• Enrique
    842
    The Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment failed to detect a wind of luminiferous aether that was an anticipated consequence of Earth's motions through space. Aether was presumably the medium through which light waves travel. This was seen as a setback for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, leading to unintuitive notions such as curved spacetime.

    But what if an aether wind was not detected because atoms and molecules in the atmosphere disperse it with trillions upon unmeasurable trillions of wavicle interferences such that influence is negligible on Earth's surface? If the experiment is performed in the near vacuum of space, possibly outside a moving spaceship, interferences will not break up the aether and macroscopic effects might be observable. This could lead to synthesizing the quantum mechanical account of wavicle/particle dynamics with general relativity, as density contours in the isolated aether of outer space revealed by especially large objects and fast speeds may correlate with spatial curvature and light bending.

    We should do the Michelson-Morley experiment in space! Who's with me?
  • Banno
    24.8k
    That experiment is performed every time you check Google Maps.
  • Enrique
    842


    Can you give a basic explanation of the technical details?
  • Banno
    24.8k
    No, but amusingly there are a bunch of papers online claiming to have done the experiment and found luminiferous aether.
  • Enrique
    842


    Ha, I knew it! This is my qualitative thinking. Each atom of electromagnetic matter has a density of aether infused into it, and interferences within and especially between atoms produce agitation in the aether, making its motions effectively random at largish mass, so quantum decoherence correlates to some extent with aether decoherence, one of the reasons why aether is challenging to detect on Earth.

    Clocks run faster at higher Earth altitude because less density in the atmosphere corresponds to less aether density all else being equal and less compression in mass' rates of change. Clocks run ever so slightly slower at faster speed in a direction parallel to Earth's surface because a faint, macroscopic aether wind compresses density within the apparatus while flowing around and through it. Clocks run slower in space because much less particle interference allows the aether to be on average more dense and integrated. All kinds of experiments with matter can be designed to test these hypotheses if the basic principle is verified, and perhaps it has been!
  • Banno
    24.8k
    I prefer relativity. It makes more sense.
  • Enrique
    842
    Maybe aether has some connection to dark matter/energy and quantum coherence.
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Particles don't need a medium, waves do. Do the math! Maybe when light travels in vacuum it does so in particle form (no aether) and once it enters a medium (air/water/glass/plastic/any transparent medium) it changes to waves (re wave-particle duality).

    :chin:
  • Metaphysician Undercover
    13.1k
    Each atom of electromagnetic matter has a density of aether infused into it, and interferences within and especially between atoms produce agitation in the aether, making its motions effectively random at largish mass, so quantum decoherence correlates to some extent with aether decoherence, one of the reasons why aether is challenging to detect on Earth.Enrique

    The Michelson-Morley experiments would show the presence of the aether if the aether was a separate substance from the massive object. What quantum physics demonstrates to us, is that the massive particle, and the wave substance are one and the same. This means that the aether and the object are not separable as hypothesized in the experiment, rendering the experiment useless.
  • Metaphysician Undercover
    13.1k
    What is not understood, is what constitutes "mass".
  • universeness
    6.3k
    Does the label matter? Aether or space or extent or even universal container?
    If QFT is correct then particles/waves are just excitations within a spacial extent.
    In that sense, a splash of water can 'separate' from a concentration of water only, 'within the universe.'
    Can anything 'splash' outside of the universe? I think the answer is no.
    This is probably just my limited understanding of physics, expressing itself.
    An example of me trying to understand quantum field theory using a classical understanding of how water acts.
    I thought I might offer it up anyway, even if merely as a sacrifice towards those who might enjoy shooting lots of holes in it using their better physics knowledge.
  • Enrique
    842


    But what if electromagnetic matter is just a denser portion of the aether field, not a separate substance? Electromagnetism might be like a relatively localized bulge of dense excitation in a more nonlocally active, ''aether'' substrate. In the context of classical physics, electromagnetic centers of mass (energy density) could be difficult to differentiate from aether if concentrated enough, as in an organism, or relatively stationary enough, as on Earth. But whenever atoms travel rapidly through space, aether may be associated with either resistive squishing, increasing energy density as in the case of a clock moving horizontally and a decelerating electric current, or diffusive spreading, decreasing energy density as in the case of an accelerating electric current, and this can't be easily distinguished from relativistic effects.

    Atoms probably arise from the influence of much more dense nuclear fields on a singular electromagnetic field, the electron sea model, so the same principle of field relativity applies with known matter.

    And maybe the Michelson-Morley experiment works with satellites in space! According to Banno some papers claim so though I haven't browsed them yet. Perhaps that was a joke.
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