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November 26, 2009 10:00 AM

This is pretty interesting if you are into this sort of thing. For decades, there have been irreconcilable differences between quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity. A new theory from physicist Peter YoHava divorces time from space at high energies, proposing that the stitching of time to space happens as a phase transition at lower energies. Now, you might ask, what’s the big deal with that? Well, before trying things this way, any time physicists tried to merge gravity into quantum mechanics, their equations returned meaningless answers (like “infinity” for the product of two variables). Trimming time from the equations banishes the infinities.

This would have seemed strange to Einstein, who’s own theorizing arose from visualizing how things worked. But he would have had no way to visualize how things worked before a phase transition combined time and space. So there you have it. Does it really work? Physicists don’t seem to be certain about it at this point, but early results are positive and they are very excited.

HoYavaʼs theory has been generating excitement since he proposed it in January, and physicists met to discuss it at a meeting in November at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. In particular, physicists have been checking if the model correctly describes the universe we see today. General relativity scored a knockout blow when Einstein predicted the motion of Mercury with greater accuracy than Newtonʼs theory of gravity could.

Can HoYYava gravity claim the same success? The first tentative answers coming in say “yes.” Francisco Lobo, now at the University of Lisbon, and his colleagues have found a good match with the movement of planets.

Something to keep your eyes on if this sort of thing excites you too. Such a change in our understanding of the world would likely produce surprising real world consequences.

HoYava gravity may also create the “illusion of dark matter,” says cosmologist Shinji Mukohyama of Tokyo University. In the September Physical Review D, he explains that in certain circumstances HoYavaʼs graviton fluctuates as it interacts with normal matter, making gravity pull a bit more strongly than expected in general relativity. The effect could make galaxies appear to contain more matter than can be seen. If thatʼs not enough, cosmologist Mu-In Park of Chonbuk National University in South Korea believes that HoYava gravity may also be behind the accelerated expansion of theuniverse, currently attributed to a mysterious dark energy. One of the leading explanations for its origin is that empty space contains some intrinsic energy that pushes the universe outward. This intrinsic energy cannot be accounted for by general relativity but pops naturally out of the equations of HoYava gravity, according to Park.

They’ve still got work to do, but it’s exciting times in physics right now.

LATE UPDATE: Another SciAm article makes the assertion that people use their skin to help them hear. Would have some ramifications to the infrasound theory,right?

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