The widely held understanding of an infinite, three-dimensional flat, cosmos is incorrect. Not only that, but this faulty model is why two of the most significant physics theories, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, are incompatible. This is what Subhajit Waugh, a physicist from the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, has proposed in a landmark paper on Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. It is a view that could change a significant part of physics and cosmology as we understand it.
General relativity (GR), which explains events on the greatest cosmological scale, and quantum mechanics (QM), which describes phenomena on the tiniest, submicroscopic scale, are the two cornerstones of contemporary physics. But there are discrepancies between these theories. The main objective of physicists around the world has been to find a means to harmonize the two for many decades.
The reality, according to Mr. Waugh, is different. The universe’s shape is a 3-dimensional hyper-surface of a (hyper) balloon. If this shape is adopted, then both GR and QM fit together like pieces in a jigsaw. A unification of these two theories solves most of the outstanding conflicts from dark matter to the Hubble constant value.
Explaining how the whole scientific world got to this position, Mr. Subhajit points out that;
“We (the scientific community) have made a series of mistakes in our mathematics, our physics, and our cosmology. And this is what I can’t stress enough; without making the corrections (which I have made) to our historical mistakes, no scientist will ever be able to unify fundamental physics and cosmology.”
The primary blame he lays at the feet of Freidmann, Lemaitre et al, who used General Relativity (Einstein’s field equations) to try to determine the size and shape of our universe. He argues, if they had instead used Minkowski-Einstein’s SpaceTime Metric, the right progress would have happened long ago.
Mr. Waugh proves the idea of a 3D dimensional hyper-surface (by considering the sum of solid angles rather than plane angles) and the existence of two different frames of reference/viewpoints using the center of the mass equation and the Minkowski SpaceTime equation as his primary instruments. Each perspective sees the universe uniquely, but it is essentially this that enables the unification of QM and GR.
The key to this new understanding, according to Mr. Waugh, and the key to unifying both GR and QM, is understanding that there are two viewpoints; the true center of the universe viewpoint (nature’s perspective) and our viewpoint, which he equates to that of a creature trapped inside the wall of a hyper-ballon, but free to move along the wall.
“From our perspective, the radius of the universe is an impossible direction (which forces us to use imaginary numbers), and hence it is a temporal dimension. But from the center of universe perspective, the radius is a real dimension and hence is a spatial dimension. Thus, time and space dimensions exchange roles. The radial expansion of the universe appears as the passage of time from our viewpoint.”
Relativity then becomes our viewpoint, while Quantum Mechanics is the other viewpoint. Explaining how his findings and new framework reconcile these two significant theories, Waugh notes that based on his proposed new universe shape,
“Both phenomena are like two sides of the same coin. Relativity is inside the light cone phenomena (since nothing can travel faster than light), while Quantum Mechanics is outside the light cone phenomena (allowing instant communications in ‘quantum entanglement’ experiments). Both are dictated by the scale (i.e., whether we use classical/human scale or sub-atomic scale).”
The findings have significant ramifications for several theories, including wave-particle duality, Lagrangian-Hamiltonian duality, quantum entanglement, fundamental conservation principles of Physics, and unanswered issues like dark matter and dark energy.
About Subhajit Waugh
Mr. Subhajit Waugh works as a scientific officer with the Indian government’s Department of Atomic Energy at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology. He graduated top of his class with a Master’s in Physics from the National Institute of Technology in Rourkela in 2003. His research interests include solving the remaining riddles of the cosmos and fusing cosmology and physics into a single ‘Theory of Everything’. He received the esteemed NCERT National Talent Scholarship in 1996.
Contact Details:
Subhajit Waugh
RRCAT
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
+91 9827726329
