Introduction to Wave Structure of Matter

This is the first of a series of four articles on the Wave Structure of Matter. The discipline of the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) describes the origin of matter and the natural laws. All matter and laws are properties of wave structures traveling at velocity c in a quantum-wave medium. The medium can be equated to the space around us throughout the universe. Thus space is the single entity that is the source of our observations of all matter and its behavior � the natural laws.

The simplest way to understand the WSM is to recognize that the ancient concept of a discrete material particle is flawed. It does not describe real Nature because it was copied from macro human experience such as planetary motion. In reality, particles are quantum wave structures in space. The structures can be calculated using a 3-dimensional wave equation in a quantum-wave space. The resulting simple solutions of the equation are easily seen to contain all the properties of particles and the natural laws. Thus space and quantum waves within it comprise the whole of real Nature. The mathematical theory of wave structures, their philosophy, and early applications can be found in Milo Wolff 1, Carver Meade2, and Geoff Haselhurst3 written 1985 to 2004.

The origins of the WSM were proposed long ago by Clifford 4 and later by Schroedinger 5 who wrote:

'What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space.'

Einstein also realized that matter was a spherical entity that is spatially extended. He wrote:

'Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way the concept of 'empty space' loses its meaning'. (Ideas and Opinions, Crown Paperbacks, 1954).

Image:Wsm-wave-diagrams.gif

Figure 1: The Electron. The electron is composed of spherical waves in space that converge to the center and reverse to become outward waves. Reversal produces spin. The two waves form a standing wave whose peaks and nodes are like the layers of an onion. The wave amplitude is a scalar number like a quantum wave, not an e-m vector. The center is the apparent location of the electron. Two Mathematical Principles describe the wave medium, enabling calculation of all particles and the laws. In general, matter exists as two types of spherical waves in the space medium. Nature has built a binary universe of binary matter. To illustrate, the two spherical waves of the electron or positron are shown in Figure 1. The predictive power of the WSM is seen in derivations of previously unknown physical facts such as the origins of electron spin and gravity.

Knowing the WSM creates a radical new perspective of the physical world: quantum mechanics and relativity are united, a single origin of forces is found, puzzles and paradoxes are explained and, most important, relationships between microphysics (electrons and particles) and the universe (cosmology) are seen to be a result of the all-pervading space (often termed vacuum or ether) composed of quantum waves from all the matter of the universe. We exist in a sea of quantum waves. However, although we live in the universe of real quantum wave structures in a space medium we are seldom aware of it.

The WSM has important implications for research, industry, and our human role in the universe. Especially, the rules of wave combinations are of importance to science because the rules and quantum spin determine the formation of the Atomic Table, which dictates the varied forms of matter: metals, crystals, semi-conductors, and the molecules of life. The deep understanding of basic physics that is revealed opens a door to broad fields of applied technology such as alloys, nanotechnology, integrated circuits, photonics, medicine and commercial energy.

Human senses, survival, and the Universe. We don't easily see the space wave medium because our survival as an animal species depended mostly on our ability to fight with other animals seeking food, and to compete for mates that produce children; skills not closely related to the quantum space medium. Our sensory mechanisms evolved to directly aid our survival not to be aware of quantum waves. In our self-focused human perspective few of us are even aware of the wave medium in which we exist. For survival, it doesn't matter what space is, or whether we can observe it - it exists unseen. This situation is much like the life of a fish who cannot comprehend the existence of water because he is too deeply immersed in it. Like the fish, traditional scientists have tended to comprehend the universe in terms of their local experiences unaware of the quantum space around them.

Our misconceptions are undrstood by anthropology, which teaches that the quantum wave universe is not as helpful to survival of our personal genes as recognizing apples we can eat and avoiding tigers that want to eat us. Thus it was not necessary that nature equip us to observe quantum waves, although as will be seen below we do observe their presence and effects. Lacking direct personal experience of quantum waves, most people chose to imagine that the electron is a discrete �particle,� like a bullet or a grain of sand. Laboratory evidence does not support this human-oriented idea. Accordingly, belief must change from discrete particles to quantum wave structures.

Human emotions create images of matter in analogy to human scale objects around them. Serious thinkers, such as Clifford, Einstein, Dirac, Schroedinger, and Ernst Mach, realized that the analogies were wrong. Instead, experimental measurements showed that the structure of matter was closely related to the properties of the apparently empty space around us, and that the elements of matter had to:

a) have a spherical symmetry.

b) be extended in space.

c) possess a means of exchanging energy.

d) possess wave properties founded on wave equations.

Their careful logical thinking produced conclusions that in hindsight were prophetic. For example, Einstein rejected the discrete point particle and stated, Matter must be spherical entities extended in space. Erwin Schroedinger 5 understood the requirements of particle structure when he wrote in 1937: What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space. Particles are just schaumkommen. (appearances) He believed that quantum waves were real, not probability distributions with a particle hidden inside. He saw that abolishing the discrete point particle would remove the paradoxes of 'wave-particle duality' and the 'collapse of the wave function'.

Their thinking was ignored for sixty years. Machiavelli understood this human behavior 500 years ago 1513 writing:

'There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. The innovator has the enmity of all who profit by the preservation of the old system and only lukewarm defenders by those who would gain by the new system.'

Wave structures describe physical reality for the first time. Obviously, this is a major and remarkable result. The discovery of physical reality has been a holy grail of intellectual thought earnestly sought for thousands of years. Because the WSM has remained hidden for so long, many people could assume that this subject is complex and difficult. This is not the case. The underlying simplicity makes it easy to understand and fascinating for everyone. It is also an exciting tale of how basic science was thwarted by the frailties of human emotions, ambition, and power politics. These human weaknesses produced many of the paradoxes and puzzles of physics as a result of thinking and calculating using the flawed discrete particle model of matter. Particle thinking is like the computer proverb: �Garbage in, garbage out!�

The connected Universe. Laws, matter particles and the Universe are inter-connected by the quantum waves of the medium of space. Nature has created a reciprocity among the three. Matter determines the mass-energy density of the wave medium (Space) and the medium tells the matter waves how to behave. This reciprocity is also the origin of Einstein�s General Relativity. These interconnections are embedded in the two Principles that define the properties of the space wave medium.

The WSM surprisingly displays an immense but simple tapestry of the physical universe. Awe-inspiring connections exist between matter, ourselves, and the cosmos. The application of the electron wave structure reaches out, on the one hand, to unsuspected fields of cosmology such as the big bang (incorrect), the red shift, and the structure of the universe. On the practical side, new tools are provided that will enable us to deeply understand and improve industrial devices such as computers, micro circuits, microbiology, nanotechnology, and the efficient transmission of electric energy.

New Perspectives

The WSM contains broad relationships between matter and the natural laws and the Universe. To see them, examine the three words in Figure 2: 'Universe' means a collection of �matter particles� and their distribution. Clearly, without matter to populate the Universe, �Universe� is undefined. Accordingly, the concept of Universe depends on understanding the matter in it; especially the electron and proton, because the charge fields of those two 'particles' extend throughout the Universe. Similarly, �natural laws� have no meaning without matter because laws demand the presence of particles, upon which the laws can operate. �Matter particles� are meaningless without the laws to identify them. Each requires the existence of the others. Thus the Universe is inter-connected by the trilogy shown in Figure 2. These relationships lead to:

1. Measurement is a Property of an Ensemble of Matter.

A particle entirely alone in the universe cannot have dimensions of time, length or mass. These measures are undefined without the existence of other matter because dimensions can only be defined in comparison with other matter. For example, at least six separated particles are necessary to crudely define length in a 3D space: four to establish coordinates and two being measured. Thus the measurement concept requires the existence of an ensemble of particles. In our universe the required ensemble must include all observable matter, because there is no way to choose a special ensemble. The importance of this fact becomes clear when we recall that time, length and mass are the basic unit set used to describe all scientific measurements.

2. Wave Properties provide Perception-communication Between Particles.

If there were no means for each particle to sense the presence of other matter in its universe, the required measurement of dimensions above could not be established. How can a particle possess a property that is dependent on other particles, if there is no way for the particles to impart their presence to each other? Without communication, each particle would be alone in its own separate universe. Therefore continual two-way perceptive communication between each particle and other matter in its universe is needed to establish the laws of Nature. The spherical quantum waves forming the particles are the means of communication. The laws are then established in terms of the dimensions (units) established by waves of the entire ensemble of matter.

3. The Measurement of Time uses a cosmological clock.

Using reasoning similar to the above but for the dimension of time, you can deduce that time measurement requires the existence of cyclic events among the particles of the universe; a type of clock, identical in each particle. The WSM provides this standard cosmological clock as the frequency of waves in space. Because of the near uniformity of the space medium, clock frequencies are nearly alike throughout the universe, establishing universal time. Duc deBroglie (1925) had proposed an oscillator in electrons but had no way to know why it was universal. Interestingly, Aristotle wrote in the 4th century BC ('Metaphysics', Penguin books 1998):

'Motion must have always been in existence and the same can be said for Time itself, since it is not even possible for there to be an earlier and a later if time does not exist. Movement then is also continuous in the way in which time is- Indeed time is either identical to movement or is some affection of it.'