In addition to conducting extensive work in main-line science, including several books and hundreds of papers, both basic and applied, I've always been somewhat interested in speculative ideas about fundamental science. Now that I have retired from active duty as an establishment scientist, I am having a little fun playing around with more speculative ideas. Here are some discussion papers on speculative topics:
Why does our human-sized world behave classically instead of quantum mechanically? Right now I think it has to do with the presence of imperceptibly small Hubble expansion velocities within extended objects that are present as a result of the expansion of the universe. (If objects are governed by quantum mechanics in a stationary universe, then stretching that universe could introduce adjunct velocity components that could change pure quantum states into wave packets characterizing localized objects.) In the e-print archive (arXiv.org), you will find a popular, non-technical discussion of this idea of how the quantum-classical transition can be caused by Hubble velocities; and a link from this abstract page will lead to the full non-technical discussion. You will be able to find the original paper "Becoming classical: A possible cosmological influence on the quantum-classical transition" in the December 2006 issue of the journal Physics Essays (Vol. 19, No. 4). (Trouble following links? Go to http://arxiv.org and use the search function for "Herzenberg".)
A short summary of these results and some related studies was presented at the April 2007 meeting of the American Physical Society, and the abstract "Is there a cosmological influence on the quantum-classical transition?" appears in Vol. 52, No. 3, p. 62 of the Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
Look for a related paper "The role of Hubble time in the quantum-classical transition" in the March 2007 issue of Physics Essays (Vol 20, No. 1). An early draft of similar ideas appearing in the e-print archive discusses stochastic diffusion and presents some interesting predictions. There is also a related e-print, "The Quantum-Classical Transition and Wave Packet Dispersion".
How should we interpret the Planck length in physics? Here's an idea, "A New Basis for Interpretation of the Planck Length".
And if you are into hidden variables, take a look at "Quantum Features of Vacuum Flux Impact: An Interpretation of Quantum Phenomena".
I also have a related paper in the e-print archive entitled "An elementary approach to quantum gravity based on a flux model of a physical vacuum"; here are the abstract and paper.
Another paper in the e-print archive presents a different conceptual approach to the origin of cosmic rays; here's the abstract.
And there's a paper addressing the origin of mass and related fundamentals: "Dark matter and the origin of mass: a simplified semiclassical approach". (It really deals more with dark energy than dark matter.) It's a different take on an old problem. You can find the abstract and the paper (physics/0006040) in the on-line automated e-print archive, the database of research paper preprints, at http://arxiv.org under Physics. This paper is published in the December 2000 issue of the journal Physics Essays (Vol. 13, No. 4).
This page updated 9 August 2007.
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