The Unification of Gravity and Dark Energy

2019, The Unification of Gravity and Dark Energy

By unifying the concept of gravity with the concept of dark energy we can explain the following: 1) why galaxies are moving apart; 2) how space-time actually curves; 3) why objects fall down instead of up (and the elliptical orbits of satellites); 4) why gravity is weak compared to the other fundamental interactions.

The Unification of Gravity and Dark Energy By G.M. Jackson Abstract: By unifying the concept of gravity with the concept of dark energy we can explain the following: 1) why galaxies are moving apart; 2) how space-time actually curves; 3) why objects fall down instead of up (and the elliptical orbits of satellites); 4) why gravity is weak compared to the other fundamental interactions. 1. Imagine a universe with no gravity. This universe only expands, like a flowing river in all directions. So how does gravity emerge in such a universe? To simplify the matter, let’s imagine a river flowing in one direction. What happens when you take a large mass and place it in the river’s path? The rate of flow slows down around and near the mass, and then something amazing happens! There is a back-flow! A toy boat that normally flows downstream is now attracted to the mass: Now imagine the expanding universe is one-dimensional with two reference frames expanding right and left like the arrows in the the diagram below: The red enclosure demonstrates how these two frames are isotropic. They could be galaxies moving apart or just the vacuum of space. As long as there is symmetry, this universe just wants to expand. 2. Adding more mass to one of the frames breaks the symmetry, i.e., locally slows the rate of expansion: The result is a net back-flow of space-time towards the mass. But note how the outer arrows continue to expand outwards. At vast distances, our universe is relatively isotropic and symmetrical, so galaxies expand away from each other. We label this phenomenon “dark energy.” The local net back-flow of space-time we label “gravity.” As you can see from the above diagram, there is no tug of war between gravity and dark energy, which is why the universe expanded from the very beginning. Gravity emerges from the expansion when mass (energy, momentum, etc.) slows down the expanding space that the mass occupies--and when the outer space expands at a faster rate. This expansion-rate difference creates the net back-flow or gravitational attraction. The diagram below illustrates how this net back-flow is consistent with the abstract idea of curved space-time. A mass slowing the expansion of space-time is equivalent to placing a bowling ball on a trampoline. The red arrows depict objects falling, and the blue ring depicts an orbiting satellite. 3. Of course the above diagram is overly-simplistic in that it does not demonstrate the inverse square law. To do that the diagram below focuses on just one of the field lines: Closer to the mass, the space-time expansion arrows are shorter--time runs slower. Further from the mass, the expansion arrows are longer--time runs faster. When an object falls toward the mass, it accelerates due to continuous shorter time rates and accumulated differences between the outbound and inbound expansion arrows. This acceleration is consistent with the inverse square law as well as special and general relativity. This “gravitational field” is weak compared to the other fundamental forces. Why? Take any random mass and zoom in to a single atom. Each atom is mostly space with a few particles thrown in. Ordinary matter has low energy density compared to, say, a black hole. There is very little difference between matter-occupied space and pure space, so matter does precious little to slow space-time expansion. The result is a minuscule difference between the outbound and inbound arrows that depict the gravitational field in the above diagrams. Conclusion: The galaxies in our universe are accelerating apart due to “dark energy.” Yet from this expanding universe emerges “gravity.” Gravity is a result of the expansion-rate differences caused by the symmetry-breaking property of matter. Where there is matter, space-time expands slower; where there is no matter (or less matter), space-time expands faster. This idea is consistent with the abstract concept of matter curving space-time. Objects fall and/or orbit in a gravitational field due to a net back-flow of expanding space-time. The gravitational field is weak due to matter being mostly space and not doing much to slow expanding space. 4.

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The Unification of Gravity and Dark Energy

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