"Thermodynamic" Universe, The: Exploring The Limits Of Physics

by B G Sidharth

Overview

Particle Physics and High Energy Physics have stagnated since the early 1970s. Now, the underlying principle of reductionism — so sacred to twentieth-century physics — is itself being questioned. This book examines these tumultuous developments that are leading to a paradigm shift and a new horizon for Physics.Presenting the new paradigm in fuzzy spacetime, this book is based on some 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals including Foundations of Physics, Nuovo Cimento and The International Journal of Modern Physics (A&E), as well as two recently published books, The Chaotic Universe (Nova Science, New York) and The Universe of Fluctuations (Springer). The work had predicted correctly in advance epoch-turning observations, for example, that the Universe is accelerating with a small cosmological constant driven by dark energy when the prevalent line of thinking was the exact opposite. Similarly, the prediction of a minimum thermodynamic residual energy in the Universe has also been realized more recently. Further to a unified description of gravitation and electromagnetism via fluctuations, several other features are presented in complete agreement with experiments, in sharp contrast to the present ideas which are neither verifiable nor disprovable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789812812346
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/21/2008
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Preface     v
The Limits of Physics     1
Our Scientific Legacy     1
The Advanced and Retarded Fields     6
Quantum Mechanical Considerations     11
The Limits of Special Relativity     14
Discussion     14
The Quantum Universe     17
The Strong and Weak Interactions     19
Gauge Fields     22
Standard Cosmology     27
Bosonic Strings     30
End of the Road?     34
Law Without Law     45
A "Lawless" Universe?     45
The Emergence of Spacetime     48
Spacetime     60
Further Considerations     61
The Path Integral Formulation     66
Remarks     68
The Universe of Fluctuations     73
The New Cosmos     73
The Mysterious Dark Energy     76
Issues and Ramifications     84
Tests     85
Other Consequences     88
The Anomalous Acceleration of the Pioneer Spacecrafts     91
The Binary Pulsar     91
Change in Orbital Parameters     93
Remarks     95
FurtherConsiderations     109
The Thermodynamic Universe     121
Introduction     121
The Planck and Compton Scales     124
The Transition     130
Photon Mass     134
Further Theoretical Support     136
Remarks     138
The Mass Spectrum     144
Further Remarks     146
Spacetime Models and Tests     157
The Nature of Spacetime     157
Other Formulations     172
Multiply Connected Space and Spin     176
Lorentz Symmetry Violation Tests     179
The Finsler Spacetime Approach     182
Remarks     183
A Test for Non Commutative Spacetime     184
The Origin of Mass, Spin and Interaction     185
The Unification Mantra     185
Compton Scale Considerations     190
Remarks     196
Fuzzy Spacetime and Fermions     197
Branes     200
Dirac's Membrane and p-branes     201
A Modified Klein-Gordan Equation     202
A Modified Dirac Equation     204
The Enigma of Gravitation     207
Gravitation in a New Light      207
Remarks     213
Gravitation and Black Hole Thermodynamics Again     215
Further Remarks     218
Gravitation From Fluctuations     220
An Adventurer's Miscellany     223
"Scaled" Quantum Mechanics     223
Quantum Geometry I     230
Quantum Geometry II     233
Large Scale Structures     235
The Puzzle of Gravitation     237
A New Short Range Force     240
Gravitational Effects     242
Bosons as Bound States of Fermions: The Neutrino Universe     243
Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity and The Landscape of Multiply Connected Universes     247
The Monopole     253
Fermions and Bosons     256
Bibliography     271
Index     289