The Connection Between "String" Theory and the "Spacetime Map"
John A. Gowan
June 2006
There are some interesting parallels between current ideas in "string" theory and my formulation of the "Spacetime Map". One of these parallels is the notion that our universe may be a "membrane" embedded in a higher-dimensional "bulk" universe or "multiverse". It is obvious that a simple version of this idea is actually demonstrated in the "Spacetime Map": for example, the "light line" is such a 4-dimensional "membrane" - encompassing everything that we can see of our universe, extending from the present moment back to its origin in the Big Bang. The remainder of the map, outside our light line (the 5-dimensional "bulk" universe), consists entirely of the 4-D "membranes" or "light lines" of all other possible observers. All these "membranes" have a common origin in the Big Bang, and all are causally and reciprocally connected (our past is their present, our present is their future, etc., and vice versa). (See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".)
Another parallel is found in the notion that the gravitons of string theory are free to move beyond the "membrane" of their origin into higher dimensional spaces and other membranes. This is roughly similar to my concept of the gravitational field as the spatial consequence of the intrinsic motion of time, in which time exits space at right angles to all three spatial dimensions, flowing into history or historical spacetime. In my view, the spherical, accelerated collapse of space which we experience as the action of a gravitational field is caused by the intrinsic motion of time (the entropy drive of bound energy or matter), moving into the historic, causal domain of spacetime (the "bulk" universe), and pulling space along behind it. (See: "The Creation of Time from Space".) Space collapses and self-annihilates at the center of mass, or the point-like beginning of the time line, leaving behind a new temporal residue, the metric equivalent of the annihilated space. The intrinsic motion of this new temporal unit continues the endless entropy-driven cycle. Here the "graviton" is a quantum unit of time or temporal entropy, moving from its origin in the "membrane" or "light line" of the present moment to the "bulk" universe of historic spacetime, matter's "causal matrix".
Unlike string theory, however, the weakness of gravity is not due to its dilution in the "bulk" universe, but because it apparently does not require much energy to create time from space - or equivalently - bound energy does not require much time to provide its entropy drive. This latter is because matter is only tangentially associated with its historic entropy domain; matter exists only in the present, not in the historic causal domain of information created by its entropy drive, time. This is in marked contrast to free energy, which fully occupies the conservation domain (space) created by its entropy drive, the intrinsic motion of light.
In a sense, then, one can view the weakness of gravity as reflecting the ratio of the efficacy of spatial vs temporal entropy - the dissipation of the energy of light vs the dissipation of the energy of atoms (as in proton decay). Indeed, when g = c, as in a black hole, we have reason to believe that proton decay is commonplace, while the entropic dissipation of light's energy ceases, reversing the usual roles of spatial vs temporal entropy. (See: "The Half-life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the Universe".)
Put another way, only a small amount of "strong" spatial entropy is required (per unit mass) to provide the necessary amount of "weak" temporal entropy, so only a small amount of space need be annihilated - resulting in a small gravitational flow. Just as c establishes (gauges) the metric equivalency between space and time, so G establishes (gauges) the entropic equivalency (per unit mass) between space (S) and time (T):
-Gm(S) = (T)m.
In my theory, gravity is the conversion force (in either direction) between the entropy drives of free and bound energy, the intrinsic motions of light and time, and the weakness of gravity (the tiny magnitude of the gauge constant -G) is due to the small energy difference between the symmetric entropy drive of free energy (the intrinsic motion of light) and the asymmetric entropy drive of bound energy (the intrinsic motion of time). The two entropy drives are connected because the intrinsic motion of light is actually caused by the implicit presence of time (frequency x wavelength = c), and so (on the microscopic level of quantum mechanics) the magnitude of -G is due to the small energetic difference between implicit time (S) and explicit time (T):
(S) - (T) = -G. (See: "Gravity Diagram No. 2".)
Symbolically, the conversion of space and the drive of spatial entropy (S) (the intrinsic motion of light as gauged by "velocity c") to time and the drive of historical entropy (T) (the intrinsic motion of time as gauged by "velocity T"), can be (qualitatively) represented by the "concept equation":
-Gm(S) = (T)m;
-Gm(S) - (T)m = 0
For the functional/conservation role of gravity, see: "The Double Conservation Role of Gravity";
Concerning the weakness of gravity, see: "The Half-life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the Cosmos";
Concerning gravity and the 4 forces of physics, see: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory";
For a general description of gravitation, see: "Gravitation, Entropy, and Thermodynamics"; and: "A Description of Gravitation".
See also: "The 'Tetrahedron Model' vs the 'Standard Model' of Physics: A Comparison"
References:
Brian Greene: The Fabric of the Cosmos. Knopf, 2004
Juan Maldacena: "The Illusion of Gravity". Scientific American Nov., 2005 pp 57 - 63.
