Dear Ian,

“Universal beables may not be knowable, but local ones, as in those bounded within a particular region of space-time, might.” I wonder if the particular regions you mention are those that agents can think of ? Because then these regions can be infinite. I agree that “universal” beables are not knowable when universal means beyond konowable.

“At the very least, it...

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Dear Ian,

“Universal beables may not be knowable, but local ones, as in those bounded within a particular region of space-time, might.” I wonder if the particular regions you mention are those that agents can think of ? Because then these regions can be infinite. I agree that “universal” beables are not knowable when universal means beyond konowable.

“At the very least, it suggests that Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory is incomplete”. Isn’t EVERY Theory incomplete ? Human intelligence is only a very short time trying to find the HOW and WHY of our existence, let’s hope for the future developments (if any)....

“I may awake tomorrow to find that I am actually a Buddhist monk living in a monastery in the Himalaya and that my life as a physicist was nothing but a dream.” Indeed in the here and (until) now you are a physicist. This is the reality Loop you are conscious of right (until) now. In another Loop the probability of being the Buddhist monk is available andthe monk dreams being a physicist.(what is better ?)

I think Fields are experienced through technical addings to our senses, they are transformed to comprehensible information, so they are “interpretations”..of emergent agents (for humanity with 5 senses) in an emergent reality.

‘universe of our experience’ the world around us reaches us as on the surface of Subjective Simultaneity Spheres around us , the result of these experiences are the models to explain our experiences.

“Everett-De Witt multiverse, for example, includes an infinite number of universes. This definition is simply too vague to qualify as a beable for any realistic theory.” I can fully agree with that so I devellopped another perception that could also explain the problems as are solved by MWI. Therefore I would be grateful if you could read my essay “Foundational Quantum Reality Loops and leave a comment and/or rating on it.

“But the wavefunction in the Wheeler-DeWitt equation suffers from no such defect since it is said to be ‘timeless’, i.e. it simply ‘is’.”. The simply “IS” is more difficult as we think (I think). Timeless can also mean “eternal” or not present in the time restriction so outside of our “reality” (is that the same as “non-existing”) a “notable”...

It was a pleasure reading your contribution, it was helpful for my own quest.

Best regards

Wilhelmus de Wilde

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Hello Ian,

Surprised to see you claim existence of a neutrino magnetic moment. Quick google search gives reasonably recent reference

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S
0370269315009545

where they claim an upper bound only of a few 10^-11 Bohr magnetons. Hope this is not central to your point.

Trying to get some sense of what a beable is. What is...

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Hello Ian,

Surprised to see you claim existence of a neutrino magnetic moment. Quick google search gives reasonably recent reference

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S
0370269315009545

where they claim an upper bound only of a few 10^-11 Bohr magnetons. Hope this is not central to your point.

Trying to get some sense of what a beable is. What is relation between beable and the enigmatic unobservable wavefunction? Beables are observables? If so, then a beable would be the incoherent lump of energy we get when we collapse a wavefunction, beable = single measurement observable? If, why not just call it that? If not, how is it different?

Now I'm confused, see the statement that vector potential is not observable. What about Aharonov-Bohm effect? The quantum phase associate with a potential can be measured, just isn't a single measurement observable. Phase is relative, requires two measurements.

and beyond that the statement that E and H fields are beables. They are not single measurement observables. What we measure in collapsing a photon wave function is dependent on how we collapse it - do we use a loop antenna or a whip antenna?

finally googled for beable and got this - anything that could possibly be. So it becomes a task of figuring out what is impossible? Such fun. Thank you bery much.

section 2 opens right on point with this - "can a universe be a beable?"

answer is yes.

local and nonlocal keep popping up in the text. Distinction is straightforward, and not confined to what we usually regard as a quantum-only phenomenon.

Unlike the 1/r hidden variable quantum potential of deBroglie-Bohm, it is the

1/r^2 potential operative in nonlocality. inverse square potentials are those who forces are orthogonal to the resulting direction of motion. They can do no work, cannot communication energy/information, only quantum phase, not a single measurement observable.

Inverse square potentials include scale invariant quantum Hall of the vector Lorentz force (this is Aharonov-Bohm effect), centrifugal, Coriolis, chiral, three body,... all scale invariant. They cannot be shielded. Brings gravity to mind.

Darn. Wish I had more to offer here, but just don't get the hidden variable pilot wave stuff and all that has been associated with it. Perhaps I'm tying beables too tightly to dBB? In any case I'm more confused that when I started. To my mind it is just wavefunctions and their interactions, and all the rest is windowdressing we fuss with when we can't see out the window - dark, snow to the rooftops, ice a quarter inch thick on the inside of the glass,... This is what the picture you paint looks to me. Entertaining at times but no fire in the fireplace, and too many empty rooms.

Don't feel like i know enough at this point to rate this essay. Just confused.

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Respected Prof Ian Durham

Wonderful conclusion..... " a universe that is a beable within the framework of some theory, cannot be fundamental." by the way....

Here in my essay energy to mass conversion is proposed...……..….. yours is very nice essay best wishes …. I highly appreciate hope your essay and hope for reciprocity ….You may please spend some of the valuable time on...

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Respected Prof Ian Durham

Wonderful conclusion..... " a universe that is a beable within the framework of some theory, cannot be fundamental." by the way....

Here in my essay energy to mass conversion is proposed...……..….. yours is very nice essay best wishes …. I highly appreciate hope your essay and hope for reciprocity ….You may please spend some of the valuable time on Dynamic Universe Model also and give your some of the valuable & esteemed guidance

Some of the Main foundational points of Dynamic Universe Model :

-No Isotropy

-No Homogeneity

-No Space-time continuum

-Non-uniform density of matter, universe is lumpy

-No singularities

-No collisions between bodies

-No blackholes

-No warm holes

-No Bigbang

-No repulsion between distant Galaxies

-Non-empty Universe

-No imaginary or negative time axis

-No imaginary X, Y, Z axes

-No differential and Integral Equations mathematically

-No General Relativity and Model does not reduce to GR on any condition

-No Creation of matter like Bigbang or steady-state models

-No many mini Bigbangs

-No Missing Mass / Dark matter

-No Dark energy

-No Bigbang generated CMB detected

-No Multi-verses

Here:

-Accelerating Expanding universe with 33% Blue shifted Galaxies

-Newton’s Gravitation law works everywhere in the same way

-All bodies dynamically moving

-All bodies move in dynamic Equilibrium

-Closed universe model no light or bodies will go away from universe

-Single Universe no baby universes

-Time is linear as observed on earth, moving forward only

-Independent x,y,z coordinate axes and Time axis no interdependencies between axes..

-UGF (Universal Gravitational Force) calculated on every point-mass

-Tensors (Linear) used for giving UNIQUE solutions for each time step

-Uses everyday physics as achievable by engineering

-21000 linear equations are used in an Excel sheet

-Computerized calculations uses 16 decimal digit accuracy

-Data mining and data warehousing techniques are used for data extraction from large amounts of data.

- Many predictions of Dynamic Universe Model came true….Have a look at

http://vaksdynamicuniversemodel.blogspot.in/p/blog-page_15.h
tml

I request you to please have a look at my essay also, and give some of your esteemed criticism for your information……..

Dynamic Universe Model says that the energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation passing grazingly near any gravitating mass changes its in frequency and finally will convert into neutrinos (mass). We all know that there is no experiment or quest in this direction. Energy conversion happens from mass to energy with the famous E=mC2, the other side of this conversion was not thought off. This is a new fundamental prediction by Dynamic Universe Model, a foundational quest in the area of Astrophysics and Cosmology.

In accordance with Dynamic Universe Model frequency shift happens on both the sides of spectrum when any electromagnetic radiation passes grazingly near gravitating mass. With this new verification, we will open a new frontier that will unlock a way for formation of the basis for continual Nucleosynthesis (continuous formation of elements) in our Universe. Amount of frequency shift will depend on relative velocity difference. All the papers of author can be downloaded from “http://vaksdynamicuniversemodel.blogspot.in/ ”

I request you to please post your reply in my essay also, so that I can get an intimation that you replied

Best

=snp

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Dear Ian Durham,

You begin with a logician [or a general semanticist] pointing out limits on how much we can reasonably infer from a given observation. Thanks! Don't see much of that these days. You then say "quantum mechanics is ostensibly a [statistical] theory about the results of measurements."

Bell, based on dBB, investigated "objective properties –...

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Dear Ian Durham,

You begin with a logician [or a general semanticist] pointing out limits on how much we can reasonably infer from a given observation. Thanks! Don't see much of that these days. You then say "quantum mechanics is ostensibly a [statistical] theory about the results of measurements."

Bell, based on dBB, investigated "objective properties – beables – assigned to objects", in the way that physically real fields E and H are beables and Maxwell's theory. My current essay reviews Hertz's extension of Maxwell's equations that Einstein based his 1905 paper on. I hope you will read it and comment on it.

If one considers an ultimately dense vortex in a self-interacting field, it might seem to shrink to a point (like a skater pulling in her arms). Before that happens it may reach a limiting point [not describable in a brief comment] where electric charge comes into being. Does all of the 'vortex' go into the charged particle, or does a remnant survive (as a neutrino)? In a comment above you refer to a neutrino as potentially not a fundamental particle, but something like a W+ boson and something else. If a boson is a vortex in an ultradense 'perfect fluid' such as created at LHC, a neutrino may be a Z boson remnant (and nothing else) which yields a left-handed Majorana 'particle'.

I'm in full agreement with Bell about real scalar fields but 'unreal' scalar electric potential. As one is the gradient or integral of the other, why should both be real? You ask "are fundamental beables knowable, and, if so how can we know them?" I suggest that if we can model them well enough to predict their mass (which SM cannot do) this might count for 'knowledge'. And yes, it is better to understand the universe we live in! Also glad you do not believe wave functions necessarily pose a problem for beables. A moving boat will induce a wave and moving mass can also. Rather than discuss your 'universe as beable', may I point out relevant aspects of Bell [copied from my response to another author]:

Referring to Bell's "momentous no-go theorem", if you look at his first paper, his very first equation determines the outcome: A = +/-1, B = +/-1, where A and B are measurements on Stern-Gerlach. This is based on the assumption of quantum qubits. But QM provides only probabilistic predictions. Many-body experiments on spin do yield qubit outcomes, as should be expected. Stern-Gerlach does not yield qubit outcomes, but smeared results that match 3D spin dynamics in an inhomogeneous field. However Pauli's mathematical projection of qubit mechanics: O|+> = +|+>, O|-> = -|-> is Bell's assumption of reality. In other words Bell claims to look for a classical (local variable) description of Stern-Gerlach, but then constrains the problem to quantum results based on the mathematical projection of Pauli, not on the empirical results of Stern-Gerlach.

Feynman later put the final nail in this coffin by assuming that his favorite two-slit photon experiment could be carried over directly to a two-slit spin analog (the SG experiment). Of course the same equations apply, because he's making the same mathematical projection, but the actual physics of the photon in two-slits is vastly different from the physics of atoms in an inhomogeneous magnetic field, and Feynman's extended SG gedanken model has never been tested. Despite that, several QM textbooks base QM on his model.

Since Feynman and Bell's math and logic have been accepted as gospel, local realism has been excluded from physics. A no-go theorem based on atoms in a magnetic field, constrained to never-tested single-qubit spin results, is then "proved" by photon-based experiments which actually do produce two-state results: on/off detections.

I repeat - the entire entanglement industry is based on the erroneous assumption that the results of the Stern-Gerlach atomic experiments are +1 and -1 deflections, "tested" by photonic experiments that use +1 and 0 detections. The atomic data produced by Stern-Gerlach clearly conflicts with Bell's initial assumption, but instead of trying sophisticated tests of Stern-Gerlach using modern technology the whole entanglement industry is based on 1922 experiments that clearly do not yield +1 and -1 results. The confusion of 1920s quantum mechanics is locked in, compounded by 1960's theoretical claims.

My suggestion is to look for the basic assumptions that violate intuition and that lead to nonsense. My current essay provides a possible example of such.

Thank you for surprising yourself with an essay on beables!

My very best regards and best wishes,

Edwin Eugene Klingman

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Dear Ian

If you are looking for another essay to read and rate in the final days of the contest, will you consider mine please? I read all essays from those who comment on my page, and if I cant rate an essay highly, then I don’t rate them at all. Infact I haven’t issued a rating lower that ten. So you have nothing to lose by having me read your essay, and everything to...

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Dear Ian

If you are looking for another essay to read and rate in the final days of the contest, will you consider mine please? I read all essays from those who comment on my page, and if I cant rate an essay highly, then I don’t rate them at all. Infact I haven’t issued a rating lower that ten. So you have nothing to lose by having me read your essay, and everything to gain.

Beyond my essay’s introduction, I place a microscope on the subjects of universal complexity and natural forces. I do so within context that clock operation is driven by Quantum Mechanical forces (atomic and photonic), while clocks also serve measure of General Relativity’s effects (spacetime, time dilation). In this respect clocks can be said to possess a split personality, giving them the distinction that they are simultaneously a study in QM, while GR is a study of clocks. The situation stands whereby we have two fundamental theories of the world, but just one world. And we have a singular device which serves study of both those fundamental theories. Two fundamental theories, but one device? Please join me and my essay in questioning this circumstance?

My essay goes on to identify natural forces in their universal roles, how they motivate the building of and maintaining complex universal structures and processes. When we look at how star fusion processes sit within a “narrow range of sensitivity” that stars are neither led to explode nor collapse under gravity. We think how lucky we are that the universe is just so. We can also count our lucky stars that the fusion process that marks the birth of a star, also leads to an eruption of photons from its surface. And again, how lucky we are! for if they didn’t then gas accumulation wouldn’t be halted and the star would again be led to collapse.

Could a natural organisation principle have been responsible for fine tuning universal systems? Faced with how lucky we appear to have been, shouldn’t we consider this possibility?

For our luck surely didnt run out there, for these photons stream down on earth, liquifying oceans which drive geochemical processes that we “life” are reliant upon. The Earth is made up of elements that possess the chemical potentials that life is entirely dependent upon. Those chemical potentials are not expressed in the absence of water solvency. So again, how amazingly fortunate we are that these chemical potentials exist in the first instance, and additionally within an environment of abundant water solvency such as Earth, able to express these potentials.

My essay is attempt of something audacious. It questions the fundamental nature of the interaction between space and matter Guv = Tuv, and hypothesizes the equality between space curvature and atomic forces is due to common process. Space gives up a potential in exchange for atomic forces in a conversion process, which drives atomic activity. And furthermore, that Baryons only exist because this energy potential of space exists and is available for exploitation. Baryon characteristics and behaviours, complexity of structure and process might then be explained in terms of being evolved and optimised for this purpose and existence. Removing need for so many layers of extraordinary luck to eventuate our own existence. It attempts an interpretation of the above mentioned stellar processes within these terms, but also extends much further. It shines a light on molecular structure that binds matter together, as potentially being an evolved agency that enhances rigidity and therefor persistence of universal system. We then turn a questioning mind towards Earths unlikely geochemical processes, (for which we living things owe so much) and look at its central theme and propensity for molecular rock forming processes. The existence of chemical potentials and their diverse range of molecular bond formation activities? The abundance of water solvent on Earth, for which many geochemical rock forming processes could not be expressed without? The question of a watery Earth? is then implicated as being part of an evolved system that arose for purpose and reason, alongside the same reason and purpose that molecular bonds and chemistry processes arose.

By identifying atomic forces as having their origin in space, we have identified how they perpetually act, and deliver work products. Forces drive clocks and clock activity is shown by GR to dilate. My essay details the principle of force dilation and applies it to a universal mystery. My essay raises the possibility, that nature in possession of a natural energy potential, will spontaneously generate a circumstance of Darwinian emergence. It did so on Earth, and perhaps it did so within a wider scope. We learnt how biology generates intricate structure and complexity, and now we learn how it might explain for intricate structure and complexity within universal physical systems.

To steal a phrase from my essay “A world product of evolved optimization”.

Best of luck for the conclusion of the contest

Kind regards

Steven Andresen

Darwinian Universal Fundamental Origin

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Dear Ian,

Bell's work takes centre-stage in my research, so your essay (already much annotated) is excellent for me. To keep it simple for now, here's how I parse your Abstract:

"From its earliest days nearly a century ago, quantum mechanics has proven itself to be a tremendously accurate yet intellectually unsatisfying theory to many." This issue is the focus of my research. Please...

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Dear Ian,

Bell's work takes centre-stage in my research, so your essay (already much annotated) is excellent for me. To keep it simple for now, here's how I parse your Abstract:

"From its earliest days nearly a century ago, quantum mechanics has proven itself to be a tremendously accurate yet intellectually unsatisfying theory to many." This issue is the focus of my research. Please see Fröhner, hyperlinked at Reference [12] in my essay; or via direct link to the PDF (which may be slow) Missing link between probability theory and quantum mechanics: the Riesz-Fejér theorem.

"Not the least of its problems is that it is a theory about the results of measurements." Yes, I prefer to speak of tests (which are secondary to the initial beables).

"As John Bell once said in introducing the concept of ‘beables’, it should be possible to say what is rather than merely what is observed." Yes, to say also: what is inferable and not observable; what is interactively sensitive and what is not.

"In this essay I consider the question of whether a universe can be a beable and what that implies about the fundamental nature of that universe." Spacetime is a beable in my theorising.

"I conclude that a universe that is a beable within the framework of some theory, cannot be fundamental." I conclude that spacetime is fundamental; it provides the framework for my theory.

Since your comments on my theory will be welcome at any time, here is some background from my essay thread:

Background to Wholistic Mechanics (WM)

Whereas QM emerged from the UV-catastrophe ca1905, WM emerges from the locality-catastrophe typified by John Bell's dilemma ca1965: ie, seriously ambivalent about AAD, Bell adamantly rejected locality. He later surmised that maybe he and his followers were being rather silly -- correctly; as we show -- for WM is the local theory that resolves Bell's dilemma [there is no AAD] and proves the Bellian silliness.

So WM begins by bringing just one change to modern physics: rejecting naive-realism, true realism insists that some beables change interactively, after Bohr's disturbance-dictum. Thus recognising the minimum-action associated with Planck's constant, WM then recognises the maximum speed associated with light: for true locality insists that no influence propagates superluminally, after Einstein.

The union of these two classical principles -- the foundation of WM -- is true local realism (TLR). Under TLR, EPR's naive criterion for "an element of physical reality" is corrected, then the Laws of Malus and Bayes are validated in the quantum world. Then, via the R-F theorem ca1915, Born's Law is seen to derive from elementary Fourier theory. This in turn allows us to understand the physical significance of Dirac's notation; etc. Thus, beginning with these elementary natural principles, WM's universe-of-discourse focuses on beables in spacetime: with mathematics taken to be our best logic.

NB: Formulated in 1989 in response to a challenging article by David Mermin (1988), many leading Bellian physicists and philosophers have committed to review the foundations of WM and its early results. Since no such review has ever been delivered, I am not yet aware of any defect in the theory. Further, WM provides many ways to refute Bell's theorem (BT): one such is provided on p.8 of my essay.

PS: To those who dismiss my essay due to an alleged typo in the heading, I follow C. S. Peirce (absent his severity): "It is entirely contrary to good English usage to spell premiss, 'premise,' and this spelling ... simply betrays ignorance of the history of logic.” [End of background story]

Ian, warmly appreciating your essay; assuring you that critical comments on my own ideas are welcome at any time;

and with best regards,

Gordon Watson More realistic fundamentals: quantum theory from one premiss.

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