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Showing posts from November, 2022

Our cosmic event horizon on a string

A Cosmic Stringy Adventure ! As we previously discussed, our spacetime characterised by a positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$. The natural bounds are then a minimal  ultraviolet (UV) length $l_{UV} = 2L_P$ and an infrared (IR) cosmological horizon $l_{\Lambda}$.  This dual-boundary spacetime enforces a fundamental Compton–gravitational duality . Every geometric scale $r$ carries two natural mass definitions: $$m_C(r) = \frac{\hbar}{rc}, \qquad m_G(r) = \frac{c^2}{4G}\ r$$ The product of these masses, $m_C \ m_G = M_P^2/4$, is scale-independent. They intersect exclusively at the UV boundary $r = l_{UV}$, defining a maximal local force in GR: $F_{max} = c^4 / 4G$. At the opposite extreme, the Compton mass evaluated at the IR horizon yields the fundamental  spectral gap  (not a particle) of the universe: $m_s = \hbar / (l_{\Lambda} c)$.  In this post, to explore how energy propagates through this dual-scale geometry, we model the mass gap $m_s$ as a null-ener...

The Cosmological Constant Problem Revisited

In a  previous  post we mentioned how the discrepancy in the classical and quantum estimates of the stiffness of space-time was another version of the cosmological constant  problem (CCP). You will find some people claiming this is a non-problem , however, the CCP is actually one of the two great naturalness problems in modern physics.   $$\Lambda \simeq 1.3 \times 10^{-52}\ \mathrm{m}^{-2}$$ yet naïve quantum field theory (QFT) estimates of vacuum energy overshoot the observed value by an astonishing factor of order $10^{121}$. This discrepancy is often expressed as the ratio between the Planck energy density and the observed dark energy density: $$\frac{\rho_{\text{Planck}}}{\rho_\Lambda} \sim 10^{121}$$ where $$\rho_\Lambda = \frac{\Lambda c^2}{8\pi G}, \qquad \rho_{\text{Planck}} = \frac{c^5}{\hbar G^2}$$   At face value, this looks like a total failure of theoretical physics. However, this interpretation rests on an assumption that turns out to be wr...

The fabric of space-time: stiffer than steel or weaker than jello?

  The notorious rubber sheet analogy of spacetime teaches one concept and once concept only: Mass-energy causes curvature of space-time.   When a gravitating mass recedes from a region of space-time the curvature diminishes. The field equations of General Relativity don’t have an explicit term for this elastic property, but the framework as a whole does have that property. As very large mass-energies are required to generate gravitational waves (ripples in space-time), the elastic property of space-time is generally regarded as very stiff One other interesting consideration here is that elasticity is an emergent phenomenon. There is a great deal of interest in the idea that gravity is similarly emergent .   In 2018, McDonald quantified the classical stiffness of space-time via Youngs Modulus .  Classical answer: Youngs Modulus of space-time $\sim$ 20 orders of magnitude greater than steel.   DALL.E2 depiction of classical space-time. (Credit SR Anderso...

Zitter at the Edge of Spacetime

 In a previous post we introduced the idea that our current Universe has boundary conditions.     We also showed a diagram similar to Figure 1 below. Except here, we are once again thinking about the future dS state . Figure 1 . For an observer at O inside the cosmic event horizon (CEH) with radius $l_{\Lambda}$, the universe can be divided into two sub-vacuums, $(A)$ inside the CEH, and $(B)$, outside. The horizon surface $\Sigma$ has entanglement entropy $S_{dS}$ and rest energy $E_H$   Figure 2. The maximum entropy of the Universe (credit: Lineweaver ).   Now, a comoving volume of the Universe, when considered together with its associated cosmic event horizon, forms a thermodynamically closed system obeying the generalised second law, $$dS_{\text{bulk}} + dS_{\text{horizon}} \ge 0$$. The maximum entropy of a closed system, in this case  ( Figure 2 ) with $L=2 \pi l_{\Lambda}$, the circumference of a circle with radius  $l_{\Lambda}$, ...