The Planck Vacuum

Abstract

This is an unusual paper that needs to be put into perspective to be understood because the definitions contained herein evoke preconceived ideas that get in the way of the reader. For example, the words “bare charge” mean something very specific to the quantum-field-theory specialist that evoke notions of renormalization and Feynman diagrams. The definition of these words given here, however, mean something quite different; so this preface is intended to provide a setting that will make the paper easier to understand. About ten years ago the author derived the gravitational (G= e2 =m2 ), Planck (~= e2 =c), and also fine structure ( = e2=e2 ) constants in a somewhat confused and mixedup manner. Although their derivation at that time left something to be desired, the simple elegance and connectedness of these three fundamental equations has provided the motivation behind the search for their explanation. Thus it was the “leading” of these three constants that resulted in the paper that is about to be read. The intent at the beginning of the investigations was not some urge to discover a grand theory that unifies diverse areas of physics, although the search for the physics behind the constants appears to be doing just that. The Planck vacuum (PV) state is envisioned as an infinite, invisible (not directly observable), omnipresent, uniform, and homogeneous negative energy state somewhat analogous to the Dirac “sea” in quantum mechanics. The quantum vacuum, on the other hand, consists of virtual particles that appear and disappear at random in free space, the space where free particles and the rest of the universe are observed. The source of this quantum vacuum is assumed to be the PV, where the fields of the quantum vacuum are analogous to nonpropagating induction fields with the PV as their source. The PV is also assumed to be the source of the free particles. The charge of the Planck particle is called the bare charge, and it is this bare charge that is the true, unscreened, charge of the electron and the rest of the charged elementary particles. The polarizability of the PV is shown to be responsible for the fact that the observed electronic charge e has a smaller magnitude than the bare charge e . The PV theory is not derived from some pre-existing theory, e.g. the quantum field theory — it is assumed to be the source of these pre-existing theories. The simple calculations in the paper lead to the above constants and from there to the many suggestions, assumptions, speculations, and handwaving that necessarily characterize the PV theory at this early stage of development. It is expected, however, that the theory will eventually lead to a “sea change” in the way we view fundamental physics. So let’s begin.