| Subject: RE: Gravity and its
speed. The number of dimensions. Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 12:37:59 -0600
Dear Bill,
I think it's too early
yet to assume that gravity always moves at light speed, and one should
wait awhile. As with so many other things, one has different
experiments supporting different interpretations.
First, what exactly is
velocity, and what is a velocity of c?
Well, velocity is
simply a rotation of the moving object having that velocity, out of the
laboratory 3-frame, with respect to its lab frame propagation
direction. Since we normally model in only 4 dimensions, that rotation
has to be toward the time axis. So one gets special relativity, time
dilation, Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, etc. from the fact that
velocity is rotation.
The velocity c just
means that a full orthorotation has now occurred, and the "length along
the line of motion" of the object has reduced to zero as seen by the lab
observer. So it is seen as a sort of wavefront moving at speed c, which
is reminiscent of a photon or a planar EM wave. The object in its own
"frame" is perfectly happy to still be a normal 3-space object.
With a 4-model, we
only get a single orthogonal rotation available, so speed c (a single
orthogonal rotation) is all we can get. That is a model characteristic.
If we change the model
and add more dimensions, that is not the limit anymore since multiple
successive orthorotations are available away from the lab frame. So we
can have c, c-squared, c-cubed, etc. and essentially anywhere in
between.
And it does indeed
take many more dimensions than just four, to successfully model particle
physics.
In my present view, we
are not going to be looking at "either-or" cases. To say that speed c
is the fastest possible is, e.g., to ignore de Broglie waves, which
always move faster than light speed. If we say that de Broglie waves
are not real, we then do away with much of modern physics altogether.
Also, longitudinal EM waves move at superluminal velocities easily, and
in the common old garden variety electrodynamics the potential itself
can move at infinite speeds in certain gauges, just appearing everywhere
at once, wherever it will be.
Much of the heat and
fury over such "disagreements" is really a disagreement between
interpretations and also between different models. Certainly we measure
entities that move at speed c! And we also can detect the interaction
results of entities that seem to move faster than c.
In an orthorotational
model, speed c is all you can get if you are limited to four
dimensions. Since that seems to be our "most immediate" universe's
aspect, we see and measure lots of speed c entities. However, we also
detect the traces of more subtle superluminal entities as well.
So I don't think it's
an "either c or not" simple case. We do not measure gravity itself
anyway; but only effects from some interaction with it that we detect.
This means that the conditions of the detection process are also
directly involved.
Anyway, I personally
think the jury is still out on this one, as far as any "ultimate"
answer. There are some problems for which gravity at the speed of light
seems to be perfectly appropriate. There are others where it seems not
to be appropriate.
Since just about every
major weapons lab on earth has now discovered longitudinal EM waves, I
suspect that in the future, when some of the clandestine stuff is
eventually made public, one is going to be very surprised to find that
lightspeed is not a limitation, even of electrical signals.
Superluminal signaling has indeed been demonstrated, but the scientific
community isn't going to allow it to be developed, until the community
is dragged kicking and squealing across that finish line. That's true
with many other things these days.
Maybe it's best to
consider it like the difference between Newton's mechanics and
relativistic mechanics. They are different models, and each has its
realm of applicability and phenomena which its describes. One doesn't
need Einstein to build a house. But one jolly well needs him to
calculate the energy delivered to the plate of certain tubes where the
electrons approach light speed on their way from the cathode to the
plate.
Best wishes,
Tom Bearden
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