- #1
turbo
Gold Member
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I re-read parts of "Genius" by James Gleick earlier today after visiting a web-site that discussed steady-state cosmology. Apparently, Feinman felt that the creation and obliteration of virtual particles (diagramed by equivalent waves moving BOTH forward and backward in time) supported the idea of a steady-state universe, since the energy of both waves had to be exactly equal to make some serious problems in quantum mechanics go away.
However, if the universe is tending toward a homogeous state (entropy), it seems to me that the time-forward wave in each virtual-particle creation would not need to be "quite" as energetic as the time-reversed wave, which would be traveling to a more highly ordered previous state. The differential in energy between the two waves communicating the existence of any particular virtual particle would be miniscule, but if our universe is suffused with a dense sea of them, that difference in energy could have significant effects on our universe. Could the huge deficit of dark energy that cosmologists are looking for be accounted for by the entropy-gradient experienced by a sufficient number of virtual particles? If the energy deficit due to entropy is large enough and the particles are numerous enough, they could do the job without being observable. In addition, the entropy deficit "might" be sufficient to cover the observed Cosmic Background Radiation.
I apologize if these "inspirations" have been covered innumerable times in the past. I'm just an engineering-oriented amateur astronomer bumbling about in cosmology because I like the mental exercise.
However, if the universe is tending toward a homogeous state (entropy), it seems to me that the time-forward wave in each virtual-particle creation would not need to be "quite" as energetic as the time-reversed wave, which would be traveling to a more highly ordered previous state. The differential in energy between the two waves communicating the existence of any particular virtual particle would be miniscule, but if our universe is suffused with a dense sea of them, that difference in energy could have significant effects on our universe. Could the huge deficit of dark energy that cosmologists are looking for be accounted for by the entropy-gradient experienced by a sufficient number of virtual particles? If the energy deficit due to entropy is large enough and the particles are numerous enough, they could do the job without being observable. In addition, the entropy deficit "might" be sufficient to cover the observed Cosmic Background Radiation.
I apologize if these "inspirations" have been covered innumerable times in the past. I'm just an engineering-oriented amateur astronomer bumbling about in cosmology because I like the mental exercise.