Essays presenting an alternative to dark matter, a new version of Mach’s Principle, a prototype unified model for light and a protocol for a unified field theory that brings these other ideas together. Includes ideas for experiments and thought experiments that can test the ideas. Written in plain English and intended to provoke and encourage open thinking about major issues in modern physics.
A novel hypothesis for explaining the orbiting speeds of stars in spiral galaxies without requiring dark matter or modified gravity. Suggests that the speeds are consistent with Kepler’s Law if the correct reference frame for understanding their dynamics is influenced by the vast amount of rotating matter in the local galaxy. The hypothesis has many interesting implications and readily lends...
The precise correspondence between inertial reference frames and what used to be called “the fixed stars” cannot be a coincidence, and yet Mach’s Principal has struggled to find a place in modern cosmology. This essay discusses Mach’s Principle and develops a version of it that does not involve action at a distance. A Brief History Reference frames are needed to...
The Bullet Cluster is a spectacular piece of cosmological evidence showing a cluster of galaxies that has passed through an even bigger cluster. Interpretations of this image claim that it proves the existence of dark matter. This essay questions this interpretation. It also suggests a novel idea that does not involve dark matter or modifying the laws of gravity. The Bullet...
The Mixed Rotational Reference Frame Effect (MiRRFe) hypothesis would explain the flat rotation curves of stars in spiral galaxies without requiring dark matter. A study of the shape of old supernovae shells might be able to test this hypothesis. Introduction The Mixed Rotational Reference Frame (MiRRFe) hypothesis suggests that stars in spiral galaxies are actually orbiting at their correct...
The Mixed Rotational Reference Frame effect (MiRRFe) is a hypothesis that the orbital speeds of stars in spiral galaxies are exactly at their correct Keplerian values with respect to a Machian reference frame related to both the local galaxy and the Universe at large. It provides an alternative to the dark matter hypothesis. A test of the MiRRFe hypothesis using the shapes of...
This essay suggests that another loophole might exist in typical optical Bell Experiments, causing a breach of the conditions for Bell’s Theorem to apply and invalidating the current claims that Einstein was wrong in his famous debate with Bohr about locality and realism. It goes on to suggest a simple explanation of the experimental results that does not involve ‘instantaneous...
Using two mutually inconsistent models for light is unsatisfactory. A century ago the great scientists of the day could not reconcile the two models of light and decided to park the issue in the form of wave-particle duality. It was a temporary expediency but it is now taught as an unfathomable truth. It isn’t. It is time to for clever fresh thinking to develop a...
A preceding essay argued that it might be possible to build a single, simple, self-consistent model for light and it would be timely to do so. As a provocation it makes a start on constructing a bottom up approach it calls ‘phots’. This essay continues the building process for the prototype phot model by doing a preliminary check of its consistency with the major types of...
A preceding essay argued that it might be possible to build a single, simple, self-consistent model for light and it would be timely to do so. As a provocation it makes a start on constructing a bottom up approach it calls ‘phots’. This essay continues this work by collecting more key experimental evidence and using it to build a framework for a unified model of light. A start is...
A simple edge diffraction experiment on light is described and the observations are discussed using the wave model, particle model and a prototype unified model for light called phots. The evidence is relevant to an investigation of whether a unified model for light might be possible. Introduction Previous essays in this series challenged the assumption that wave-particle...
The one slit optical interference experiment is described using the wave model, particle model and a prototype unified model of light called phots. The evidence is part of a project to investigate whether a unified model for light might be possible. Introduction Previous essays in this series challenged the assumption that wave-particle duality is just a fundamental mystery of...
This essay gives three examples as to how the results of Young’s Double Slit Experiments might be explainable in ways that are consistent with the experimental fact that light comes in discrete parcels. This is significant because Young’s Double Slit experiments are generally held to be impossible to describe in terms of photons and hence they contributed to the awkward compromise...
Discusses Mach-Zehnder interferometers in terms of a prototype unified model for light. Part of a series arguing that a unified model for light should be possible and setting out a protocol for achieving this. The emerging unitary model, code named ‘phots’, was created for heuristic purposes but is turning out to have some promise. Introduction Mach-Zehnder, interferometers...
Argues that wave-particle duality is a weakness in the foundations of physics. Suggests abandoning inadequate analogies, accumulating evidence from experiments into a holistic framework and using open-minded deductive logic to search for credible and comprehensive unified model. As an example it makes a start on assembling the evidence from classic optical experiments. The approach...
A symmetric twin paradox thought experiment is described and discussed. It raises some interesting questions about relativity. It is also open to experimental testing using atomic clocks orbiting the Earth. The data might be available already. Introduction The twin paradox is well known in Special Relativity and is usually explained by reference to the different levels of acceleration...
The Ehrenfest Paradox troubled Einstein and was a spur to his development of General Relativity. It seems Einstein thought his Special Relativity was incomplete in its approach to rotating and accelerating reference frames. In view of the inability of modern physics to explain the rotational speeds of stars in spiral galaxies (unless dark matter exists) any issues related to orbits and...
The Michelson-Morley interferometer was used to assert the aether does not exist. The Sagnac interferometer was used to assert the aether does exist. These experiments are discussed because they are relevant to the development of a unified model for light (phot model) and also to the debate about whether there is a universal spacetime ‘fabric’ or field responsible for the inertial...
From the ancient Greeks to the present there has been a persistent intuition in physics that the Universe must be filled with an omnipresent background ‘something’. This essay explores whether this idea might be viable. It starts with a hypothetical field dubbed Q and then begins a process of exploring which aspects are consistent with experimental evidence and which not. ...
Resurrects the concept of a universal background field as a potential explanation to the dark matter problem and some other unresolved issues in physics. The idea of a universal background field is a persistent intuition in physics but it is currently out of fashion. However, if dark matter cannot be found then modern physics cannot explain the gross motion of stars in spiral galaxies, except by...
Bell’s SpaceShips Paradox is interesting because it highlights the issue of whether Lorentzian length contraction only applies to physical objects travelling at very high speeds, or whether it applies to the abstract concept of length in a fast moving frame generally. Introduction Bell’s spaceship paradox is a thought experiment in Special Relativity, first described by E. Dewan and M...
The existence of a luminiferous aether has never been disproved – it was just thought to be unobservable and hence not very useful. However, if the luminferous aether is also a universal background field responsible for inertia effects it gives rise to predictions that can be tested by experiments. If validated the combined theory would be relevant to some of the serious issues...
The current crisis in theoretical physics demands fresh thinking, including a relook at old ideas. The concept of a background field explaining the origins of mass and inertia is one example, and the concept of a luminiferous aether is another. The idea that both concepts are one and the same is intriguing. Q theory is an evidence based approach to investigating this possibility...
A short essay discussing the role of mathematics in physics. Role of Mathematics In Physics Mathematics is the logical study of patterns. It typically consists of two things: a set of things, and a set of operations on the things. For example, think of arithmetic. This consists of a set of numbers and a set of operations that do things to numbers i.e. additions...
This series of essays arose from a personal on-line adventure through the foundations of modern physics. They provided a method for organising information and ideas. The adventure was so interesting I decided to share the essays in case anyone else found them enjoyable or thought provoking. Essays were published online in 2018 and 2022 and tis latest set in mid 2024. There...
