Gravitation, Physics, and Technology               by   C. Y. Lo

Classical physics starts with the pioneer works of Galileo and Newton on gravity. Their works established:

1)    The three laws in mechanics of Newton.

2)    The Newtonian law of Gravity

3)    The equivalence of initial mass and gravitational mass.

4)    The neutral objects, independent of the mass, are accelerated in the same way under gravity.

Newton recognized that his instantaneous action of gravity at a distance has no justification other than the support of experiments. Later, it is found also that the perihelion of Mercury cannot be explained in terms of Newtonian gravity. The theory of classical physics works well until the discovery of electromagnetism.

The electromagnetism leads to the discovery of the electromagnetic waves, and thus

1)    The need of special relativity.

2)    The photon that consists of only quantized electromagnetic energy explains the photo-electric effects.

3)    The conversion of mass to energy through the formula E = mc². (This disagrees with the known calculated values of mass and energy of an electron because the electromagnetic energy is not equivalent to mass).

4)    The physical influence needs time to propagate and a proposal of the general theory of relativity.

The central figure in the above is Einstein, who led these efforts also in the above order. The special relativity leads to the notion of a four-dimensional space. The notion of photon as quantized energy is verified, but the assumption of consisting of only electromagnetic energy was not examined. Since general relativity was not proposed, the question of energy from gravitational waves was not considered although an electron does have a mass. This oversight results in Einstein’s proof for the equivalence of photonic energy and mass is incomplete because a crucial step that shows the photonic energy actually consists of electromagnetic energy and gravitational energy was omitted. Thus, the invalid speculation that m = E/c² was generally accepted without a proof.

This oversight led to an error on the theory of general relativity because the invalid implicit assumption of unique coupling sign for the Einstein equation was generally accepted. This is the crucial physical assumption of the space-time singularity theorems of Penrose and Hawking. Unfortunately such mathematical theorems which actually are irrelevant to physics were generally accepted; and accordingly Penrose and Hawking claimed the general relativity is invalid for microscopic phenomena. Historically, the singularity theorems were resisted by Lifshitz because of a difference in philosophy, but he also failed to see that the source of errors is in physics not mathematics. His admission of mathematical errors gives the best propaganda for the then unpopular theorems.

However, such a crucial error in physics was not discovered until 1995 as a by-product in the process of proving the non-existence of dynamic solutions for the Einstein equation, although Gullstrand had suspect the existence of dynamic solution as early as 1921. (This is the reason, based on the photo-electric effects instead of general relativity, that Einstein received his Nobel Prize.) This late discovery is due to that physicists were not familiar with the non-linear equation, and also that Einstein’s own invalid covariance principle together with misinterpretations of Einstein equivalence principle created great confusions in understanding the physics and the principle of causality. Fortunately, the Wheeler School as well as the Royal Society provides good examples at the undergraduate level to illustrate such errors. These free us from relying on opinions of the so-called “experts”.

In summary, Einstein is the major architect or foundation builder of three great theories of modern physics, namely: the special relativity, the quantum mechanics and general relativity. However, he is also the source of oversight in each theory. In special relativity, he failed to see that E = mc² is only conditionally valid. In quantum theory, he failed to recognize that the photons must include non-electromagnetic energy. In general relativity, his principle of covariance as well as his theory of measurement is invalid. The lack of example to illustrate his equivalence principle and inadequacy in mathematics make it possible to have popular misinterpretations and confusions in physics. His inadequacy in mathematics also leads to the failure in recognizing the non-existence of the dynamic solution for the Einstein equation. Consequently, later theorists failed to see that the space-time singularity theorems are actually based on an implicit assumption that violates the principle of causality. Thus, his errors are also the causes of difficulties for later theoretical developments, and thus are necessary to be rectified. A crucial error is the failure to see that m= E/c² is actually conditionally valid.  

The demand for efforts to find a proof for the in-equivalence between electromagnetic energy and mass that does not depend on the accuracy of electromagnetism, leads to the discovery of the repulsive static charge-mass interaction. This clearly supports Einstein’s conjecture on the unification of gravitation and electromagnetism in terms of our earlier five-dimensional theory developed at Tufts University in 1983. After the discovery of the Pioneer anomaly by NASA, many current and much earlier experiments that support the charge-mass interaction were gradually found and proposed. Thus, a new area for experimental and theoretical development for the charge-mass interaction and higher dimensional unification are finally opened for physicists to explore. Now, fundamental physics is more alive again.

Since an increase of energy in a neutral object may not mean the increment of an attractive force, the basic assumption of the theory of black holes is proven invalid. The charge-mass interaction implies that neutral objects can have different accelerations under gravity. Besides, this interaction can be transferred to new technology with opportunities for patents. Although a number of patents have been registrar in the research in anti-gravity, there are still opportunities in related areas because previous theoretical errors had misled them.