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Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 16th 11, 04:06 PM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Joe Snodgrass
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 15
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum


Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

http://tinyurl.com/3w68djs

When polarized, virtual gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum can
produce a stronger-than-predicted gravitational field. (An electric
dipole is shown. Currently, mainstream physics assumes there is only a
positive gravitational charge.)

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is
that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the
amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a
larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic
objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy
resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of
non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become
somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov
Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused
by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.

"The key message of my paper is that dark matter may not exist and that
phenomena attributed to dark matter may be explained by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum," Hajdukovic told
PhysOrg.com. "The future experiments and observations will reveal if my
results are only (surprising) numerical coincidences or an embryo of a
new scientific revolution."

Like his previous study featured on PhysOrg about a cyclic universe
successively dominated by matter and antimatter, Hajdukovic's paper on
a dark matter alternative is also an attempt to understand cosmological
phenomena without assuming the existence of unknown forms of matter and
energy, or of unknown mechanisms for inflation and matter-antimatter
asymmetry. In the case of the fast rotational curves of galaxies, he
explains that there are currently two schools of understanding the
phenomenon.

"The first school invokes the existence of dark matter, while the
second school invokes modification of our law of gravity," he said. "I
suggest a third way, without introducing dark matter and without
modification of the law of gravity."

His ideas (like those in the previous paper) rest on the key
hypothesis that matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive,
which is due to the fact that particles and antiparticles have
gravitational charge of opposite sign. (Though like matter, antimatter
is gravitationally attractive with itself.) Currently, it is not known
whether matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive, although
a few experiments (most notably, the AEGIS experiment at CERN) are
testing related concepts.

"Concerning gravity, mainstream physics assumes that there is only one
gravitational charge (identified with the inertial mass) while I have
assumed that, as in the case of electromagnetic interactions, there
are two gravitational charges: positive gravitational charge for
matter and negative gravitational charge for antimatter," Hajdukovic
explained.

If matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive, then it would
mean that the virtual particle-antiparticle pairs that exist for a
limited time in the quantum vacuum are "gravitational dipoles." That is,
each pair forms a system in which the virtual particle has a positive
gravitational charge, while the virtual antiparticle has a negative
gravitational charge. In this scenario, the quantum vacuum contains many
virtual gravitational dipoles, taking the form of a dipolar fluid.

"We can consider our universe as a union of two mutually interacting
entities," Hajdukovic said. "The first entity is our 'normal' matter
(hence we do not assume the existence of dark matter and dark energy),
immersed in the second entity, the quantum vacuum, considered as a sea
of different kinds of virtual dipoles, including gravitational dipoles."

He goes on to explain that the virtual gravitational dipoles in the
quantum vacuum can be gravitationally polarized by the baryonic matter
in nearby massive stars and galaxies. When the virtual dipoles align,
they produce an additional gravitational field that can combine with the
gravitational field produced by stars and galaxies. As such, the
gravitationally polarized quantum vacuum could produce the same
"speeding up" effect on the rotational curves of galaxies as either
hypothetical dark matter or a modified law of gravity.

As Hajdukovic explains, the effect of the stronger gravitational field
can be understood by looking at what happens when an electric field
rather than a gravitational field causes polarization. He gives an
example of a dielectric slab being inserted into a parallel plate
capacitor, which results in a decrease in the electric field between the
plates. The decrease is due to the fact that the electric charges of
opposite sign attract each other. But if the electric charges of
opposite sign were repulsive instead of attractive, then the electric
field would increase. Back to the quantum vacuum scenario, since the
gravitational charges of opposite sign are repulsive, the strength of
the gravitational field increases.

In his paper, Hajdukovic also presents equations in support of this
scenario, one of which allows calculating the effects of the
gravitational polarization at different distances from the center of a
galaxy, which are in good agreement with observations. He also derives
the famous Tully-Fisher relation as a consequence of the gravitational
repulsion between matter and antimatter. This relation is an empirical
law based on numerical data collected by numerous observations of
galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and is still unexplained in the
framework of dark matter hypotheses.

Overall, Hajdukovic's proposal lies in contrast with another concept
proposed in the past few years by physicists Luc Blanchet and Alexandre
Le Tiec. Although that idea also involves a dipolar fluid composed of
gravitational dipoles, instead of being composed of virtual baryonic
matter in the quantum vacuum, the dipolar fluid is a new form of dark
matter. The dark matter is gravitationally polarized by the
gravitational field of baryonic matter, such as massive stars and
galaxies, which results in a stronger gravitational field. In other
words, Blanchet and Le Tiec propose that dark matter in the form of
gravitational dipoles of unknown nature can reconcile dark matter and
Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) theory, a modification of gravity; on
the other hand, Hajdukovic proposes that virtual gravitational dipoles
in the quantum vacuum can lead to a stronger gravitational field.

In the end, Hajdukovic notes that much more work needs to be done before
claiming that this possibility is the correct one. For one thing, the
rotational curves of galaxies are not the only phenomenon that can be
explained by dark matter. Observations of the cosmic microwave
background, gravitational lensing, supernovae, and other data can also
be better explained by the existence of dark matter than without
it. With many scientists currently investigating dark matter and other
alternatives, Hajdukovic hopes that new answers will continue to be
discovered.

Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic. "Is dark matter an illusion created by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum?" Astrophys Space Sci
(2011) 334:215-218. DOI:10.1007/s10509-011-0744-4

  #2  
Old August 17th 11, 12:02 AM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Phillip Helbig---undress to reply
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 629
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

In article
, Joe
Snodgrass writes:

Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

http://tinyurl.com/3w68djs

When polarized, virtual gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum can
produce a stronger-than-predicted gravitational field. (An electric
dipole is shown. Currently, mainstream physics assumes there is only a
positive gravitational charge.)


Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic. "Is dark matter an illusion created by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum?" Astrophys Space Sci
(2011) 334:215-218. DOI:10.1007/s10509-011-0744-4


I had a brief look at this paper. He talks about antiparticles
repelling each other gravitationally. The paper says he is on leave at
CERN. I seem to remember an experiment at CERN which confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward, not upward.

  #3  
Old August 17th 11, 09:34 AM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Raymond Yohros
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 129
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

On Aug 16, 10:06*am, Joe Snodgrass wrote:
Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

http://tinyurl.com/3w68djs

When polarized, virtual gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum can
produce a stronger-than-predicted gravitational field. (An electric
dipole is shown. Currently, mainstream physics assumes there is only a
positive gravitational charge.)

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is
that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the
amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a
larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic
objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy
resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of
non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become
somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov
Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused
by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.

"The key message of my paper is that dark matter may not exist and that
phenomena attributed to dark matter may be explained by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum," Hajdukovic told
PhysOrg.com. "The future experiments and observations will reveal if my
results are only (surprising) numerical coincidences or an embryo of a
new scientific revolution."

Like his previous study featured on PhysOrg about a cyclic universe
successively dominated by matter and antimatter, Hajdukovic's paper on
a dark matter alternative is also an attempt to understand cosmological
phenomena without assuming the existence of unknown forms of matter and
energy, or of unknown mechanisms for inflation and matter-antimatter
asymmetry. In the case of the fast rotational curves of galaxies, he
explains that there are currently two schools of understanding the
phenomenon.

"The first school invokes the existence of dark matter, while the
second school invokes modification of our law of gravity," he said. "I
suggest a third way, without introducing dark matter and without
modification of the law of gravity."

His ideas (like those in the previous paper) rest on the key
hypothesis that matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive,
which is due to the fact that particles and antiparticles have
gravitational charge of opposite sign. (Though like matter, antimatter
is gravitationally attractive with itself.) Currently, it is not known
whether matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive, although
a few experiments (most notably, the AEGIS experiment at CERN) are
testing related concepts.

"Concerning gravity, mainstream physics assumes that there is only one
gravitational charge (identified with the inertial mass) while I have
assumed that, as in the case of electromagnetic interactions, there
are two gravitational charges: positive gravitational charge for
matter and negative gravitational charge for antimatter," Hajdukovic
explained.

If matter and antimatter are gravitationally repulsive, then it would
mean that the virtual particle-antiparticle pairs that exist for a
limited time in the quantum vacuum are "gravitational dipoles." That is,
each pair forms a system in which the virtual particle has a positive
gravitational charge, while the virtual antiparticle has a negative
gravitational charge. In this scenario, the quantum vacuum contains many
virtual gravitational dipoles, taking the form of a dipolar fluid.

"We can consider our universe as a union of two mutually interacting
entities," Hajdukovic said. "The first entity is our 'normal' matter
(hence we do not assume the existence of dark matter and dark energy),
immersed in the second entity, the quantum vacuum, considered as a sea
of different kinds of virtual dipoles, including gravitational dipoles."

He goes on to explain that the virtual gravitational dipoles in the
quantum vacuum can be gravitationally polarized by the baryonic matter
in nearby massive stars and galaxies. When the virtual dipoles align,
they produce an additional gravitational field that can combine with the
gravitational field produced by stars and galaxies. As such, the
gravitationally polarized quantum vacuum could produce the same
"speeding up" effect on the rotational curves of galaxies as either
hypothetical dark matter or a modified law of gravity.

As Hajdukovic explains, the effect of the stronger gravitational field
can be understood by looking at what happens when an electric field
rather than a gravitational field causes polarization. He gives an
example of a dielectric slab being inserted into a parallel plate
capacitor, which results in a decrease in the electric field between the
plates. The decrease is due to the fact that the electric charges of
opposite sign attract each other. But if the electric charges of
opposite sign were repulsive instead of attractive, then the electric
field would increase. Back to the quantum vacuum scenario, since the
gravitational charges of opposite sign are repulsive, the strength of
the gravitational field increases.

In his paper, Hajdukovic also presents equations in support of this
scenario, one of which allows calculating the effects of the
gravitational polarization at different distances from the center of a
galaxy, which are in good agreement with observations. He also derives
the famous Tully-Fisher relation as a consequence of the gravitational
repulsion between matter and antimatter. This relation is an empirical
law based on numerical data collected by numerous observations of
galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and is still unexplained in the
framework of dark matter hypotheses.

Overall, Hajdukovic's proposal lies in contrast with another concept
proposed in the past few years by physicists Luc Blanchet and Alexandre
Le Tiec. Although that idea also involves a dipolar fluid composed of
gravitational dipoles, instead of being composed of virtual baryonic
matter in the quantum vacuum, the dipolar fluid is a new form of dark
matter. The dark matter is gravitationally polarized by the
gravitational field of baryonic matter, such as massive stars and
galaxies, which results in a stronger gravitational field. In other
words, Blanchet and Le Tiec propose that dark matter in the form of
gravitational dipoles of unknown nature can reconcile dark matter and
Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) theory, a modification of gravity; on
the other hand, Hajdukovic proposes that virtual gravitational dipoles
in the quantum vacuum can lead to a stronger gravitational field.

In the end, Hajdukovic notes that much more work needs to be done before
claiming that this possibility is the correct one. For one thing, the
rotational curves of galaxies are not the only phenomenon that can be
explained by dark matter. Observations of the cosmic microwave
background, gravitational lensing, supernovae, and other data can also
be better explained by the existence of dark matter than without
it. With many scientists currently investigating dark matter and other
alternatives, Hajdukovic hopes that new answers will continue to be
discovered.



Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic. "Is dark matter an illusion created by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum?" Astrophys Space Sci
(2011) 334:215-218. DOI:10.1007/s10509-011-0744-4


but the final picture it's a lot more complex than
Just gravitational repulsive antimatter. There is a lot more
Matter than antimatter this being a good argument against the model.
also, proposing that vacuum space-time can sometimes act anti
gravitationally
implies a much deeper explanation where HOT dark matter plays an
Important role.

r.y




  #4  
Old August 21st 11, 11:16 PM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
FrediFizzx
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

"Phillip Helbig---undress to reply" wrote
in message ...
In article
, Joe
Snodgrass writes:

Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

http://tinyurl.com/3w68djs

When polarized, virtual gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum can
produce a stronger-than-predicted gravitational field. (An electric
dipole is shown. Currently, mainstream physics assumes there is only a
positive gravitational charge.)


Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic. "Is dark matter an illusion created by the
gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum?" Astrophys Space Sci
(2011) 334:215-218. DOI:10.1007/s10509-011-0744-4


I had a brief look at this paper. He talks about antiparticles
repelling each other gravitationally. The paper says he is on leave at
CERN. I seem to remember an experiment at CERN which confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward, not upward.


The article says that it hasn't been confirmed yet so a citation would be
good if you can find one. :-) But I also thought it has been confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward. ???

Best,

Fred Diether
  #5  
Old August 24th 11, 04:00 AM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Raymond Yohros
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 129
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

On Aug 21, 5:16 pm, "FrediFizzx" wrote:
"Phillip Helbig---undress to reply" wrote
in ...

[[Mod. note -- 24 excessively-quoted lines snipped here. -- jt]]
CERN. I seem to remember an experiment at CERN which confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward, not upward.


The article says that it hasn't been confirmed yet so a citation would be
good if you can find one. :-) But I also thought it has been confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward. ???

Best,

Fred Diether


I don't think any cyclotron detector has ever seen any particle go
upward
under any operational procedure or environment

r.y
  #6  
Old August 24th 11, 08:42 AM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Yousuf Khan[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

On 8/23/2011 11:00 PM, Raymond Yohros wrote:
On Aug 21, 5:16 pm, wrote:
The article says that it hasn't been confirmed yet so a citation would be
good if you can find one. :-) But I also thought it has been confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward. ???

Best,

Fred Diether


I don't think any cyclotron detector has ever seen any particle go
upward
under any operational procedure or environment


Well, a lot of particles fly upwards, simply based on their energetic
state when they hit each other. So the cyclotron is not the best place
to conduct gravitation experiments, because all of the antimatter that
comes out of them are energetic and will easily overcome gravity. What
they need is antimatter that has calmed down to its ground state, so
therefore antimatter atoms are the ideal candidates for this test, as
opposed to antimatter ions.

They have now been able to trap antimatter atoms for more than 15
minutes, and I think using this, they will soon be able to do
gravitational tests on these calm atoms. They'll need a large number of
them, hundreds of thousands of calm antimatter atoms, to take proper
statistical measurements.

Yousuf Khan

  #7  
Old August 25th 11, 02:01 PM posted to sci.physics.research,sci.physics,sci.astro
Raymond Yohros
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 129
Default Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum

On Aug 24, 2:42 am, Yousuf Khan bbb...@yahoo-
wildcard.a05.yahoodns.net wrote:
On 8/23/2011 11:00 PM, Raymond Yohros wrote:

On Aug 21, 5:16 pm, wrote:
The article says that it hasn't been confirmed yet so a citation would be
good if you can find one. :-) But I also thought it has been confirmed that
antiparticles fall downward. ???


Best,


Fred Diether


I don't think any cyclotron detector has ever seen any particle go
upward
under any operational procedure or environment


Well, a lot of particles fly upwards, simply based on their energetic
state when they hit each other. So the cyclotron is not the best place
to conduct gravitation experiments, because all of the antimatter that
comes out of them are energetic and will easily overcome gravity. What
they need is antimatter that has calmed down to its ground state, so
therefore antimatter atoms are the ideal candidates for this test, as
opposed to antimatter ions.

They have now been able to trap antimatter atoms for more than 15
minutes, and I think using this, they will soon be able to do
gravitational tests on these calm atoms. They'll need a large number of
them, hundreds of thousands of calm antimatter atoms, to take proper
statistical measurements.

Yousuf Khan


Yes, what i meant was some identifiable signature that suggest the
anti ions are
under an "antigravitational" influence.
such a signature should be VERY hard to identify because of the very
weak
gravitational influence observed compared to the EM presence in
cyclotron detectors.
as you said, other approaches may be more effective to observe if the
possibility
exist.

r.y

 




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