Popular Summary of the Non-local Vacuum Paper
The discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in 1964 provided experimental evidence that the spacetime of our observable universe began with the
event known as the big bang. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity (GR), that has very successfully explained what we observe about the
expansion of classical spacetime, assumes that spacetime, and therefore time, emerged from a single point known as the singularity. This
assumption leads to two problems that remain to be resolved.
The first is known as the “cosmological constant problem” and stems from the fact that the expansion of the universe from zero to classical sizes had
to have passed through the quantum world existing at the smallest length scale (the Planck scale) of about 10-35 m. According to quantum theory,
quantum fields have their minimum energy value within the vacuum. Quanta at the Planck scale would have the highest possible energy density value
of about 10123 GeV/m3 (1 GeV is approximately the energy equivalent of the mass of a single Hydrogen atom.). According to GR, the universe has
no center so that the singularity, the big bang and the vacuum exist everywhere throughout the universe. But the measured energy density of the
universe is about 5 GeV/m3. So, the problem (also known as the “vacuum catastrophe” problem) is: “How can the omnipresent vacuum have an energy
density more than 120 orders of magnitude larger than the universe without affecting gravity and disrupting the expansion of the universe?”
The second problem relates to the observed homogeneity of the CMB. The observations indicate that the radiating material producing the CMB had to be in
communication long enough to achieve significant bulk uniformity before the radiation began. This would not be possible if the material was
emanating from a point source at a more or less constant rate. This problem has been addressed by the theory of cosmic inflation that
postulates an initial very rapid expansion before normal (GR) expansion began. But a problem remains in that the mechanisms that could
have driven inflation have not yet been identified.
A third problem has recently arisen because of the statistically significant difference (by > 4σ) between two measurements of the Hubble constant that measures the rate of
expansion of spacetime. One measurement (by the Planck collaboration) is based on features of the CMB indicative of conditions in the early
universe and the other measurement (by the SH0ES team) is derived from astronomical observations made by the Hubble Telescope that are representative of conditions in the late time universe.
Both teams stand by the uncertainties attached to their measurements which has led to what is called the Hubble tension.
The standard (ΛCDM) model of cosmology, has no explanation for why the expansion of the universe has changed, much less, accelerated over cosmological time.
The discrepancy between the two measurements was headlined in the March, 2020, edition of Scientific American as "A Cosmic Crisis"
This paper proposes a model of cosmology that provides a framework that: eliminates the “cosmological constant problem”; provides a mechanism explaining the existence and
magnitude of cosmic inflation; and, provides a plausible explanation for how both measurements of the Hubble constant could be correct. The model also provides room for the physical
existence of a non-local reality (a region without time/causality)
that would explain the paradox of “spooky action at a distance” demonstrated to exist in recent experiments on quantum entanglement.
The basis of this framework (I call the Horizon Model) is that the
big bang is not a naked singularity but represents the opening of a white hole and that time and local reality emerges not from the singularity
itself but from the expanding big bang event horizon surrounding it. The key assumption is that the interior of the white hole is the reality of non-local vacuum
- a region of pure probability filled with entangled Planck sized qubits. The separability of the indestructible qubits could give rise to 3-D space but the
source of 4-D spacetime (gravity) and matter/energy are the quantized bits of the event (vacuum) horizon.
In this picture all quantum fields have their zero-point energies and quantum
mechanics gains its time-dependence on the vacuum horizon. Some of the precedent ideas relevant to this model are discussed in the paper.
The paper identifies several experiments that could
potentially falsify the Model.
My colleague Richard A. Muller (we were graduate students at U.C. Berkeley at about the same time) has written a thought provoking book on NOW: The Physics of Time
in which he asks about the nature of "Now". The Horizon Model (HM) would say that "Now" is a quantum bit on the vacuum horizon where cosmological (past) time ends and local time begins.
This quantum has a physical size (~10-26 m) and a time uncertainty of (~10-35 s). This quantum intervention that HM inserts between the past and the future would certainly challenge
the philosophy of determinism.
Publication History of the Paper
After officially retiring from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 2001 I worked for a number of years as a contractor/consultant to one
of the physics groups at LANL. When funding for the contracts eventually ran out I lost LANL institutional support and all the work I've done since
then has been done as an "independent researcher". As such I have relied on the research literature that is available in "open access"
publications. The other forms of research literature are "subscription" publications that either institutions or independent researchers must pay to read.
(Though I have published scores of papers through the American Physical Society (APS) and other publishers, I would have to pay up to $40 just to read one
of my own papers!)
The normal option for "open access" is through the preprint server arXiv supported by the Simons Foundation and Cornell University.
My attempts to have previous versions of this paper published on arXiv have not been successful because of their policy regarding first time authors on arXiv. Since I am not a
member of the community of theoretical physicists, arXiv has asked me to obtain endorsements from authors who have recently published papers on arXiv in
the same subject category as my paper (astro-ph.CO). None of my professional acquaintances qualify as endorsers acceptable to arXiv. I have emailed versions of the paper to several
well-known theorists and arXiv endorsers who I thought might find the paper of interest but have received no responses. It seems the community prefers to accept the embarrassment
of the vacuum catastrophe rather than assume a retired experimentalist could have a useful insight. I have no other recourse than to publish the paper
here on my own website in hopes that someday some open-minded colleague(s) will endorse the paper for peer review and possible publication.
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Contact: roger.hill.nm@gmail.com