What have electrons, black holes and Clifford Algebra ever done for us?

A Cosmic Stringy Adventure ! In a previous  post, we showed that a positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$ implies a minimal length  $l_{UV} = 2L_P$, a mass gap (aka minimum GR local "mass" aka not really a mass) $m_s = M_P/2$, and a scale-invariant maximum force $c^4/(4G)$. We also established the Compton–gravitational duality: every scale $r$ carries two natural masses: $$m_C(r) = \frac{\hbar}{rc}, \qquad m_G(r) = \frac{c^2}{4G}\ r$$ whose product $m_C \  m_G = M_P^2/4$ is scale-independent (UV-IR duality),  and which coincide only at $r = l_{UV}$.  In this post , we explore what happens when McDormand starts "swinging" that minimal mass on a cosmic string, and we discover a mass-energy flux that doesn't care whether the string is Planck-sized or horizon-sized.  McDormand with a cosmic light-like  null-energy flow $m_{s}$, along a "cosmic string" of radius $l_{\Lambda}$, giving a centripetal force $F_{local}=m_{s} \ c^2/l_{\Lambda}$.    ...

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 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...

 In a previous post we introduced the idea that our current Universe has boundary conditions.    Classical 1+1 dS space-time visualized as basketball hoop, with the up/down slam-dunk direction being the time dimension, and the hoop circumference the space dimension.    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 partition of the Universe can be treated as a closed system for which $dS \geq0$. The maximum entropy of a closed system, in this case  ( Figure 2 ) with $L=2 \pi l_{\Lambda}$, the circum...