xS(2) spherical fiber] ... "
But, as Dirac pointed out [PAM Dirac, Principles of Quantum Mecahnics,
4th Ed, Oxford, MCMLVIII], these models lead to divergent integrals
for the vacuum state. It is therefore hardly fair to call them
"approximations" - they are fundamentally defective.
(5) " Supergravity is the local gauge force induced by supersymmetry that
causes fermion/boson transitions which were previously thought to be
impossible because of a superselection rule. Two supersymmetry
transformations yield a translation in space-time. This may lead
to some sort of hyperdrive. "
But the Boson -> Fermion transition seems irreversible. If so, then
the translation is impossible, and (alas) no hyperdrive that way.
(5) " Stimulated beta decay, if it can be induced, would be a new
alternate propulsion energy source "
Yes. Basically, if we can convert matter into antimatter, then we
can build a total conversion energy source, by converting half the
matter, and letting the other half annihilate it. (Containing such
a reaction is merely a matter of engineering!). Unfortunately, it
seems today that you can stimulate beta decay only by energising the
particle by substantially more than its rest mass, ie you have to put
more energy into the thing than you get out.
(6) " First order vacuum to vacuum phase transitions triggered by an
external magnetic field from a space-based superconducting magnet
might provide an alternate SDI space weapon and propulsion energy
source suitable for interstellar voyages. "
Please don't! The magnetic flux required to render the vacuum unstable
is rather inconveniently large - enough to rip apart any ordinary matter.
(I calculate ~10**28 Gauss but may, as ever, have goofed)
(7) " There are closed forms that are not exact and cycles that are
not boundaries. "
I don't know enough to dispute this. But, if it's true, then
Caratheodory's Principle fails, and almost all of thermodynamics
collapses. In particular, if the thermodynamic equation of state
is not an integrable Pfaffian, then even the First Law cannot be
proved: a fluid mass could be partitioned into two parts, with
greater aggregate thermal energy than the combination.
(8) " Wick rotations change the signature of the space-time metric from
hyperbolic to elliptic. Indeed, my studies of the Dirac equation
suggest not only bradyon and tachyon free particle spinor solutions
inside and outside the light cone, respectively, but also, as noted
above, "Wickyon" solutions that quantum tunnel through the light
cone from subluminal to superluminal speed with a finite expenditure
of energy. "
They aren't rotations, but reflections of the wave functions in the
light cone, ie in the plane x=ct. Naturally, this transforms space-
like into time-like coordinates, and subluminal into supraluminal
particles. The basic form of the space-time substrate remains the
same, but of course if you change the axes, then an ellipse (closed
along the time axis) becomes an hyperbola (open along the space axis)
Unless I've missed something, this is not useful.
References would be VERY helpful here, since I'm not aware of any
particle that can spontaneously tunnel through the light cone.
There are cases where subluminal and supraluminal particles are
correlated (eg after muon-nutrino decay).
(9) " Aspect's Paris experiment shows the reality of nonlocal photon spin-
spin quantum correlations over faster than light space-like
separations between the detections of photons emitted in a
double quantum jump. "
Not a fair presentation. The experiment shows, that if one of two
correlated photons is perturbed, the other changes state in a manner
that implies awareness of the perturbation. To an external observer,
the photons may be some distance apart. But to an observer on one of
the photons, they are still in contact (Lorentz equation), and so it
is not anomalous that one should affect the other.
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Robert Firth
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