
A new hope for unification in physics
The search for quantum gravity has gone on for 100 years, but it is not the only unification challenge in physics. Many of us believe that one day there will be a unification theory—a theory that will reconcile many divergent physical theories.
Our new article published in Physica Scripta brings new hope that such a theory exists. It demonstrates that the use of a certain mathematical object called Alena Tensor reconciles various physical theories, including general relativity, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics and continuum mechanics. Will this finally allow scientists to unify descriptions used in physics?
What is Alena Tensor?
Any movement under the influence of forces can be mathematically represented as movement along a curved path. Using differential geometry, one may equally well assume that the trajectory was straight, while the space in which the move took place is curved. It may sound complicated, but it can be assumed that there is a mathematical transformation that allows us to describe curved space-time equivalently as flat space-time where certain forces act.
It has long been suspected that such a transformation exists, although opinions on this matter are divided. Some physicists believe that the metric tensor, a mathematical object describing the curvature of space-time, is simply a feature of space-time. Some physicists, most often mathematical physicists, are of the opinion that such a transformation should exist.
Alena Tensor provides just such a transformation. In short, Alena Tensor can straighten curved space-time while preserving all conclusions from general relativity. This property alone makes Alena Tensor an extremely valuable tool, but this is just the beginning.
Alena Tensor in flat and curved space-time
We used Alena Tensor to describe a system with an electromagnetic field, obtaining three forces in flat space-time: electromagnetism (which is not surprising), “against gravity,” and radiation reaction force.
The radiation reaction force is already known in physics. It safeguards the principle of conservation of energy and ensures that the energy of an accelerating body does not exceed the energy available in the physical system.
The “against gravity” force generalizes classical Newton’s equation for gravity, providing a relativistic description of gravity in flat space-time, fully consistent with general relativity: