Pieces of energy – not waves or particles – can be the basic building blocks of the universe

The thing is, the universe is created, but what is important? This question has been tricky for those who have been thinking about it for a long time – especially for physicists. Reflecting the latest trends in physics, my colleague Jeffrey Eisen and I described an updated way of thinking about the subject. We have long suggested that matter is not made up of particles or waves, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made up of pieces of energy.

Five to one

The ancient Greeks had five building blocks – bottom to top: earth, water, air, fire and ether. Ether is the thing that fills the sky and explains the rotation of the stars, observed from the vantage point of the earth. These are the first and most basic elements that can create a world. Their views on the elements of physics have not changed dramatically in almost 2,000 years.

Then, about 300 years ago, Sir Isaac Newton introduced the idea that all things are at points called particles. One hundred and fifty years later, James Clark Maxwell introduced the electromagnetic wave – the basic and often invisible form of magnetism, electricity and light. Particles functioned as a building block for kinetics and electromagnetic waves – and the general population settled into two building blocks of matter in particle and wave. Together, particles and waves became the building blocks of all kinds of materials.

It was a vast improvement over the five elements of the ancient Greeks, but still flawed. In a popular series of experiments called double-split experiments, light sometimes acts like a particle and other times like a wave. When theories of waves and particles and mathematics allow scientists to make incredibly accurate predictions about the universe, the rules break down into very large and very small scales.

Einstein proposed a solution in his theory of general relativity. Using the mathematical tools available to him at the time, Einstein was able to better explain some physical phenomena and resolve long-standing contradictions related to transition and gravity. But instead of improving the particles or waves, he removed them because he proposed combating space and time.

Using new mathematical tools, my colleague and I proved a new theory that could accurately describe the universe. Instead of based on the theory of combating space and time, we assumed that there could be a building block that is more fundamental than particles and waves. Scientists understand that particles and waves are existential echoes: a particle is the source of matter at a point, and waves are everywhere except at the points that make them up. My colleague and I thought it made logical sense that there should be a basic connection between them.

Pieces of flow and energy

Our theory begins with a new basic idea – that energy always “flows” through parts of space and time.

Think of the energy that fills a part of space and time, flowing in and out of that region, never starting, never ending, lines that do not cross each other.

Acting from the idea of ​​a universe of flowing energy lines, we looked for a single building block for flowing energy. We hoped that if we could find and define such a thing, we could use it to make accurate predictions about the universe, both large and small.

There were many construction blocks to choose from mathematically, but we looked for one that had the features of both particle and wave – condensed like a particle, but spread throughout the wave and space and time. Answer A building block that looks like a concentrated energy – like a star – has the highest energy at the center and the farthest from the center.

To our surprise, we found that there are only a limited number of ways to describe the concentration of flowing energy. Of those, we found only one that functioned according to our mathematical definition of flow. We named it an energy piece. For math and physics enthusiasts, this is defined as A = -⍺ /r Where intens is intensity and r Remote function.

Using a portion of the energy as the building block of the object, we developed the mathematics needed to solve the physical problems. The final step is to test it.

Back to Einstein and adding globalization

More than 100 years ago, Einstein confirmed the general relativity of two famous problems in physics: the unprecedented annual change in Mercury’s or – precursor – and the small curvature of light as it passes through the Sun.

These issues were at two peaks of the size spectrum. The wave or particle theories of matter could not solve them, but general relativity did. General theory of relativity diverted space and time to change the path of Mercury and to bend light to the extent found in astronomical observations.

If our new theory still has the potential to change particles and waves, then these problems can be solved by our theory as well.

For Mercury’s problem, we designed the sun to be an enormous fixed fragment and Mercury a small but still moving energy. For the curvature problem of light, the sun was designed in the same way, but the photon was designed as a small piece of energy moving at the speed of light. In both problems, we calculated the paths of the moving pieces and obtained the same answers as predicted by the general theory of relativity. We were stunned.

Our initial work demonstrated how a new building block is capable of accurately modeling bodies from the smallest to the smallest. Where particles and waves break down, the piece of energy building block was strong. This piece could be a viable global building block from which reality can be mathematically modeled – and update the way people think about the building blocks of the universe.

Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Larry M. Silverberg wrote, North Carolina State University.