Heim theory

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Heim theory is a collection of ideas about the fundamental laws of physics proposed by Burkhard Heim[1], [2] and further developed by Walter Dröscher and Jochem Häuser.[3]. Most of their original work and the subsequent theories based on it have not been peer reviewed. Heim attempted to resolve incompatibilities between quantum theory and general relativity. To meet that goal, he developed a mathematical approach based on quantizing spacetime itself, and proposed the "metron" as a (two-dimensional) quantum of (multidimensional) space. Part of the theory is formulated in terms of difference operators; Heim called the mathematical formalism "Selector calculus". [1]

The mathematics behind Heim's theory requires extending spacetime with extra dimensions; various formulations by Heim and his successors involve six, eight, or twelve dimensions. Within the quantum spacetime of Heim theory, elementary particles are represented as "hermetry forms" or multidimensional structures of space. Heim has claimed that his theory yields particle masses directly from fundamental physical constants and that the resulting masses are in agreement with experiment; however, many of the particles whose masses he calculated (specifically the hadrons) are now known to be composite particles and not elementary after all. For Heim, this composite nature was an expression of internal, six-dimensional structure. After his death, others have continued with his multi-dimensional "quantum hyperspace" framework. Most notable are the theoretical generalizations put forth by Walter Dröscher, who worked in collaboration with Heim at some length. Their combined theories are also known as "Heim-Droescher" theories [4].

There are some differences between the original "Heim Theory" and the extended versions proposed by his successors. For example, in its original version Heim theory has six dimensions. Droescher first extended this to eight and claimed that this yields quantum electrodynamics along with the "particle zoo" of mesons and baryons. Later, four more dimensions were used in the twelve dimension version, which involves extra gravitational forces; one of these corresponds to quintessence [5]. All of these extended theories are often called "Heim theories." Heim derived a constraint and upper limit on the number of possible dimensions-- namely 12.

Although it purports to unify quantum mechanics and gravitation, the original Heim theory cannot be considered a theory of everything because it does not incorporate all known experimental data. In particular, it gives predictions only for properties of individual particles, without making detailed predictions about how they interact. The theory also allows for particle states that don't exist in the Standard Model, including a neutral electron and two extra light neutrinos, and many other extra states. Presently, there is no known mechanism for the exclusion of these extra particles, nor an explanation for their non-observation. [6] Although it is claimed that Heim theory can incorporate the modern structure of particle physics [7], the available results predict the masses for composite hadrons rather than quarks and do not include gluons or the W and Z bosons [8], which are experimentally very well-established. [2][3][4] In Heim theory, quarks are interpreted as 'condensation zones' of the six-dimensional internal structure of the particles [9], and the gluons are asserted to be associated with one of the "hermetry forms" [10]; however, no results have been published in which the observed properties of these particles are predicted in detail.

Contents

[edit] History

The basic theory was developed in near-isolation from the scientific community. Heim's disabilities -- an explosives-handling accident when he was 19 had left him without hands and mostly deaf and blind -- led him to prefer this isolation as the effort of communication in a university environment was too much of a strain for him. Heim himself had only one publication in a peer reviewed scientific journal, and this only at the insistence of his friends, as he himself did not see the need for publication until his theory was complete. Heim's original 1977 publication remains the only peer-reviewed publication on Heim theory.

A small group of physicists is now trying to bring it to the attention of the scientific community, by publishing and copy-editing Heim's work, and by checking and expanding the relevant calculations. Recently, a series of presentations of Heim theory was made by Häuser, Dröscher and von Ludwiger. A paper based on the former was published in a conference proceedings by the American Institute of Physics journal in 2005 (see table of contents in [11] and abstract of paper in [12]). This article has won a prize for the best paper received in 2004 by the AIAA Nuclear and Future Flight Technical Committee. Von Ludwiger's presentation was to the First European Workshop on Field Propulsion, January 20-22, 2001 at the University of Sussex (see list of talks [13]). Dröscher was allegedly able to extend Heim's six-dimensional theory, which had been sufficient for derivation of the mass formula, to an eight-dimensional theory which included particle interactions.

[edit] Claimed predictions of the theory

Two predictions claimed to have been derived from first principles that are experimentally testable are:

  • Predictions for the masses of neutrinos, and
  • Predictions for the conversion of photons into the so-called "gravito-photons" resulting in a measurable force.

Heim correctly predicted nonzero neutrino masses in the 1980s. However, he did not predict the observed neutrino oscillation, which is a consequence of the fact that the mass eigenstates do not correspond to the flavor eigenstates.

Empirical confirmation of supersymmetry (for example detecting the hypothetical Lightest Supersymmetric Particle or any other particle predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model) would falsify all existing versions of Heim theory, which are mutually exclusive with supersymmetry. Also, it is not certain whether Heim theory would be able to accommodate the existence of the Higgs boson, the only undiscovered particle expected in the Standard Model, and one which has not been predicted by the published versions of the Heim mass formula, as masses are acquired in Heim theory without the Higgs mechanism. The ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider are likely to discover the Higgs boson in the next several years, if it exists.


[edit] Heim's claimed predictions for particle masses experimental masses

Here are tables comparing the experimental masses and lifetimes of selected particles with the data generated using Heim's non-peer reviewed code:

Particle name Theoretical mass (MeV/c2) Experimental mass (MeV/c2) Absolute error Relative error standard deviations
Proton 938.27959 938.272029±0.000080 0.00756 0.00000776 94.5
Neutron 939.57337 939.565360±0.000081 0.00801 0.00000853 98.9
Electron 0.51100343 0.510998918±0.000000044 0.00000451 0.00000883 102.5
Neutral electron 0.51617049 Unobserved N/A N/A N/A


Particle type Particle name Theoretical mass (MeV/c2) Measured mass (MeV/c2) Theoretical mean life/10-8 sec Measured mean life/10-8 sec
Lepton Ele-Neutrino 0.381 × 10-8 < 5 × 10-8 Infinite Infinite
Lepton Mu -Neutrino 0.00537 < 0.17 Infinite Infinite
Lepton Tau-Neutrino 0.010752 < 18.2 Infinite Infinite
Lepton Neutrino 4 0.021059 Excluded by LEP
(unless > 45000)		 Infinite N/A
Lepton Neutrino 5 0.207001 Excluded by LEP
(unless > 45000)		 Infinite N/A
Lepton Electron 0.51100343 0.51099907 ± 0.00000015 Infinite Infinite
Lepton Muon 105.65948493 105.658389 ± 0.000034 219.94237553 219.703 ± 0.004
Baryon Proton 938.27959246 938.27231 ± 0.00026 Infinite Infinite
Baryon Neutron 939.57336128 939.56563 ± 0.00028 917.33526856 × 108 (886.7 ± 1.9) × 108

The predicted masses were claimed to have been derived by Heim using only 4 parameters - h (Planck's Constant), G (Gravitational constant), vacuum permittivity and permeability. This implies that all masses must be dimensionless functions containing no free parameters multiplied by the Planck mass. The ratio of two predicted masses should therefore have no theoretical error caused by uncertainties in the four input parameters. While Heim theory is the only physical theory which has come close to predicting the correct masses of particles, when comparing such ratios using the above table one can see that they are outside the experimental limits. However, since no other theory gets this close to the measured masses from first principles, if the derivation of the mass formula can be confirmed, then Heim theory would achieve major corroboration.

[edit] Heim's predictions for a quantum gravity force

Already in the 1950's, Heim had predicted what he termed a 'contrabary' effect whereby photons, under the influence of a strong magnetic field in a certain configuration, could be transformed into 'gravito-photons', which would provide an artificial gravity force. This idea caused great interest at the time [14]. A recent series of experiments by Martin Tajmar et al., partly funded by ESA, may have produced the first evidence of artificial gravity [15]. As of late 2006, groups at Berkeley and elsewhere were attempting to reproduce this effect. By applying their 'gravito-photon' theory to bosons, Droscher and Hauser were able to predict the size and direction of the effect, which is 40 orders of magnitude higher than predicted by General Relativity [16]. A further prediciton of Heim-Droscher theory shows how a different arrangement of the experiment by Tajmar et al. could produce a vertical force against the direction of the Earth's gravity.

[edit] Selector calculus

Selector calculus is a form of calculus, employed by Burkhard Heim in formulating his theory of physics.

Selector calculus is similar to finite element methods in that it uses difference operators instead of differential operators to calculate analogues to derivatives and line integrals. The motivation is that the limit of distance going to zero does not make sense, because there exists a smallest unit of measure in Heim theory, called the metron.

The discretization of selector calculus was used as an approach to model the observed quantised nature of fundamental particles. The use of this method by Heim results in a theory of particles which does not have infinities. Infinities sometimes arise in the widely-accepted model of particle physics, the Standard Model, but can be renormalized to finite quantities in a mathematically rigorous way, which is strictly required in order for the theory to remain physically sensible.

[edit] Difference and summation operators

The differencing operator is intended to be analogous to taking derivatives of functions.

\eth (which Heim calls Metrondifferential in German) is defined to be the same as \nabla in difference operator.

The summation operator is intended to be analogous with integration. Instead of using the integral sign, Heim substitutes a bold italicised capital S for the typical integral sign. In this case

S^{n_2}_{n_1} \phi \eth n = S^{n_2}_{n_1} \eth \psi = \sum_{n=n_1}^{n_2} \left ( \psi(n) - \psi(n-1) \right ) = \psi(n_2) - \psi(n_1 - 1).

Note that \phi \eth n = \eth \psi.

[edit] Current status

Due to Heim's disinclination to publish his work and the difficult mathematical underpinnings of the theory, Heim's work was relatively unknown in the broader physics community during the 20th century. The paper published in 2005 was, for many physicists, the first they'd heard of the theory. It prompted intense scrutiny from some sections of the community, although it was subsequently dismissed by many as some of its predictions did not appear to be in line with recent experimental results. Some proponents, seeing instead the positive aspects such as accurate mass predictions continue to study the theory. A new mobilizing factor may be the success in reproducing [17] the size and direction of the gravito-magnetic effect of Martin Tajmar et al.

[edit] References

  • Burkhard Heim, Elementarstrukturen der Materie - Einheitliche strukturelle Quantenfeldtheorie der Materie und Gravitation, Resch Verlag, (1980, 1998) ISBN 3-85382-008-5. Selector calculus is covered in chapter 3 (pages 99-172).

[edit] See also

A similar (though opposite, in that the Cooper pairs actually weigh more than predicted by general relativity ) result has been confirmed as of March 2006 by recent and extensive studies carried out by the European Space Agency, and the results do not correlate with the gravitomagnetism, that is predicted by general relativity, by several orders higher in magnitude. (see ESA report at [18] and paper at [19])

[edit] Further reading

[edit] First publication in a peer reviewed scientific journal

  • Burkhard Heim:
    Vorschlag eines Weges einer einheitlichen Beschreibung der Elementarteilchen
    (Suggestion of a way of a unified description of the elementary particles),
    Zeitschrift für Naturforschung (Max_Planck_Society), 1977, Vol. 32a, pp. 233-243.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Burkhard Heim:
    Elementarstrukturen der Materie: Einheitliche strukturelle Quantenfeldtheorie der Materie und Gravitation, Band 1
    (Elementary structures of matter: Unified structural quantum field theory of matter and gravitation, Volume 1);
    Resch-Verlag, Innsbruck (Austria); 3rd corrected edition 1998;
    ISBN 3-85382-008-5, ISBN 978-3-85382-008-7; in German. [20]
  • Burkhard Heim:
    Elementarstrukturen der Materie: Einheitliche strukturelle Quantenfeldtheorie der Materie und Gravitation, Band 2
    (Elementary structures of matter: Unified structural quantum field theory of matter and gravitation, Volume 2);
    Resch-Verlag, Innsbruck (Austria); 2nd edition 1996;
    ISBN 3-85382-036-0, ISBN 978-3-85382-036-0; in German. [21]
  • Walter Dröscher, Burkhard Heim:
    Strukturen der physikalischen Welt und ihrer nichtmateriellen Seite
    (Structures of the physical world and its immaterial aspect);
    Resch-Verlag, Innsbruck (Austria); 1st edition 1996;
    ISBN 3-85382-059-X, ISBN 978-3-85382-059-9; in German. [22]
  • Walter Dröscher, Burkhard Heim, Andreas Resch:
    Einführung in Burkhard Heim: Einheitliche Beschreibung der Welt
    (Introduction to Burkhard Heim: Unified description of the world);
    Resch-Verlag, Innsbruck (Austria); 1st edition 1998;
    ISBN 3-85382-064-6, ISBN 978-3-85382-064-3; in German. [23]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Burkhard Heim, Elementarstrukturen der Materie - Einheitliche strukturelle Quantenfeldtheorie der Materie und Gravitation, Resch Verlag, (1980, 1998) ISBN 3-85382-008-5. Selector calculus is covered in chapter 3 (pages 99-172).
  2. ^ R. Brandelik et al. (TASSO collaboration) (1979). "Evidence for Planar Events in e+e- Annihilation at High Energies". Phys. Lett. B 86: 243-249.
  3. ^ G. Arnison et al. (UA1 collaboration) (1983). "Experimental Observation of Isolated Large Transverse Energy Electrons with Associated Missing Energy at \sqrt{s} = 540 GeV". Phys. Lett. B 122: 103-116.
  4. ^ S. Eidelman et al. (2004). "Review of Particle Properties". Phys. Lett. B 592: 1.

[edit] External links

[edit] Theory

A site which attempts to offer an explanation of Heim theory:

Description of the theory in a (non-mainstream) scientific journal paper:

[edit] Various Implementations of Heim theory mass formula

Heim's mass formula has been implemented in several programming languages. The first version was implemented by physicists from DESY in collaboration with Burkhard Heim. More recent implementations are available in Java, C, C#, Pascal, Fortran, Excel, Mathematica and Maxima.

  • Protosimplex The Protosimplex site was among the first to offer a popularized introduction of Heim theory in both German and English. The Excel Worksheet Heim Mass Calculator is available there.


[edit] Conference proceedings

[edit] Propulsion physics

[edit] News items

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