| Revision as of 00:47, 21 March 2006 editNaasking (talk | contribs)122 edits "and his followers" seemed a bit too cultish; clarified some sentences; that PV could match the 3 classic GR tests was not in dispute, recent evidence simply disproved PV.← Previous edit | Revision as of 06:00, 21 May 2006 edit undoIbison (talk | contribs)190 edits →ExplanationNext edit → | ||
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| Instead of mass curving spacetime, the Polarizable Vacuum theory proposes that the presence of mass alters the ] and the ] of flat spacetime, ε<sub>o</sub> and μ<sub>o</sub> respectively, by multiplying them by a scalar function, '''K''': | Instead of mass curving spacetime, the Polarizable Vacuum theory proposes that the presence of mass alters the ] and the ] of flat spacetime, ε<sub>o</sub> and μ<sub>o</sub> respectively, by multiplying them by a scalar function, '''K''': | ||
| <blockquote>ε<sub>o</sub>→ε = Kε<sub>o</sub>, μ<sub>o</sub>→μ = Kμ<sub>o</sub></blockquote> | <blockquote>ε<sub>o</sub>→ε = Kε<sub>o</sub>, μ<sub>o</sub>→μ = Kμ<sub>o</sub></blockquote> | ||
| By this means PV attempts to cast gravitation as an essentially electromagnetic EM phenomenom. This claim is consistent with that of General Relativity in so far as the effect of gravitation on an EM field can be modelled as that of a 'medium' on light | |||
| Therefore, gravitation is an ] phenomenon in PV, and not a fundamental interaction in its own right. | |||
| Puthoff |
Puthoff demonstrated that PV's predictions agree to observational precision with those of General Relativity (GR) in the ] (redshift, deflection of light, precession of the perihelion of Mercury). But PV is a different theory from GR and in general their predictions do not agree. In particular the PV-computed predictions for evolution of the cosmological scale factor and the decay of binary pulsars diverges from GR and is incompatible with observation. | ||
| ---- | |||
| PV has been posed as an attempt to cast gravitation as an essentially electromagnetic phenomenon in the spirit of an early attempt by Dicke by modeling the effect of gravitation on an EM field as that of a scalar isotropic (non-bi-refringent) refractive index 'vacuum medium' on light. In GR, under restrictive assumptions, the effect of gravitation on light may also be cast as that of refractive index medium, with the distinction that GR also accommodates anisotropy via a susceptibility tensor (Landau & Lifshitz). Comparing the two theories, one then infers that since PV has only a single scalar functional degree fo freedom at its disposal, it cannot, for exmaple, accommodate frame-dragging. For the same reason (of just a single scalar degree of freedom) PV permits gravitational radiation that has just one polarization (longitudonal - as in acoustics). This leads to a prediction for the rate of decay of binary systems due to radiation that is much less than that predicted by GR (which accommodates 2 independent polarization degrees of freedom, and therefore ain increased 'opportunity' for energy loss to the vacuum). Ibison has pointed out that the observational findings of the decay rate of PSR 1913 + 16 appear to strongly favor GR over PV. | |||
| De Felice has cast the effect of gravitation on EM fields in a manner that is completely consistent with GR (i.e. without restrictions) using 'constitutive relations' that generalize the 3x3 susceptibility tensor to a 4x4 matrix associated with the gravitationally-modified properties of the vacuum 'medium'. | |||
| ---- | |||
| In GR cast as 4x4 susceptibility, and also in PV, the model is electromagnetic only in so far as it describes the effect of a gravitational field on EM fields (via a tensor and scalar susceptibility respectively). These efforts do ''not'' attempt to ascribe the origin of inertial mass - the ''source'' of the gravitational field - to electromagnetism; they are not attempts to unify EM and GR. | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| H. E. Puthoff, M. Ibison, , MITRE Conference, McLean, VA, May 8, 2003. From puthoff website. | * H. E. Puthoff, M. Ibison, , MITRE Conference, McLean, VA, May 8, 2003. From puthoff website. | ||
| *{{cite web | author=Visser, M. | title=Analog models of General Relativity | format=html | url=http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~visser/Analog/bibliography.html | accessdate=2006-05-21}} | |||
| M. Ibison. , from Puthoff website (accessed on 2005-11-11). Ibison allegedly critiques PV in favor of the ] (another theory which has not been accepted by the physics mainstream). | |||
| == References == | == References == | ||
| Line 29: | Line 43: | ||
| *{{cite arXiv | author=Puthoff, H. E. | title=Polarizable-Vacuum (PV) representation of general relativity | year = 1999 | version=2001 | eprint=qr-qc/9909037}} | *{{cite arXiv | author=Puthoff, H. E. | title=Polarizable-Vacuum (PV) representation of general relativity | year = 1999 | version=2001 | eprint=qr-qc/9909037}} | ||
| *{{cite book | author=Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. | title=The Classical Theory of Fields | year = 1980 | publisher = Pergamon Press}} | |||
| ] | |||
| *{{cite arXiv | author=Ibison, M. | title=Investigation of the polarizable vacuum cosmology | year = 2003 | version=2003| eprint=astro-ph/0302273}} | |||
| *{{cite journal | author=de Felice, F. | title = On the gravitational field acting as an optical medium | journal = General Relativity and Gravitation | year = 1971 | lolume = 2 | pages = 347-}} | |||
Revision as of 06:00, 21 May 2006
The Polarizable Vacuum (PV) is a theory proposed by Harold Puthoff which provides an alternate explanation for the mechanisms of General relativity. Such claims are not accepted within mainstream physics.
This work is also referred to as metric engineering.
Explanation
| Claims |
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|---|---|
| Related scientific disciplines | |
| Year proposed |
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| Original proponents |
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| Subsequent proponents |
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| (Overview of pseudoscientific concepts) | |
Instead of mass curving spacetime, the Polarizable Vacuum theory proposes that the presence of mass alters the electric permittivity and the magnetic permeability of flat spacetime, εo and μo respectively, by multiplying them by a scalar function, K:
εo→ε = Kεo, μo→μ = Kμo
By this means PV attempts to cast gravitation as an essentially electromagnetic EM phenomenom. This claim is consistent with that of General Relativity in so far as the effect of gravitation on an EM field can be modelled as that of a 'medium' on light
Puthoff demonstrated that PV's predictions agree to observational precision with those of General Relativity (GR) in the classical tests of general relativity (redshift, deflection of light, precession of the perihelion of Mercury). But PV is a different theory from GR and in general their predictions do not agree. In particular the PV-computed predictions for evolution of the cosmological scale factor and the decay of binary pulsars diverges from GR and is incompatible with observation.
PV has been posed as an attempt to cast gravitation as an essentially electromagnetic phenomenon in the spirit of an early attempt by Dicke by modeling the effect of gravitation on an EM field as that of a scalar isotropic (non-bi-refringent) refractive index 'vacuum medium' on light. In GR, under restrictive assumptions, the effect of gravitation on light may also be cast as that of refractive index medium, with the distinction that GR also accommodates anisotropy via a susceptibility tensor (Landau & Lifshitz). Comparing the two theories, one then infers that since PV has only a single scalar functional degree fo freedom at its disposal, it cannot, for exmaple, accommodate frame-dragging. For the same reason (of just a single scalar degree of freedom) PV permits gravitational radiation that has just one polarization (longitudonal - as in acoustics). This leads to a prediction for the rate of decay of binary systems due to radiation that is much less than that predicted by GR (which accommodates 2 independent polarization degrees of freedom, and therefore ain increased 'opportunity' for energy loss to the vacuum). Ibison has pointed out that the observational findings of the decay rate of PSR 1913 + 16 appear to strongly favor GR over PV.
De Felice has cast the effect of gravitation on EM fields in a manner that is completely consistent with GR (i.e. without restrictions) using 'constitutive relations' that generalize the 3x3 susceptibility tensor to a 4x4 matrix associated with the gravitationally-modified properties of the vacuum 'medium'.
In GR cast as 4x4 susceptibility, and also in PV, the model is electromagnetic only in so far as it describes the effect of a gravitational field on EM fields (via a tensor and scalar susceptibility respectively). These efforts do not attempt to ascribe the origin of inertial mass - the source of the gravitational field - to electromagnetism; they are not attempts to unify EM and GR.
External links
- H. E. Puthoff, M. Ibison, Polarizable Vacuum "Metric Engineering" Approach to GR-Type Effects, MITRE Conference, McLean, VA, May 8, 2003. From puthoff website.
- Visser, M. "Analog models of General Relativity" (html). Retrieved 2006-05-21.
References
- Puthoff, H. E. (1999). "Polarizable-Vacuum (PV) representation of general relativity". arXiv:qr-qc/9909037.
{{cite arXiv}}: Unknown parameter|version=ignored (help)
- Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. (1980). The Classical Theory of Fields. Pergamon Press.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Ibison, M. (2003). "Investigation of the polarizable vacuum cosmology". arXiv:astro-ph/0302273.
{{cite arXiv}}: Unknown parameter|version=ignored (help)
- de Felice, F. (1971). "On the gravitational field acting as an optical medium". General Relativity and Gravitation: 347-.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|lolume=ignored (help)