The Spring Theory- Can it be this simple?

It often happens in science that we tend to justify certain phenomena and find logic through complex justifications even though the actual reasoning is quite simple! For many years now, dark energy has been a mystery in the scientific world, because of its repulsive powers. While investigating the mystery of dark energy, I have come up with a theory called the Spring Theory, in which I try to simplify this concept of dark energy and provide a theoretical explanation for it.

According to this theory of mine, the spacetime fabric has spring-like properties. Then, before the Big Bang, it was all compressed into one small particle just like a compressed spring. Now, as soon as the particle “banged” the fabric, just like a compressed spring, started accelerating. If the motion of a spring is observed, it is seen that a particle attached to a spring accelerates till the spring has reached its natural length and after that, the particle begins to decelerate. Similarly, the expansion of fabric is accelerating at present, meaning to say, that the fabric has still not reached its natural length. Thus, according to the Spring Theory, since we are comparing the spacetime fabric to a spring, then Dark Energy is nothing but the potential energy of the spring, something very less mysterious than the Dark Energy itself.

The theory also proposes, though indirectly, the fact that the Universe will have a center. This is contrary to popular belief. But, what should we understood is that the Universe is said to have no center just because every particle is moving away from every other particle. Meaning to say, if you choose any point in this Universe, you will observe that all the other points are moving away from it. Hence, every point in the universe acts as a center of expansion. But, if we proceed by the explanation of expansion that my theory proposes, the same fact is observed.

Now let us talk about what the theory will imply. The theory implies that the universe is undergoing accelerated expansion till the time the spacetime fabric reaches its natural length, after which it will undergo decelerated expansion finally coming to rest with a certain maximum radius. Then the universe will begin to contract, just like a stretched spring, and will soon end up in a small particle, from where it started. Another major phenomena explained by the theory is the drifting away of Earth from Sun, the Moon from Earth, and so on. If the spacetime fabric is expanding, the curvature made by celestial bodies will increase with time, hence decreasing their gravitational pull. This will directly result in the decrease in gravitational pull of all celestial bodies, the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, etc. and hence they will gradually drift away from each other.

The Spring Theory is just a hypothesis which I formulated to simplify the concept of Dark Energy, and is nowhere near proven. But, it does give us a different perspective towards explaining the mysterious phenomenon of this ever-so-mysterious Universe. But, what does this theory suggest about the even-more-mysterious black holes? We will see in the next post!!

The New Fields- Is the Higgs Field the Only Existing Field?

In the last article, I talked about how the existence of some unknown particles can facilitate the explanation of the certain phenomena and anomalies in the field of Science. But, before talking about them, let me tell you something about the discovery which has inspired this theory of mine: the Higgs Boson.

In simple, non-technical words, Higgs Boson is the particle that makes up the Higgs Field. According to Peter Higgs, who proposed the Higgs Field, any particle will gain mass when it interacts which the Higgs Field. A particle that interacts more is heavier, and a particle which interacts less is lighter. Particles which do not interact with the Higgs Field are said to be massless, eg: photons. Thus, Higgs Boson, also termed as the God particle, is said to give mass to elements. This video by TED-Ed explains in a rather interesting way the concept of Higgs Boson. Do take a look!

I think all interactions take place in the same way. What I mean to say is that, just like interaction with the Higgs Field gives mass to a particle, similarly, according to my theory, interaction with the Space Field will give a particle space (dimensions) while the Time Field will make the particle perceive time! In short, in this theory, I propose the existence of a Time Field and a Space Field.

In his General Theory of Relativity, Einstein showed how time is relative. For some bodies, time moves faster, and for other, it moves slowly. The Interstellar fans will know what I mean to say! Now, why does that happen? My theory can propose an answer. More a particle interacts with the Higgs Field, the heavier it is. Similarly, more a particle interacts with the field of time, the faster time moves for that particle. Meaning to say, if A and B are two particles, and A undergoes greater interaction with Time Field as compared to B, then time for A will move faster with respect to B. 

Similarly, more a particle interacts with Space Field, the bigger it is! Though, we must remember here, that this applies to microparticles only, the fundamental particles which make up our world. But now, you must be thinking, that okay, so these fields do exist, then what?

The interaction of these fields itself create the properties of matter. When the Space Field, the Time Field and the Higgs Field interact, then the matter gets its fundamental properties: it acquires mass (due to interaction with Higgs field), has some space (due to interaction with the space field) and perceives time (due to interaction with Time Field).  

So, we know that if a particle does not interact with Higgs Field, then it is massless. But what if a particle does not react with the Time Field? YES, then the particle will not perceive time! Photons travel at the speed of light, and theoretically at that speed, time slows down to such an extent that time theoretically STOPS for photons. Photon experience no time. Hence, this may very well be an evidence that photons do not interact with the time field.  

A particle travelling at the speed of light when enters the higgs field and interacts, some of its kinetic energy gets converted to its mass, and so, the particle no longer moves with the speed of light, and so, it starts perceiving time. Thus, for a particle to interact with the field of time, it should definitely lose its kinetic energy if it is travelling at the speed of light. Hence, we can conclude, that certain amount of energy will be required to make time speed faster or slower for a body! This is the concept which I think can eventually lead to making a Time Machine, my ultimate dream!

Lots of stuff to think about in this post, let us leave the rest for the next month's post! After understanding this concept, you might want to know how this theory is going to change our perception about the universe we know about. Well, keep your curiosity levels high, and wait for the next post!

The CAUSE of Big Bang- WHY it all started?

Yeah, I know, I am breaking the rule here. I did say one post every month, but I will be a bit busy in March due to my exams, and also that I am too enthusiastic to share this theory of mine with you all, so here is the second post of this month! As usual, I ended my last post with a question: We all know what happened after the Big Bang, but no one has ever tried to explain WHY did the Big Bang happen? So, I aim to answer the question in this post. But before I start, let us get some basics clear.

Ordinary form of matter, like table, chair, your computer, you, the stars, the planets, etc. is an absolute minority in what comprises this vast universe. The universe is said to be composed majorly of some mysterious matter and energy, rightly called the dark matter and dark energy. 

Source: http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/121236/121236_NewPieCharts720.png

A brief introduction: Scientists observed that galaxies move with way more speed than that should be possible due to their present mass. Thus, they concluded that there must be some "missing mass" which they are not able to see or detect, but it has its gravitational influence! They called this "missing mass" dark matter. On the other hand, earlier scientists believed that the universe must be contracting due to the gravitational attractions of massive bodies. But, the Hubble Telescope provided information that contradicted it. The information (not going into what the information exactly was) proved that the universe was indeed expanding! Now scientists were in a fix! Thus, they concluded, yet again, that there must be some mysterious energy that is repelling bodies and is enabling the universe to expand. With no clue of what it is, they called it dark energy!   

Now, dark matter and dark energy are entirely invisible. They do not interact with any form of known matter, though the gravitational effect of dark matter is felt and "gravitational lensing" is an example of its visible effects. "Gravitational lensing" is nothing but bending of light due to gravitational effect of dark matter. The first picture shows what causes gravitational lensing and the second picture shows its effect. The arcs you see are because of gravitational lensing.Dark matter is attractive in nature and dark energy is repulsive, and that is all that we know about them. One more thing, there are millions of dark matter particles going past us, through us, through the walls, through the earth, every second, and we just don't feel them, again because they do not interact with anything!

Having talked about dark energy and dark matter and having substantial knowledge about them, I could still not figure out what they actually are! And then, an idea struck me. And then, as I developed that idea, and I found a way to tell about the cause of Big Bang while explaining the known properties of dark matter and dark energy at the same time.

Dark Energy and Dark Matter, I think, are multi-dimensional matter, i.e. like we humans are 3 dimensional beings, dark energy and dark matter may be nothing else but matter which is more than 3 dimensional and hence it cannot be perceived easily by us, due to the different kind of energy that it possesses, though its effect can be felt. 

I hypothesize that before the BIG BANG, a particle existed which itself was made of multiple dimensions. Its constituents were dark matter and dark energy, i.e. multi-dimensional form of matter. To simplify, like we humans being 3 dimensional can be considered to be made of 3 dimensional particles, which themselves are made of 2 dimensional particles and which are made of 1 dimensional particles, similarly, that starting particle, which was multi-dimensional, was made of particles of different dimensions which we now know as dark energy and dark matter.  

Source: http://prancer.physics.louisville.edu/

The picture evidently shows how dark energy has evolved at a greater rate than dark matter during the evolution of the universe. Similarly, inside that starting particle, initially, dark matter was in majority and hence it held the starting particle firmly. But, later, as the dark energy began evolving in greater amounts, it started to counter the force by dark matter and tried to expand the particle. At an instant, dark energy had evolved to such great extent that it could have expanded the particle, but the dark matter still held the particle firmly. And hence, there occurred a BANG, where the starting multi-dimensional particle disintegrated into many other particles of simpler but varied dimensions, i.e. 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, etc. among which 3D constitutes only a small part of the universe. Thus, except us 3D beings, there exist various forms of matter in varying dimensions. Due to their higher dimensions, they cannot be perceived by us but surely exert their share of gravitational force. This itself we call dark matter and dark energy!

Also, remembering the conclusion I had made in my first post: An object experiences a force when its energy interacts with that of the agent. Dark energy and dark matter, being multi-dimensional, have energy which cannot interact with that of light, due to the difference in the cause of their energies. Hence, due to no interaction, no reflection of light takes place when light passes through them, and hence, dark energy and dark matter are invisible, though, bending of light can occur due to the gravitational effect of this form of matter. 

The String Theory talks about how our universe may not be three-dimensional, i.e. how we see it to be, but it indeed may be 10-Dimensional hyperspace, while the M-Theory talks about 11-Dimensional hyperspace. This proposal is a result of the mathematical conclusions derived in the theories. While speculating about our origin and its cause, this theory faintly approves of the idea of multi-dimensional hyperspace. Though the String Theory is yet to be proven, it indeed is extremely intriguing and creative! 

It all fits, doesn't it? But again, this is just a hypothesis based on an idea that struck me and may very well be far from reality! Dark Matter and Dark Energy may not even exist! It is even a possibility that they are composed of a new fundamental particle which is still missing from our Standard Model. What can that be? A special particle, with what properties? We will see in my next post!

Discovering Our Creator - Does Science support the existence of God?

I ended my last post with a question: There may exist some forms of energy that cannot interact with light and hence are invisible, but they are able to influence us, interact with us and guide us and they are constantly near us, seeing us, and may be even controlling us, but we never get to know! But surprisingly, we do have a name for such kind of energies! What is it?

Let me give you the answer: God! Many of you would think: This is a science blog. Then why are we becoming philosophical? Well, Science does support the existence of God. What matters is how you define God! I define God as the creator of "our" universe, creator of everything we know about, and some things we are yet to discover.

Often people assume scientists to be atheist. While that may occasionally be true, but it is majorly a myth. "http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencefaith.html" gives you a list of 13 GREAT scientists who believed in God. Give it a thought, all that has happened to make us possible: big bang, formation of Earth as a planet, most suitable distance from the Sun to allow us to survive, a moon to protect us from asteroids, evolution, etc. how can it all just be a coincidence? I fail to believe that there was no driving force behind all this!

Very interesting indeed it is to know how scientists used the fact that God exists, to make scientific breakthroughs. Albert Einstein said that he always wanted to know how God made this Universe. While speculating a theory of his, he would often imagine himself as God and think, "If I was God, would I impart such a feature in my Universe?" And whenever he realised that the concept was too complex and God would never have used such irrational and unsymmetrical concepts, he discarded the concept.

Evidently, the way I define God did give me a way, rather unconventional, to define us, our universe and our existence. How many of you have heard of those virtual reality games? Wikipedia defines virtual reality (VR) as a computer-simulated environment that can simulate presence in real or imaginary worlds. Meaning to say, that you have a virtual identity, a virtual character, and you live in a virtual world with other virtual beings.

You can control your character, make him do things, and watch him constantly. Now, imagine if that character inside the computer somehow gets to know that there is someone outside his world, who is controlling his actions, making him do things and watching him constantly. What do you think the character will call that someone? GOD!

On  considering the above statement, you might have already got my point. God may be a higher dimensional being, and by higher dimensional I mean of greater dimensions than just 3 of them, who made this extremely advanced virtual reality game, called the Universe. He is able to control us, manipulate us, guide us, and constantly watch us, but He cannot physically interact with us, just like we cannot physically interact with a character inside a computer game.

Upon thinking, you will get more analogs and relations. Like a new character is born whenever a new user signs up, similarly, may be a new Universe is born whenever a new higher dimensional being makes His own computer game. This is exactly what Multiverse is, multiple universes existing simultaneously. Then what are Black Holes? Black Hole may very well represent the universes which are dead, or in other words, the higher dimensional beings who signed off or stopped playing.

It may seem too unconventional and insane to even consider this thought, but the concept has some scientific basis. The String Theory has a principle called the Holographic Principle which suggests that the Universe can be seen as a 2-D Hologram.

The virtual world we play in in computer games is itself two dimensional but it appears to be 3 Dimensional, much like what the Holographic Principle tells us about our existence. Hence, the idea may not be entirely gross!

In conclusion, I would like to say that may be we will never be able to know who created us. Our lives are way too short to decipher the mysteries of the entire universe. In this post, I tried to present an idea which can define our existence. But wait, even if God created us in the form of a computer game, how did it all start? How did our universe come into existence? Scientists give an answer: the Big Bang. We all know what happened after the Big Bang, but WHY did the Big Bang happen? We will see in the next post!

P.S. -  I am not trying to hurt any religious sentiments. Like all religious people, I too believe in God              and I am just trying to present an idea that came upon my mind. So, take it easy!

The SINGLE Cause of ANY Force!

"A pull or a push is called a force"- that is what my class VIII Science book said. Then there was only one force: applied mechanical force, i.e. push or pull. But now, when I am in standard XII, I have encountered many forces: electric force, magnetic force, gravitational force, applied mechanical force, etc. But, even after knowing almost all forces, have you ever given a thought that "WHY" does a force act? WHAT makes a force to act? You will surely know it by the end of this post!

According to Wikipedia, "In physics, a force is any interaction which tends to change the motion of an object." There are four fundamental forces- gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. While all these forces have different characteristics and arise due to different interactions, they all are FORCES after all. And this made me think that since they all are forces, they should have a common cause.

But, the problem now was to find "an" answer. What one thing is common between a massless charge and a chargeless mass? And I did get an answer: ENERGY! A massless charge has its energy just like a chargeless mass does. Just the difference is that a chargeless mass possesses energy by virtue of its mass and the massless charge possesses energy by virtue of its charge. We all are nothing but energy existing in different forms.

 Now, from here, whatever I say is what I am trying to conclude and propose.

I think that there are different kinds of energy or rather different components of energy. Two energies should have something in common to interact with each other. For example, an electron and a proton have energy by virtue of their charge, their mass and their spin. Thus, there is a lot in common in the energies of a proton and an electron and so, they can interact. A ball and I have energy by virtue of our mass. Hence, I can interact with the ball, i.e. throw it, catch it, etc. Or, should I say, that I can APPLY FORCE on the ball! EXACTLY! If energy of one object can interact with energy of another object, then the two objects will exert force on each other.

Thus, I will now answer the question I had written earlier: What is the CAUSE of a force? I think, that the cause of a force exerted by an agent on an object is the interaction of the energy of the agent and that of the object. The energy of a proton and an electron are able to attract due to some inherent similarities and hence, a proton is able to exert a force of an electron and vice-versa. This also validates Newton's Third Law: To every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction. This can be explained by a simple statement: You cannot touch without being touched! To understand this, let us take an example. Consider two objects A and B which have energies that can interact with each other. Now, A's energy is interacting with B's energy.

This region of interaction can be considered as the common region of A and B. Now, in this common region, not only the energy of A interacts with that of B, but also, energy of B interacts with that of A! Hence, B will exert a force on A as well. And this itself, is the Action Reaction Law. Hence, this law should be valid in all circumstances where the energies of two bodies are able to interact with each other. Also, if these two bodies are taken FAR AWAY from each other, their energies will not be able to interact, and hence, they will not exert force of each other. This is exactly what is seen in the case of gravitational forces or coulombic forces.

By this, I also imply that if two objects have energies which have causes which are completely independent of each other, then they CANNOT interact. Thus, if I assume that my energy is completely different than yours, then I cannot interact with you, i.e. I cannot touch you or hit you or push you!

Now, as you can see here, Higgs Boson has mass ONLY, while a gluon and a photon are entirely massless. From the following data (image from Wikipedia) we see that nothing is common between a Higgs Boson and a gluon or a photon. Meaning to say, that the Higgs Boson has mass only and so its energy is only by virtue of its mass, whereas, a photon and a gluon have spin only and hence their energy is only by virtue of their spin.  Hence, according to my concept, since the energy by virtue of mass will be entirely different from the energy by virtue of spin, so, a Higgs Boson should not be able to interact with a gluon and a photon. Thankfully, yes, quoting Fermilab: "The Higgs particle does not interact with massless particles, such as a photon or a gluon. " This might very well prove my theory about the cause of force.

To conclude, what if we make an object whose energy is such that it cannot interact with the energy of light? Then, the light would neither reflect nor refract. Hence, that object will be invisible! What if we make a suit which envelops our energy and prevents it from interacting with Earth's energy? Then, we will not feel Earth's gravity, in other words, we will fly! Thus, there may exist some forms of energy that cannot interact with light and hence are invisible, but they are able to influence us, interact with us and guide us and they are constantly near us, seeing us, and may be even controlling us, but we never get to know! But surprisingly, we do have a name for such kind of energies! What is it? I will tell you in my next post.