We have shown throughout this blog and its companion book “The Reality of the Fourth *Spatial* Dimension” there are many theoretical advantages to assuming the existence and four *spatial* dimensions instead of four-dimensional space-time.
One of them is that it would provide an alternative explanation that is more consistent with the observed properties of Dark Matter than can be found based solely on the quantum mechanical assumption that all energy/mass exists in quantized particle form.
Wikipedia tells us “The first person to provide evidence and infer the presence of dark matter was Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, of the California Institute of Technology in 1933. He applied Newton’s law of gravity to the Coma cluster of galaxies and obtained evidence of unseen mass. Zwicky estimated the cluster’s total mass based on the motions of galaxies near its edge and compared that estimate to one based on the number of galaxies and total brightness of the cluster. He found that there was about 400 times more estimated mass than was visually observable. The gravity of the visible galaxies in the cluster would be far too small for such fast orbits, so something extra was required. This is known as the “missing mass problem”. Based on these conclusions, Zwicky inferred that there must be some non-visible form of matter which would provide enough of the mass and gravity to hold the cluster together.”
Many physicists believe the vast majority of the dark matter is in a non-baryonic form such as entities such as axions, supersymmetric particles, or WIMPs and baryonic neutrino.
However, as Lee Smolin points out in his book “The Trouble with Physics” none of these scenarios is supported by observations.
Neutrinos because of their mass would be characterized by high random speeds in the early universe. However, observations of the early universe indicate the matter that condensed to form galaxies was not hot enough to support the energy that would be associated with those high speeds.
The other particles, which could provide the missing mass fall into two classes: those which have been proposed for other reasons but happen to solve the dark matter problem, and those which have been proposed specifically to provide the missing dark matter.
Examples of objects in the first class are axions and the supersymmetric particles. Their properties are defined by the theory, which predicts them, by virtue of their mass; they can solve the dark matter problem only if they exist in the correct abundance.
The second class of particles contains entities such as the WIMP or “Weakly Interacting Mass Particle” whose properties are not specified. However, they are assumed to have properties that would allow them to explain the missing mass associated with dark matter along with other “ad hoc” ones that would explain why they have not yet been observed experimentally.
However, the existence of them along with axions and the supersymmetric particles is not based on observations so therefore there is no way to either confirm their existence or that they are responsible for the gravitational force associated with dark matter.
However, as mentioned earlier there is another theoretical possibility that is based on theory and observations that has been overlooked by the scientific community.
In the article “What is Dark Matter?†Sept 10, 2007 it was shown that one could theoretically explain and predict the gravitational forces associated with Dark Matter in terms of the continuous field properties of energy/mass because it would have all of its observed properties. In others words being a non particle form of energy/mass in would not interact with electromagnetic forces and therefore it would be invisible or “Dark” to instrumentation that is calibrated to detect electromagnetic energy. Yet because it is made up of energy/mass it would add to the gravitational force of the particle matter in the universe.
Louis de Broglie was the first to realize the reality of the field properties of energy/mass when in 1924 he proposed that all forms of particle matter have a wave component. This was fully confirmed by the discovery of electron diffraction by crystals in 1927 by Davisson and Germer. (This discovery served as the basis for developing the general theory nowadays known by the name of wave mechanics.) However it also tells us that all matter and energy posses the continuous or field properties associated with waves.Â
However, the most significant theoretical advantage to assuming the existence of a continuous field of energy/mass is that it would allow one understand, in terms of the laws of classical wave mechanics the quantum mechanical properties of energy/mass.
In the article “Why is mass and energy quantized?” Oct. 4, 2007 it was shown one can derive the quantum mechanical properties of energy/mass by extrapolating the resonant properties of a classical three-dimensional environment to a matter wave in a continuous field of energy/mass on a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
Briefly it showed the four conditions required for resonance to occur in a classical environment, an object, or substance with a natural frequency, a forcing function at the same frequency as the natural frequency, the lack of a damping frequency and the ability for the substance to oscillate spatial would occur in one consisting of four spatial dimensions.
The existence of four *spatial* dimensions would give a continuous field of energy/mass the ability to oscillate spatially on a “surface” between a third and fourth *spatial* dimensions thereby fulfilling one of the requirements for classical resonance to occur.
These oscillations would be caused by an event such as the decay of a subatomic particle or the shifting of an electron in an atomic orbital. This would force the “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension to oscillate with the frequency associated with the energy of that event.
However, the oscillations caused by such an event would serve as forcing function allowing a resonant system or “structure” to be established in a continuous field of energy/mass.Â
These resonant systems are responsible for the quantum mechanical properties energy/mass.
This provides yet another theoretical basis for its existence because as shown above one can derive the quantum mechanical properties of energy/mass in terms of a resonant system formed by a matter wave in a continuous field of energy/mass.
However as mentioned earlier because it is made up of energy/mass it would have add to the gravitational potential of the particle forms of matter in the universe and as was also mentioned earlier it would not interact with electromagnetic forces and therefore it would be invisible or “Dark” to instrumentation that is calibrated to detect electromagnetic energy
This shows a viable alternative based on both theoretical arguments and experimental observations to the assumption that dark matter is made up of particles while at the same time providing a very strong argument for defining its properties in terms of a continuous field of energy/mass.
Later Jeff
Copyright 2010 Jeffrey O’Callaghan