WHY 'DARK ENERGY' IS REALLY NEGATIVE MASS
by
Edmond S. Miksch
ed_miksch@yahoo.com
(412)373-4919
Copyright: November 22, 2008
Recent studies regarding the velocity with which distant galaxies receed from us indicate that the velocity of recession has been increasing for the last few billion years. Some unseen agency appears to be exerting an outward force on remote galaxies. This has been refered to as being due to "dark energy".
This term does have some appeal. It is our experience that energy tends to push outwardly. A solenoid carrying an electric current contains a magnetic field, and the magnetic field stores energy. The solenoid also experiences a force that tends to expand it. One can view the expansive force as an outward pressure exerted by the energy stored in the magnetic field.
In like manner, a sphere of metal, carrying an electric charge, produces an electric field in the space around it, and the electric field stores energy. The sphere also experiences an outward pressure due to the electric field. One can view the outward pressure as being due to the energy stored in the electric field.
For another example, a waveguide containg a high frequency electromagnetic field experiences forces that tend to expand it, and a box lined with mirrors containing light experiences outward forces due to the radiation pressure of the light as it is reflected from the mirrors.
In all these cases, the outward force on the structure is accompanied by electric, magnetic or electromagnetic fields which interact with the solid structures (solenoid, sphere, waveguide, or mirrors) in such a way as to push outwardly on the structures. But, when we observe distant galaxies, we see no such fields. We do not hear reports of unusual splitting of spectral lines due to the Zeeman effect caused by magnetic fields, or unusual splitting due the Stark effect caused by electric fields. The outward force on distant galaxies does not appear to be due to electric or magnetic fields.
We believe, do we not, that an observer on such a distant galaxy would be unaware of any great force accelerating his galaxy away from ours. Don't we expect that every type of mass in that distant galaxy, including atomic nuclei, electrons, positrons, and even photons experiences the same acceleration away from our galaxy? (In addition to the acceleration due to all the local forces between entities in the distant galaxy.) That observer would see our galaxy to be accelerating away from him. Isn't this exactly the way that a gravitational field or acceleration field would work? Aren't we seeing that the entire observable universe has a net positive divergence of the acceleration field vector?
We refer back to Equation G4 in the negative mass home page. It is repeated here as Equation DE1.
MV = - div g/(4πG)
Equation DE1
If we integrate Equation DE1 over a finite volume having a bounding surface, the mass in the region equals a negative constant multiplied by the net flux escaping through the bounding surface of the region. At each point on the surface of the region, the flux of the gravitational field is measured by an observer employing a local measuring rod and a local clock. Equation DE1 may be employed even if the mass density is sufficiently high that space is significantly curved.
Applying Equation DE1 to the entire observable universe, we conclude that the positive divergence of the gravitational (or acceleration) field vector tells us that the observable universe has a net negative mass density. Hence, the total mass of the observable universe is negative.
Next, we ask "What property of space, or of the space-time continuum, corresponds to negative mass?" In the negative mass home page, it was shown that the gravitational field itself (or acceleration field) has a negative mass density. (Follow the first link below.) Also, on the second link, it is shown that the Coriolis field has a negative mass density.
One possibility, therefore, is that an arbitrary observer will see gravitational and/or Coriolis fields in the vast spaces between the galaxies. The space-time continuum may be experiencing vast convulsions involving gravitational and Coriolis fields. In this scenario, these fields generate the observed positive divergence of the gravitational field vector. We further expect that it would impossible for an observer to change his acceleration or rotation rate so as to completely eliminate, from his own point of view, the gravitational and/or Coriolis fields between the galaxies.
We conclude, therefore, that "dark energy" is really negative mass, and that the entire visible universe has a net negative mass density. It may be caused by gravitational and Coriolis fields, or by other, unknown, agents out there in the wild black yonder.
One interesting consequence of the view that the accelerating recession of distant galaxies is due to an outward gravitational field (seen by an observer in our galaxy) is that the gravitational red shift becomes relevant. This is the effect that was seen in the Harvard tower Experiment by Pound and Rebka. The photons received from distant galaxies have been climbing up hill, counter to the direction of the outward acceleration field that is seen by observers in our galaxy. Hence, some of the red shift of distant galaxies may be due to gravitational red shift, not due to recession velocity.
Go to Negative Mass Home Page.
Go to Coriolis Page.