John A. Gowan
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jag8/index.html
(See: "The Energy Tetrahedron")
Introduction - Terms
There are two great classes of electromagnetic energy in the Cosmos, "free" energy, such as light, and "bound" energy, such as matter. The two are both related and distinct in many ways. Before we can discuss these, however, I must define a few essential terms, as commonly used in these papers.
1) The term "mass" (or "massive") refers to bound energy (matter) with a non-zero "Interval" (localized energy, having a specifiable position in spacetime), a real (rather than virtual) time dimension which moves with "intrinsic motion T", existing within a historic causal matrix (in which the sequence of cause and effect is strictly enforced), and producing a gravitational field. Ordinarily, mass is measured by its inertial resistance to acceleration, or by weighing against a standard in a gravitational field. Einstein's increase of mass with relativistic velocity is apparently due to a positive "feedback" between a particle's own gravitational field and the inertial metric of spacetime.
The term "massless" refers to free energy (light), which has a zero "Interval" (is "non-local", having no specifiable location in spacetime), has no time dimension and hence is acausal (in the absence of time, the "sequence" of cause and effect is meaningless), produces no gravitational field, and moves with "intrinsic motion c" (the velocity of light).
2) The "Interval" is Einstein's invariant measure of spacetime, a mathematical formula combining the time and space coordinates of any event in such a way that all observers, regardless of their motions (including accelerated motions), will agree upon its value. Some may see more space, some may see more time, but all will see the same "Interval". The "Interval's" chief role is to rescue causality from the shifting perspectives of relative motion or gravitational fields. The Interval of bound energy is always positive and greater than zero; the Interval of light is always zero. The zero Interval of light is the fundamental mathematical statement of light's metric symmetry, or "non-local" character.
3) I use the term "symmetry" to denote a condition of sameness, a lack of distinguishing characteristics. "Symmetry" is an exceedingly important concept in physics (the equal of "charge"), as we shall see below in "Noether's theorem". "Metric symmetry", for example, refers to the sameness of the measured relations within and between spatial and temporal dimensions (as measured by meter sticks and clocks) throughout the Cosmos, or some lesser specified domain.
4) "Thermal" or "thermodynamic" or "work entropy" refers to the fact that the energetic capacity for work of any isolated system must decrease over time (eventually the Universe will become cold and dark due to its continued expansion). Thermal entropy has an information analog, in that the information content of any isolated system must age and decay with the passage of time (eventually proton decay and the "quantum radiance" of black holes will destroy all matter and the information content of matter). Space and history are analogous conservation/entropy domains created by the intrinsic motions of light and time, as gauged by "velocity c" and "velocity T". Spacetime is the joint entropy domain of free and bound electromagnetic energy created by the intrinsic motion of gravitation ("velocity G"), which creates time via the annihilation of space, and conversely, creates space via the annihilation of matter (as in the stars). Thermal and information entropy are related by their mutual dependence on the passage of time and the concept of "order", whether in terms of energy or information. The escape of thermal radiation to expanding space has a direct analog in the escape of information to expanding history.
5) "Conservation" refers to a quantity which does not change despite transformations applied to the system. For example, the total energy of any isolated system is conserved, that is, remains constant. The conservation of "number" in mathematical operations is another simple example of conservation. The fact that number is conserved makes mathematics a useful symbolic system for quantitatively describing other conserved systems in nature. Charge, symmetry, and entropy are also conserved physical quantities, although entropy is conserved in the unique sense that it is always increasing in either spatial or (metrically equivalent) temporal terms, or the sum of both.
Light and Matter - Free and Bound Energy
Light and matter are related energetically by Einstein's famous equation, E = mcc, and by Debroglie's relation (which combines Planck's and Einstein's energy equations): hv = mcc, where h is Planck's constant and v is the frequency of light. Bound energy is derived from free energy, as in the initial creation of matter from light during the "Big Bang", or, in terms of angular momentum, by the simple absorption of a photon by the electron shell of an atom. In annihilation reactions of matter with antimatter, we see the reversal of energy binding and the complete liberation of free energy, a process which has gravitational analogs in quasars, in the nuclear reactions of the stars, and in the "Hawking radiation" of black holes.
Dimensionally, entropically, inertially, and symmetrically, free and bound energy are obviously distinct (light vs rocks). Free energy moves spatially with intrinsic motion c, and is two-dimensional, lacking a time dimension and a spatial dimension in the direction of its propagation. The intrinsic spatial motion of light's transverse, two-dimensional electromagnetic wave sweeps out a third spatial dimension. The intrinsic motion of light actually creates space, and with space, the expansion and cooling of the Universe. Lacking 2 of the 4 dimensions of spacetime, light is "non-local" (its position in spacetime cannot be specified - the "Interval" of light is zero). In its own reference frame, light is everywhere in the Cosmos simultaneously, since for light, neither time nor distance exist: hence light has effectively an infinite amount of time to go nowhere. Finally, velocity c, light's intrinsic motion, is both a metric symmetry gauge and the entropy drive of free energy. Velocity c establishes the metric relationship between space and time (one second of temporal duration is metrically equivalent to 300,000 km of linear space). By virtue of light's non-locality, the asymmetries of time, gravitation, charge, and mass are banished, and the metric is maintained in a symmetric state everywhere simultaneously, regardless of the changing size of the expanding Universe.
The distribution of free energy is also symmetric (everywhere the same) throughout the Cosmos, again due to light's non-local character. At velocity c the asymmetric (one-way) time dimension is suppressed to an implicit state, and the three symmetric (two-way) spatial dimensions are equivalent one to another (this is a requirement of energy conservation, as otherwise we would have "rogue" gravitational fields, sourceless and uncentered.) Finally, velocity c, the gauge of the intrinsic motion of light, regulates the expansion and cooling of the spatial Cosmos - that is, c is the entropy drive as well as the symmetry gauge of free energy and the spacetime metric of the Universe - a double gauge role which has consequences for the conservation role of gravitation. (See: "The Double Conservation Role of Gravity".)
By contrast, bound energy has no intrinsic spatial motion. Rather, bound energy has a time dimension with intrinsic motion (gauged by "velocity T"), the metric and entropic equivalent of free energy's "velocity c" ("time flies"). While the intrinsic motion of light creates space, the intrinsic motion of time creates history, the conservation domain of information (matter's causal matrix). And just as velocity c gauges the expansion and cooling of space, so velocity T gauges the aging and decay of matter and information's historic conservation domain. Hence "velocity T" is the entropy drive of bound energy, just as "velocity c" is the entropy drive of free energy. The entropy drive c is symmetric in the 3 spatial dimensions (two-way and all-way), while the entropy drive T is asymmetric, one-way and one-dimensional. The one-way character of time is required by energy conservation for the protection of causality and the continuous updating of matter's variable and relative energy accounts. Free energy does not require a time dimension because light's velocity is constant and absolute (non-relative); light's energy varies with frequency, not velocity. Light is non-local and hence acausal and atemporal; matter is local, temporal, and causal. Light does not produce (but is affected by) a gravitational field; matter both produces and is affected by a gravitational field.
The Time Train
Our relationship to the time dimension is apparently very much like that of a passenger on an ordinary train. The train and the time dimension moves and we as passengers just sit quietly and go along for the ride. We can't move at the metric equivalent of velocity c, but the time dimension can. Just as the ordinary train carries us from point to point in space, the time dimension carries us from day to day in time. We move or age only because the train moves from place to place or time to time, but the effect on us, the end result, is to accomplish the actual displacement of our physical beings in either space or time. We age because we are carried through time by the "time train", the moving time dimension, even though we ourselves experience only an "eternal now", as we sit quietly watching the hours slip by, just as on the ordinary train we move in space even though we remain in our seats quietly watching the scenery slip by. We can actually get to our destination faster in either case by running up the length of the train. However, in the case of the time train, we get there sooner because our individual motion in running up the aisle causes our clocks to run slow; nor does it matter in which direction we run. (See: "The Time Train".)
The Entropic Roles of the Metric Gauges c, T, and G
The dimensions of spacetime are entropy domains, created by the intrinsic motions of free energy (the intrinsic motion of light, as gauged by "velocity c") and bound energy (the intrinsic motion of time, as gauged by "velocity T"); c is also the symmetry gauge of free energy and metric space. The role of gravitation is the conversion (and hence conservation) of either entropy type to the other, the intrinsic motion of light and space to the intrinsic motion of matter and time (as in the gravitational conversion of space to time) or the reverse (as in the gravitational conversion of bound to free energy in stars, where both conversions are ongoing simultaneously). Into the bargain, gravitation creates the joint conservation/entropy domain of spacetime, in which the entropy gauges of c and T are equilibrated and the dimensional conservation requirements of both forms of electromagnetic energy can be satisfied (the equilibration is accomplished by producing one from the other - time from space and light from matter). c gauges the metric equivalency between space and time; G gauges the entropic equivalency between space and time. G is the conversion factor, coefficient, or gauge between the two primordial entropy drives. The magnitude of G is determined by the small energetic difference between the symmetric drive (S) of spatial entropy (intrinsic motion c) and the asymmetric drive (T) of temporal entropy (intrinsic motion T): S - T = -G. Equivalently, -G is equal to the energetic difference between symmetric implicit time and asymmetric explicit time. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
It is the function of entropy to create a dimensional conservation domain in which energy, whether free or bound, can be simultaneously used and conserved. This is the relationship between the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics. The effectively "infinite" velocities associated with the entropy/metric gauges c and T seal the boundaries of their dimensional domains against violations of causality (and hence energy) via fast space ship or "time machine", and against violations of energy conservation such as "perpetual motion" machines. The "infinite velocities" of light and time constitute an absolute thermodynamic guarantee of the efficacy of entropy in preventing the abuse of energy, producing the inexorable expansion and cooling of space, and its equivalent, the aging and decay of matter, information, and the expansion of history. Any gravitational or inertial loopholes in the conservation domain of spacetime are sealed by the "event horizon" and central "singularity" of black holes. Thus all three entropy drives also protect the energetic integrity of the dimensional conservation domains they create.
Noether's Theorem: Charge and Symmetry
When during the "Big Bang" free energy (light) is converted to bound energy (matter) (by an unknown high-energy process involving weak force breaking of matter-antimatter symmetry), the raw energy content of light is conserved as the inertial ("ponderable") mass of matter, in accordance with the Einstein/DeBroglie relations, as we have seen (hv = mcc). But simple mass is by no means the totality of what must be conserved in the conversion of light to matter. Among other considerations, momentum and spin angular momentum must be conserved; then there is the question of the symmetry and entropy of light - all require conservation.
In a famous theorem ("Noether's Theorem"), Emmy Noether stated (in 1918) that in a multicomponent field, such as the electromagnetic field (or the metric field of spacetime), where one finds a symmetry one will find an associated conservation law, and vice versa. "Noether's Theorem" is a pivotal theorem in the effort to unify the 4 forces of physics, and in the branch of mathematics associated with that effort, known as "Group Theory". I think of it as the "Truth and Beauty" theorem, as it is the mathematical formulation of Keat's famous poetic intuition that:
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all- where conservation is equated with truth, and beauty with symmetry. Noether's Theorem is in fact the key to the solution of the Unified Field Theory: the charges of matter are the symmetry debts of light.
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
(Ode on a Grecian Urn - 1819)
Noether's theorem provides the formal, mathematical basis for our understanding of charge conservation and the inertial forces of the metric. The forces associated with charge conservation, spin, and inertia are the forces of Noether's theorem in action. Symmetry-breaking produces charges; charges produce forces (via "field vectors"/"force carriers"/"bosons") which act to return the system to symmetry in accordance with Noether's theorem. Electric charge offers an especially simple example. Consider the creation of a virtual particle-antiparticle pair from light ("pair production" by quantum-mechanical fluctuations in "vacuum energy"). Typically, such pairs carry balancing electric charges, one positive charge and one negative charge, as in the creation of a positron-electron virtual pair. The opposite charges attract each other with a force sufficient to cause their annihilation within the Heisenberg time limit for virtual reality. The annihilation reconstitutes the original photon or quantum unit of free energy, hence restoring the energetic symmetry of light and the vacuum.
Light has the greatest symmetry of any energy form, bearing no charges, producing no gravitational field, and having no time dimension or spatial location (light is "non-local"). In the electrical annihilation of "vacuum" virtual particle-antiparticle pairs, we see light protecting its own symmetry, since the photon is the field vector of electric charge. In the case of the metric, the reactive forces of inertia act to maintain metric symmetry and regulate motion. Among these are the familiar "g" forces of acceleration (for massive objects), and in the case of free energy, inertial forces maintain the constant value of c, the intrinsic motion of light. (See: "The Origin of Time and Space".)
Symmetry conservation is no less important than energy conservation - it is a part of energy conservation, one member of the "Tetrahedron" of physical conservation laws. When light is converted to matter, light's raw energy is conserved as mass and momentum, and light's symmetry is conserved as charge, spin, and inertial force. Symmetry conservation allows the creation of charge and information from free energy, just as entropy conservation allows the transformation of free energy to work. Inertial forces allow the conversion of free energy to the motion of particles.
In the example of the electron-positron virtual pair cited above, consider what happens if the members of this pair are separated to a large distance, such that they cannot instantly annihilate. In that case we have two (real) particles bearing charges, charges whose original purpose was to restore the symmetry of the pair by causing their annihilation - wherefore we see directly that the charges (and spin) of matter do indeed arise as the symmetry debts of light. This rule applies to all the charges of matter, not just to the simple case of electric charge. Therefore, a conceptual approach to the unified field theory is to identify the broken symmetries associated with each of the four forces (and charges) of physics, including gravity (see below), relating all to symmetries of light, either directly or indirectly. To pursue this discussion in greater detail, see: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory" and "A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory".
Light and Gravity
Does Light Produce a Gravitational Field?
Here I must digress to emphasize a crucial point regarding light and gravity. Free energy produces no gravitational field, so long as it is truly free, that is, moving with velocity c in vacuum. Light cannot produce a gravitational field because it is a "non-local" energy form - light has no specifiable location in spacetime (the "Interval" of light = zero) and hence light could not possibly provide a center for a gravitational field. An uncentered gravitational field is a violation of the conservation of energy, so light cannot produce one. Furthermore, if light did produce a gravitational field, then the Universe would surely have been trapped inside a black hole from its inception, for if all forms of energy produce gravity, then there can be no escape from a primordial black hole. The only reason the Universe unfolds from its initial singularity is that almost all of its energy is in the form of light (because of matter-antimatter annihilations) which produces no gravity, but instead blasts apart the small residue of matter forming our material Cosmos. Finally, we shall see that the role of gravity is to produce the time dimension of bound energy. Since light has no time dimension and no bound energy, light has no need of a gravitational field. If light produced a gravitational field, it would destroy the perfect symmetry of light and prevent light from functioning as the electromagnetic gauge of metric symmetry and entropy. I belabor the point because the scientific "establishment" seems to believe that light or free energy produces a gravitational field. It is this misconception which is the probable reason why the scientific "establishment" has not been able to unify gravitation with the other forces.
The mistake apparently comes about because of Einstein's famous formula equating free and bound energy: E = mcc. One reads that because energy is equivalent to mass, therefore all energy (including light) produces gravity. This is an unexamined assumption, resting largely on Einstein's reputation for infallibility in this particular area. In fact, it is false; the penalty for failing to distinguish between free and bound energy in physical theory is heavy indeed. One finds, for example, that one cannot understand the role of gravity or unify gravity with the other forces!
While Einstein's formula is perfectly correct, it does not mean that free and bound energy are the same in every respect - light is obviously different in many fundamental properties from bowling balls. One of the differences is that bowling balls produce gravity, light does not. The confusion is compounded when light is absorbed by the electron shell of an atom, or free energy is captured as the momentum of a moving massive object. These are cases where free energy is converted to bound energy in the form of momentum. When this happens, light loses its intrinsic motion c and becomes bound energy, acquiring in the process a non-zero "Interval", a specifiable location in spacetime. Once bound, light's energy does indeed contribute to the production of a gravitational field, because then it can provide a center for one - light's energy just becomes part and parcel of the massive object, be it atom or bowling ball. But it is no longer light, no longer free energy.
Another point of confusion seems to be that light is bent by a gravitational field. But being affected by gravity is not the same as producing gravity. Light is bent by a gravitational field because gravity is the actual flow of spacetime, and when spacetime moves, everything in it, including the light it is transmitting, is carried along with it.
That free energy moving in vacuum at velocity c does not produce gravity is absolutely crucial to understanding the theory presented here concerning the role of gravity and its unification with the other forces. While I defer to Einstein's authority in almost every other matter, here I (reluctantly) part from the scientific hero of my youth - or at least with the "establishment's" interpretation of his thinking on this point.
Einstein distinguished between the energy of a gravitational field in free space (which he seems to treat as a metric stress tensor producing a gravitational field whether located inside or outside a planet - "gravity gravitates"), and a free electromagnetic field, which he apparently classifies as another form of matter. This I believe is a mistake: free electromagnetic energy must be gravitationally distinguished from bound electromagnetic energy. Unlike gravitation, the free electromagnetic field does not cause a metric stress in spacetime (does not "warp" or "curve" spacetime), and so should not be treated under the same rules and assumptions as the spatial energy ("self energy") of the free gravitational field: even if "gravity gravitates", light does not. (See Einstein's discussion on page 143, section 14, in the Dover paperback "The Principle of Relativity" 1952.)
Symmetry and Gravity
I refer to the symmetry debt carried by gravity as "location" and the gravitational charge as "location" charge. The (broken) symmetry recorded by this charge is that of light's "non-local" character. Because light's "Interval" = zero, light has no specifiable location in spacetime. Light has no time dimension, and no spatial dimension in the direction of propagation. Lacking 2 dimensions, light's position cannot be determined in either 3 dimensional space or 4 dimensional spacetime. Consequently, in its own reference frame, light is everywhere simultaneously, and hence light's energy is symmetrically distributed throughout the Cosmos. (We perceive this symmetry indirectly as light's effectively "infinite" velocity.) This distributional symmetry is broken when free energy becomes bound and light loses its intrinsic motion c. Bound energy has a time dimension, a non-zero Interval, and a definite position in spacetime. Lacking intrinsic motion c, bound energy does not have distributional symmetry with respect to its energy content in spacetime; rather, bound energy is an undistributed lump of energy with a highly concentrated "rest mass" energy: E = mcc. Hence bound energy breaks the non-local distributional symmetry of free energy. This broken symmetry (of non-locality) will require conservation in accordance with Noether's theorem - hence the "location" symmetry debt and charge of gravitation.
The clue that the "location" charge/debt belongs to gravity and not to some other force (or is not simply ignored by Nature) is the fact that a gravitational field points to a center, to a definite location in spacetime, in the compelling language of metric or inertial force, a dimensional force field energetically specifying a particular location in spacetime (the force indicates this point by bodily carrying you there). Moreover, the magnitude and intensity of a gravitational field is proportional to the amount and the concentration (density) of mass energy located at that point. As Newton showed, large gravitational fields such as Earth's are simply the summation of the small fields surrounding each and every massive particle of which they are composed.
Because gravity is the only active force which specifically identifies the total mass, density, and spacetime location of bound energy, there is little doubt but that we have correctly identified gravity as the carrier of the debt of the broken symmetry of the non-local distribution of light's energy in spacetime. Furthermore, because symmetry debts are expressed as charges which create forces whose actions function to return the system to symmetry (the forces act to "pay" the symmetry debt), we would expect, if this identification is correct, that gravity would be found acting to return bound energy to free energy, thus restoring the distributional symmetry of light's energy. This of course is exactly what happens in our Sun and the stars, where the gravitational conversion of bound to free energy is ongoing. Gravity will continue to collect matter until it builds a body, such as a star, large enough to ignite the nuclear fires and convert bound energy to free energy.
The process is carried to completion in the "Hawking radiation" of black holes. Finally, the gravitational force vanishes when all bound energy is converted to free energy, completely paying the symmetry debt. Black holes are the observational evidence that gravity indeed converts space and spatial entropy to time and temporal entropy; the "event horizon" of a black hole is a time-entropy surface (the Bekenstein-Hawking theorem).
The more interesting part of the gravitational "location" charge is that time is the active principle of the charge: it is time that completes the specification of bound energy's fixed location in spacetime, and time that makes the gravitational charge an entropic charge - a charge with intrinsic dimensional motion. Thus entropy and symmetry are combined in the gravitational charge, which distinguishes this charge from all others, in that gravity is absolutely insatiable in its energy and activity. As we shall see below, gravity is actually the spatial consequence of, and the evidence for, the intrinsic motion of time.
In terms of Noether's theorem, because gravity can be considered a charge conserving a symmetry debt of light ("non-locality"), gravity can be brought under the umbrella of charge conservation provided by Noether's theorem. Moreover, because the spatial entropy drive and symmetric energy state of free energy are both gauged by the electromagnetic constant c, a link is forged between entropy and Noether's theorem: the spatial entropy drive of light's intrinsic motion must be conserved. As we shall see below, this is part of gravity's conservation role and why the "Hawking radiation" of black holes must occur. (See: "The Double Conservation Role of Gravity".)
Gravity and Entropy
Another member of the "Conservation Tetrahedron" is entropy, the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Like light's raw energy and symmetry, the entropy of light is also conserved (in metrically equivalent units), a conservation accomplished by gravitation and quantum mechanics in transformations between free and bound energy (either direction). (See also: "Spatial vs Temporal Entropy" and "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
Both forms of electromagnetic energy must have an entropy drive, bound energy no less than free energy. The entropy drive of free energy is the intrinsic motion of light, expanding and cooling the spatial Universe, as we have seen above. In the case of bound energy, the entropy drive is the intrinsic motion of time, causing the aging and decay of matter and information and the expansion of history. The entropy drives c and T are metrically equivalent, and they play equivalent roles for their associated energy types: both regulate the creation of dimensional conservation domains, space for light, and history for information (matter's causal matrix), while gravity ("intrinsic motion G") regulates the creation of spacetime for the combination of free and bound energy. Spacetime is the combined dimensional domain in which free and bound energy forms can interact and be used, transformed, and conserved simultaneously. The dimensions are entropy domains, established by the operation of the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics, driven by the intrinsic motions of light, time, and gravity, and regulated by the entropy gauges of free and bound energy, c and T, and the entropy conversion gauge, G.
Entropy, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, is an adjunct of the 1st law, energy conservation. The role of entropy is to prevent the abuse of energy: entropy forbids the use of the same energy twice to produce the same net work - the "perpetual motion machine": "once used, twice abused". No machine can create net energy. Thus entropy protects energy conservation, and is a necessary corollary to the 1st law, which in its absence would disallow any use or transformation of energy at all. Hence entropy is like interest on capital, it is the price we must pay for the use of energy, preventing us from abusing the privilege. The enforcement or "teeth" of the entropy law lies in the effectively "infinite" velocities of light and time, causing the inexorable expansion and cooling of the Universe, and the aging and decay of matter, information, and history. Neither fast space ship nor "time machine" can recover lost radiant heat or opportunity; the protection of causality is part of entropy's function. It is in the creation of the entropy domains of space and time that the true connection between the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics is realized. The dimensional borders of these entropy domains are sealed against causality and energy violations, by the effectively infinite velocities of light and time (and sealed gravitationally against "wormholes" by the "event horizon" and central "singularity" of black holes).
In the conversion of free to bound energy, how do we pass from the entropy drive of free energy, the intrinsic motion of light, to the entropy drive of bound energy, the intrinsic motion of time? And how are their two entropy gauges (c and T) equilibrated, such that they can work together in their combined entropy domain of spacetime, where free and bound energy must be able to interact? This crucial and delicate transformation is the role of gravity, the third type of primordial or "pure" entropy, characterized by its intrinsic dimensional motion G. Both time and light are characterized by an expanding, positive entropy (creating history and space), but gravity produces contracting or negative spatial entropy. Hence when gravity transforms one type of positive entropy to the other, the negative gravitational entropy cancels (quantitatively) the positive entropy of what it transforms, so in the final result we end with the same amount of positive entropy (in metrically equivalent units), but of a different type. Gravity causes the Universe to contract spatially (or expand less rapidly spatially) because in the conversion of light to matter, gravity is converting space and expansive spatial entropy into time and expansive temporal (historical) entropy. However, as the stars convert mass to light over the eons, and because no new matter has been created since the Big Bang, the total amount of gravitational energy in the Universe must decrease, resulting in a lessening of its decelerating effect. This is certainly (at least) a contributing cause, and perhaps the whole cause, of the "accelerating Universe" of recent reports (see: Science 19 Dec. 2003 page 2038).
The method or mechanism by which the transformation of spatial entropy to temporal entropy is accomplished is on the one hand disarmingly simple, yet on the other hand it required the genius of Einstein to realize that space and time are inseparably joined dimensions, interconvertible in the forward temporal direction, and that gravitation is a dimensional force or effect. Quite simply, gravity consumes (annihilates) space, extracting a temporal residue, the metric equivalent of the space consumed. This temporal residue becomes the entropy drive of the matter which produced the gravity. The temporal entropy gauge is naturally equilibrated with the spatial entropy gauge because it is extracted from space - it can not be other than the metric equivalent of the consumed space. The amount of time produced from space by gravity is Gm in terms of the temporal entropy-energy for any given mass. Hence gravity conserves the entropy of free energy (in metrically equivalent terms) by transforming it to the entropy of bound energy, decelerating the Universal expansion accordingly. This conservation is also demonstrated in the reverse reaction, in which gravity transforms matter to light (as in the stars), recovering the free energy and its spatial entropy (the intrinsic motion of light) which had been "temporarily" stored in matter. Because the expansion of spacetime is driven by velocity c, we see from the gravitational deceleration of the cosmic expansion that the time dimension of matter is ultimately funded by the spatial entropy drive of free energy.
Examined at the microscopic level of quantum mechanics, the conversion of space to time involves the simple switch of implicit time to explicit time, of the "wavelength" or spatial component of the electromagnetic wave to the "frequency" or temporal component of the wave. The presence of both space and time are implied in the standard formulation of the velocity of light: wavelength multiplied by frequency = c. Even though light has no time dimension, the implicit presence of time in the wave is clearly indicated by "frequency". Time is the implicit driver of the intrinsic motion of light: the symmetric spatial or "wavelength" component of the wave "flees" the asymmetric temporal or "frequency" component of the wave, which is however an embedded element of the wave's own nature. Implicit time is thus the proverbial "bur under the saddle" which causes the eternal and intrinsic (self-motivated) motion of light, the expression of spatial entropy. This same temporal element becomes explicit when light loses its intrinsic motion and becomes bound energy in a stationary particle or similarly immobile energy form. In bound energy, the roles of the spatial and temporal components of the wave are reversed, and space chases time (or is pulled by time) into the historic domain, creating the gravitational collapse of spacetime. So long as light continues to move at velocity c, time remains suppressed to an implicit state, maintaining metric symmetry. The suppression of time is the principle role of c as the symmetry gauge of the spatial metric. Time, whether in its implicit or explicit role, is the entropy driver of the Universe of light and matter.
The negative value of G arises because it takes energy to "flip" the "entropy coin" from implicit symmetric time to explicit asymmetric time. The asymmetric entropy of time and bound energy is more expensive to produce than the symmetric entropy of space and free energy, and they are produced only from each other. Hence gravity always operates in a "deficit economy" of borrowed or "negative" energy. Space collapses to the gravitational center of mass in an attempt to redress this entropy-energy deficit, but because of time's one-way intrinsic motion into history (at right angles to all three spatial dimensions), this imported entropy-energy is used instead to expand historic spacetime, and the gravitational entropy-energy deficit in never satisfied. (See also: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
Because one and the same temporal element causes (in its implicit state) the intrinsic motion of light (the entropy expression of free energy), and (in its explicit state) the intrinsic motion of time and gravity (the entropy expression of bound energy), the conservation circuit between spatial and temporal entropy as mediated by gravity is extremely simple and immediate. The gravitational transfer of the expansive energy of the spatial Cosmos to the expansive energy of the historic Cosmos, with its consequent deceleration of the universal spatial expansion, occurs locally and instantly with the switch of the temporal element of an electromagnetic wave from an implicit to an explicit condition. This simple switch or "flip" of the electromagnetic "entropy coin", is the whole difference between the positive spatial entropy of the intrinsic motion of light, and the negative spatial entropy of gravitation. The spatial expansion of the Cosmos is decelerated because of the gravitational annihilation of space. The magnitude of G is likewise determined by the small energetic difference between the symmetric spatial entropy (S) of free energy, and the asymmetric temporal entropy (T) of bound energy: S - T = -G. In other words, the magnitude of G is just equivalent to the energetic difference between implicit (S) and explicit (T) time. (See: "Gravity Diagram No. 2".)
Because the time residue extracted from space is entropic, that is, has intrinsic dimensional motion, it immediately moves off in a non-spatial (temporal) direction which is at right angles to all three spatial dimensions, into the expanding historic conservation domain. Because space and time are coupled, this intrinsic, entropic, temporal motion drags space after it, squeezing space into the zero-dimensional beginning of the one-dimensional, one-way time line, which is situated at the gravitational center of mass. This squeezing of the spatial dimensions to nothing, or alternatively, the self-annihilation of the opposing spatial dimensions at the gravitational center of mass (+x annihilates -x, etc.), is the mechanical process by which the temporal residue is wrung out of space by gravity (+T does not annihilate -T in this process because being one-way, there is no -T). Gravity is actually the spatial consequence of the intrinsic motion of time - time and gravity induce each other in an endless loop, much as the electric and magnetic fields of light induce each other.
The concept of gravity as the actual motion of spacetime rather than as a static "warpage", "curvature", or stress potential of the spacetime metric is allowed by Einstein's famous "Equivalence Principle", which essentially states that we cannot distinguish between an accelerated motion through spacetime, as in a rocket ship, or spacetime accelerating through us, as in a gravitational field on the surface of Earth. Inertial and gravitational "g" forces (and masses) are equivalent. (See also: "Extending Einstein's Equivalence Principle".)
It is because time is symmetrically connected to all three spatial dimensions that the gravitational force is spherically symmetric; gravity is one-way because time is one-way (time is one-way to protect causality); gravity is weak because it is entropy-energy. Gm, where m refers to the mass of the Earth, is the entropy-energy contained in Earth's time dimension, or the energy required to produce Earth's time dimension from space. Energy is required to pass from symmetric spatial to asymmetric temporal entropy (hence gravity is said to be a "negative" form of energy), whereas energy is released in the opposite transformation. The magnitude of G is determined by the energy differential between the symmetric spatial entropy drive (S) of free energy ("the intrinsic motion of light") and the asymmetric temporal entropy drive (T) of bound energy ("the intrinsic motion of time"): S - T = -G. The positive entropy energy associated with the expansion of space provides the energy to create Earth's time dimension, slowing the expansion and balancing the entropy equation. The gravitational (and quantum mechanical) mechanism of entropy conversion is discussed in greater detail in other papers and their associated diagrams. See: "Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics"; "A Description of Gravitation", "The Conversion of Space to Time", and other related papers and diagrams on this website. The gravitational conversion of spatial (S) to temporal (T) entropy can be symbolically represented as:
-Gm(S) = T
-Gm(S) - T = 0
Gravity, Entropy, and Symmetry
Gravity is a complex force. All would be well with the above analysis if we considered only the entropy of planets such as Earth, and did not have the strange phenomenon of our Sun, where gravity produces the time dimension of the Sun on the one hand, but destroys it on the other, in the gravitational conversion of bound energy to free energy. The process goes to completion via Hawking's gravitational "quantum radiance" of black holes, in which gravity completely converts matter to light. How can gravity be acting simultaneously in opposite directions at once, consuming space and creating time on the one hand, and destroying matter and time and creating light and space on the other? The explanation lies in the fact that entropy and symmetry conservation are going on simultaneously, both involving gravity, both involving conserved attributes of the symmetry/entropy gauge/drive "c". In fact, because time is really the active member of the entropy conservation process, with gravity in a passive role (space being simply dragged along by the intrinsic motion of time), we can say that when entropy is being conserved, time is the active partner and gravity is passively involved, and conversely, when symmetry is being conserved, as in the conversion of mass to free energy, gravity is the active partner and time is only passively involved. Gravity and time are a linked pair (much like the electric and magnetic fields), so where one acts, the other must be at least passively present. It is because the negative entropy is spatial (symmetry conservation) and the positive entropy is temporal (entropy conservation) that both can go forward simultaneously.
Gravity represents both an entropy debt and a symmetry debt of light, and the two conservation roles appear to compete with each other (but see the duet with time, noted above). In the early stages of this competition, as in the case of small bodies and planets like Earth, gravity is only seen in its entropy conservation role, converting the entropy drive of free energy, the intrinsic motion of light (as gauged by "velocity c"), into the entropy drive of bound energy, the intrinsic motion of matter's time dimension (as gauged by "velocity T"). Later in the game, in much larger collections of matter such as our Sun and the stars, we see the gravitational symmetry conservation role also coming into play, through the conversion of bound energy to free energy (via the nucleosynthetic pathway) operating simultaneously with the entropy conservation role. Finally, in larger/denser objects still, we reach the ultimate gravitational state of the black hole, in which gravity seems once again to simply play the entropy conservation role, converting space to time. But as Hawking discovered, black holes do radiate energy (Hawking's "quantum radiance"). The reason is again gravity's symmetry conservation role - because bound energy's entropy is less symmetric than free energy's entropy, since time is one-way. This is the symmetry conservation reason why Hawking's quantum radiance of black holes must occur: in the end, even the symmetry of entropy is conserved. (See: "The Double Conservation Role of Gravitation").
Parameters of Entropy and Gravity
The magnitude of G is determined by the small energy difference between the symmetric spatial entropy drive (S) of light (the intrinsic motion of light, as gauged by "velocity c"), and the asymmetric temporal entropy drive (T) of matter (the intrinsic motion of matter's time dimension, as gauged by "velocity T"): S - T = -G. This is equivalent to the small energy difference between implicit (S) and explicit (T) time. (See: "Gravity Diagram No. 2".)
The gravitational conversion of space and spatial entropy (S) to time and temporal entropy (T), can be represented as:
-Gm(S) = T
-Gm(S) - T = 0
The total negative gravitational energy of matter is equal to its positive rest mass energy - as demonstrated by black hole theory. This concept helps us understand the creation of matter (or bound energy generally) as a zero-sum enterprise requiring no net energy. This argument, however, cannot be used to explain the origin of light, which as an energy form was/is far more abundant than matter, and will remain as the only energy form when matter decays.
5) As magnetism is the invisible, projective, electrically active ("electro-motive") force of the loadstone, so gravity is the invisible, projective, dimensionally active ("inertio-motive") force of the ordinary rock. In the case of magnetism, we trace the force back to the moving electric charges of atoms in the loadstone; in the case of gravity, we trace the force back to the moving temporal charges of bound energy in the rock. A moving electric charge creates a magnetic field; a moving temporal charge creates a gravitational field. In both cases the field is produced at right angles to the current. Both relations are reciprocal: moving magnetic and spatial fields create electric and temporal currents. This is the analogy between electromagnetism and gravitation which so intrigued Einstein. The analogy is fundamentally due to the effect of Noether's Theorem upon the conservation operations of both the electromagnetic field and the metric field of spacetime.
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