Difference between revisions of "TFNR - Locality"

Revision as of 14:56, 11 June 2024

Among the Fundamental Principles of the Dynamics of Elementary Action I have placed a very strong hypothesis in open contrast with an equally strong "belief" that characterizes Quantum Mechanics, one of the central elements of its weirdness. I am talking about the assumption that Physical Reality is local, at all levels and in all its aspects, in contrast with the concept of non-locality which is considered an essential property by some interpretations of quantum mechanics. This hypothesis is not made here out of opposition to the weirdness of QM, nor out of deference to classical / relativistic physics and the associated "deterministic realism", which I don't agree with (as can be seen from every page of this work).

What does locality mean? The common definition of locality is that "an object is influenced directly only by its immediate surroundings". In terms of action, this means that the movement (and more generally, any state) of an object can be influenced by another object only through "physical contact" with it (no action at a distance).

Conversely, non-locality means that an object's can be affected by another object without being in "physical contact" with it (action at a distance).

At this point it would be necessary to define the expression "physical contact"... In this System of Knowledge by "physical contact" we mean any transmission, interaction (inter-Action, Action-between, exchange of Information / Energy between two or more different Structures or Forms (separate individualities: independent, e.g. two free electrons, or components of larger and more complex systems, e.g. two electrons belonging to the same atom) which occurs as a result of the propagation in the "continuous" Elementary Field of a set of Elementary Events in Space and Time and of the Relations that organize them (correlations between the temporal distributions of the elementary spatial fluctuations resonant around the Planck scale). Translated in terms of Elementary Action and its Modes / Components, by "physical contact" we mean the transfer of Elementary Action in its Components (Perturbation, Translation, Rotation:Chirality and Rotation:AxisOrientation) between different Structures and Forms in the Elementary Field by mean of the propagation of the same Elementary Action in the continuous Elementary Field. Physical contact, therefore, is provided, ensured, by the Field itself, by its continuous dynamics, by its incessant fluctuations that support the existence and essence/form of all Physical Reality.

Given the importance of this concept, let's try to reformulate it in yet another way... In the Evolutionary Knowledge System, and in particular in the context of the hypotheses posed in this work, "action at a distance" is not allowed as it is not compatible with the causal and variational structure of Physical Reality. This means that the Action is generated, propagated and preserved in the continuous Elementary Field. In particular, regarding the concept of "action at a distance" we refer to the propagation of the Action in the Field (in the Elementary Field or in the Derived Fields, which are specific views of the Elementary Field, e.g. gravitational, electric, magnetic field, etc).

The propagation of Action is represented by the propagation of the Variations (deformations) in a continuous Field (the Elementary Field and all the Derived Field, which are specific views of the Elementary Field), Variations produced by the Action of a Causal Agent (a Force). This propagation (at each point of the continuous trajectory) implies the progressive variation of the Action components of the temporal distributions of the elementary spatial variations at the Planck scale. The propagation can occur at a speed limit specific to each point in space and instant in time, a "local" value distributed around the universal speed limit of the absolute vacuum (theoretical speed since the Universe is full of matter and energy, therefore very far from the absolute vacuum).

This model of propagation of Physical Action in the Field / Fields can be called: Contiguous Action (transmission or exercise of the Action between two distant Structures / Shapes / objects not in contact through a continuous propagation of variations in the Field).

This chapter provides examples of InfoStructure phenomena and dynamics that illustrate what is stated here.

This is a fundamental concept, which strongly characterizes this System of Knowledge and all the models of physical phenomena that are hypothesized in it. Locality is a concept that has an ontological aspect, it is a founding concept of this System and deriving from the very nature of the Elemental Field, one of the two fundamental sub-entities that constitute the Source of Reality). In my opinion, accepting the fact that non-local phenomena can exist, that remote action is possible, is equivalent to accepting that ghosts, unicorns and good fairies exist. It denotes an imaginative (supernatural, superstitious?) vision that science abhors so much, to the point of rejecting traditional knowledge systems altogether. I would dare say a non-scientific vision of Reality, which cannot be combined with the much claimed rigor of the scientific method.

Physical Reality is local, there are no rooms for a "spooky action at a distance" out of a rigid expression of Physical Causality.

In this work, we hypothesize that all non-local effects / phenomena are apparent. Further investigations are required to grasp the real nature of the quantum objects involved, their dynamics and their interactions. Here we adopt a concept of "realism" different from the one commonly adopted especially in the controversies that pitted Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity (deterministic realism), where in addition to abhorring the idea of ​​non-locality, the idea that Physical Reality by nature at its foundations is intrinsically indeterminate and requires a statistical/probabilistic approach.

Let's hypothesize a different realism, which we call "local indeterministic realism" (yes to uncertainty at the very basis of Reality, no to non-locality as absurd and implausible). Yes to the weirdness of the quantum world (with uncertainty, superposition, etc.), no to non-locality.

I know, "absurd and implausible" is not a scientific fact, a proof. It is a personal judgement, an opinion, an impression, perhaps a hope, a desire... But I repeat that, in my opinion, surrendering to non-locality means declaring our ignorance and unknowability of Physical Reality. We must not give up. The non-locality may only be apparent. This idea, as well as from the lack of knowledge of quantum objects, could have arisen from a misunderstanding, from a basic confusion. A damned confusion between direct Reality (quantum objects, waves, particles) and correlation of their quantum states. Another fundamental point concerns, as already mentioned, the non-point-like, spatially extended nature of particles and waves, their shape in terms of Elementary Action and its Modes/Components, the distributed nature of Mass, Charge and Spin (each point event of the Elementary Field that supports the InfoStructure that we call particle has a fraction of the Mass, Motion, Charge and Spin of the entire particle, whose dynamics is the result of the dynamics of all the point events that support it.

To sum up:

• Relativity -> local deterministic realism
• Quantum Mechanics -> non-local indeterministic realism
• evKnowledge (the new approach proposed and hypothesized in this work as part of this research project) -> local indeterministic realism

In a certain sense, the relativistic framework can hold on to locality, but must give in on the aspect of indeterminacy (if we want to put it naively, God somehow plays dice, but within strict rules). Quantum Mechanics can hold on to indeterminacy and all its implications that make it so bizarre, but it must give in on the aspect of non-locality (God plays dice, but he is not a magician and cannot cheat). Two mutual concessions which effectively eliminate the main obstacle to a rapprochement of these two fundamental theories. Yes, it's true, the problem of entanglement remains, which in this approach (local indeterministic realism) seems to remain absolutely inexplicable. But maybe that's not really the case... let's try to look at things from a different and broader point of view.

To explain the (apparent) non-local phenomena it is necessary to investigate more deeply, to abandon preconceptions and beliefs that limit the scientific research and confine it to a narrow space, full of constraints and dogmas. This makes it impossible to get out of the impasse. We must not, we cannot giving up understanding, describing, imagining what really happens in "realistic" terms, representable in the spatial and temporal foundations that constitute the fabric of Physical Reality.

A few words on entanglement and then some notes on the reasons that in my mind are at the basis of the gigantic misunderstanding that makes this phenomenon so cryptic, absurd, damned difficult to understand and accept. So divisive and generator of infinite entropy on a theoretical level, to the point of pushing a large part of the academic community to renounce to the knowability / comprehensibility of Reality and the "plausibility" of physical theories and models.

Entanglement

Let's try to explain in a few words what entanglement is according to current (conventional) physics and why it seems to violate the locality principle.

Quantum entanglement is considered a bizarre and counterintuitive phenomenon in which two subatomic particles, such as a pair of photons or electrons, are believed to be intimately linked to each other, even if separated by immense space. All the evidence collected experimentally has led the scientific community to believe that, despite their great separation, a change induced in one of the entangled particles instantly affects the other. A (spooky) action at a distance, as the particles seemed to communicate faster than light. The entangled particles appear to act not as individual particles but as an inseparable whole. They appear to remain connected even when separated by large distances, and their quantum states cannot be factored as a product of the states of its local constituents. If the state of one particle is measured, the other immediately assumes a correlated state. This profoundly challenges classical notions of space and time.

Even if scientists still debate how this strange phenomenon arises, what its intimate nature is, they consider it a real principle, corroborated by infinite tests, a completely natural phenomenon, not at all spooky. All composite ordinary / visible matter, molecules for example, con be seen as organized nets of subsystems, atoms of electrons and nuclei. Molecules appear to be entangled states of the electrons and nuclei that compose them (mutual positions, quantum states, etc.).

The incessant mutual push and attraction of the particles produces a sort of "tuning" (correlation, entanglement) of their quantum states and their dynamics. Placing them close enough together, their quantum states can overlap, share, making it impossible to distinguish the quantum state of one particle from that of the other.

If nothing disturbs those particles, this "tuning" is preserved even at relevant distances (maintenance of coherence). Entangled particles stop existing as independent, separate particles, but begin to act as a system, a quantum system. If collisions with other particles, forces, interactions with their surrounding environment disturb this "tuning", it is lost (de-coherence) and the quantum states or their dynamics become dis-entangled. Pre-entangled particles return to exist as independent, separate particles, with independent quantum states. Entanglement is lost.

Quantum states, which appear to be indeterminate until their measurement, both for non-entangled particles, as is natural, and for the entangled ones, which is surprising when coupled with the predictability of entangled states (for example, spin up for a particle and spin down for the other one). Nothing about the quantum states of the two individual entangled particles can be stated with certainty, but the global state of the two particles whose quantum states are correlated can be stated with certainty. Really strange!

Some problems, which actually seem like headaches!

The entangled particles appear to communicate instantaneously, but this communication does not allow information to be transferred at superluminal speeds. It seems really strange. Remote action on quantum states at infinite speed is hypothesized (which would imply a sort of instantaneous quantum causality), but at the same time it does not seem possible to cause or inform the other entangled particle (to act causally or transfer information at infinite speed betwwen the entangled particles). Quantum entanglement can cause particles to collapse at zero time over long distances, but we can't transport information instantaneously. A real mystery.

Communication / Action between entangled particles even if separated by a huge distance: an event (an interaction, a measurement, ...) on one quantum particle in an entanglement system impacts all other entangled particles. The most accredited interpretations have solved this problem "simply" by renouncing a truly important principle, that of locality. I definitely disagree with this approach!

Reasons for the locality / non-locality dispute

In general, I believe that the reason why the phenomenon of entanglement has led to the renunciation of locality, to the acceptance of a sort of strange action at a distance and to the renunciation of a "plausible" realism is to be found in the substantial lack of knowledge in regarding the nature, shape and dynamics of quantum objects (waves and particles), and related phenomena, interactions, etc. This stance opened a never-ending dispute with a more classical vision, linked to Relativity. As already said, I do not agree with either view, for the reasons expressed above.

But let's try to go into more detail.

• Nature and shape of quantum objects

The fact that the nature of particles and waves (quantum objects) is not understood and explained in terms of something more basic in concrete terms (events, relationships, processes, space, time, action, energy/information, etc.), but with general reference to "excitations of quantum fields". The fact that waves are conceived as something distributed in space, while particles are seen as point-like or almost point-like objects. The fact that waves and particles are substantially thought of as very different entities, and not sharing the same profound nature, even if with different shapes. The lack of understanding of the nature, shape and dynamics of emission, propagation and absorption of waves, and in particular of the single cycle wave, what is called a photon and assimilated to a particle, here too generating a lot of misunderstandings. All these aspects and many others, in my opinion, have produced a series of misunderstandings that have spread throughout the history of physics from the first decades of the 1900s to the present day, and will continue to cast their sinister shadow on the scientific research of the future.

• Localization: position and extention in space

Related to all this is the lack of understanding of the spatio-temporal significance of the position of a wave and a particle. In particular, for particles: the nature distributed in space (no point like particles), the virtually infinite but effectively finite extension, the spatial profile of the mass, charge and spin, their dynamics over time, the variable point positions of the center of mass and charge, the orientation of the spin axis, the nature of the inertia and its distribution over the entire extension of the particle. All these aspects, not understood, have weighed on the vision of Physical Reality, on the lack of or incorrect understanding of quantum phenomena, and therefore determined this dispute and the renunciation of plausible realism.

• Quantum states

In light of these aspects, here is the superposition (the ability of quantum objects to be in different quantum states of conjugated quantities at the same time), the relative collapse of the wave function (the collapse leads to the definition of the quantum state, which gives superposed / probabilistic becomes defined / certain) in the measurement process (a process not understood which has produced disturbing interpretations and unleashed a sort of quantum mysticism) have led to a "magical" vision of quantum states and the impossibility of describing their nature and the dynamics.

• Correlation and entaglement

As if that wasn't enough, to all this confusion and misunderstanding, a truly strange phenomenon has been added, perhaps the true strangeness of quantum physics. Let's talk about entanglement. A sort of correlation that can be created between two or more quantum objects that exhibit "correlated" quantum layers that appear to evolve coherently (collective wave function) until an event, called decoherence, which breaks this correlation. Correlation that is preserved (unless decoherence, in fact) even at great distances and times, and for this reason it has unleashed this idea (absurd for me) of a connection between entangled entities at distances that can become such as to imply instantaneous communication, therefore at superlunal speeds. However, this connection does not allow the transfer of information. What about causality? In a sense this instantaneous connection seems to enable transmission of causality, action at a distance so to speak (determining the quantum state of the second entangled object following measurement of the quantum state of the first, for example). The situation is very confusing and actually lends itself to endless misunderstandings.

A step foward

Quantum states of individual particles in an entagled system and the correlation between such particles are completely different things! Quantum states of single non entagled particles can be seen as two roulettes wheels, by definition with indipendent random outcomes, with no correlations between them. Quantum states of individual particles in an entangled system could be seen as two roulettes wheels, where their randomness correlated, their random dynamics "tuned", as it were. Until an event disrupts this correlation of their random dynamics (decoherence), their random outcomes are correlated, following a correlated probability distribution.

Put like that, it seems easy. It would be too nice. In fact, it can't work that way. Randomness cannot be correlated, otherwise it would not be truly random. We need to go a step further. Or rather, further down, deep inside, and imagine what can happen at deeper levels of Physical Reality. It is necessary to return to the hypotheses underlying the peculiar vision of InfoStructures proposed by this Research Project.

A key concept: the dynamics of quantum objects and their quantum states are random but not that random! If it were completely random, quantum objects (InfoStructures: Waves, Particles and their Interactions) would not exist!

To address the theme of locality and action at a distance, it is necessary to redefine some key concepts (or better "define", given the substantial difficulty of conventional physics in providing plausible definitions for these phenomena):

• quantum objects: InfoStructures - type: Waves, Vortices / Particles, Interactions, etc. Structures of Information, more or less temporally stable, more or less spatially extended, patterns of organization of Physical Processes at the level of the Elementary Field (Relationships between Events), schemes of the correlations between the temporal distributions of the spatial fluctuations of the Elementary Field with resonance at the Planck scale
• space-time physical form of quantum objects: as we have seen in the previous sections of this chapter, all InfoStructures, even those that make up visible / ordinary matter (Waves and Vortices / Particles) have non-zero spatial extension (no point particles) and finite or infinite duration (proper lifetime distributed around the mean lifetime for the specific type of particle). For brevity we limit ourselves here to considering Vortices / Particles type InfoStructures. This means that the total mass and charge of the particle, as seen previously, are distributed over a "virtually infinite, but effectively finite" volume (the boundary is defined by the indeterminacy in the "basic" dynamics of the Elementary Field -> quantum vacuum energy -> elementary spatial fluctuations resonant at the Planck scale). The distribution of mass and charge within this volume with fluctuating and to some extent undefined boundaries is itself fluctuating and to some extent undefined. The position of the center of mass and the center of charge themselves are fluctuating and to some extent undefined. The whole Structure and its form are to some extent fluctuating and undefined. Unless there is a certain amount of indeterminacy, and the incessant fluctuation of the spatial extension, of the temporal duration, of the shape of the Structure, of the distribution of the Mass and of the position of the center of Mass, of the direction and quantity of the Motion (inertia), of the Charge and the position of the Charge center, the orientation of the Spin axis, etc., for an InfoStructure / Particle in a state of rest with respect to the Elementary Field (in inertial motion, not subject to gravitational, electrical, magnetic, etc.) the total mass, the total charge, the total spin, the total kinetic energy (better, the amount of total kinetic action -> Translation), etc. they are defined. The shape, distribution (in the spatial volume occupied from time to time by the InfoStructure) of this Mass, Motion (quantity of kinetic energy or momentum), Charge, Spin (spatial orientation) are fluctuating and to some extent indeterminate, the result of punctual processes (the dynamics of each event point of the Elementary Field that from time to time supports the Structure is partly stochastically independent - Elementary Action of the natural dynamics of the Elementary Field and partly dependent - Information that gives shape to the Structure) partly determined partly random, and can therefore only be expressed with statistical quantities, with probabilistic quantities. This is how probabilities enter and take the scene of the quantum world, undermining the certainties of the determined physical quantities of classical / relativistic physics.
• quantum properties: attributes, characteristics, ways of expressions, qualities and quantities referring to InfoStructures (Position, Momentum, Polarization, Spin, etc.). Electron Spin seems to be the most intuitive example, although a very complex phenomenon
• quantum state: we already have to make a clarification regarding the term "state"...
• conjugate quantities:
• superposition:
• correlation of quantum states (or rather, as seen, of quantum dynamics): because correlation not physical action, we are in the world of relations not events, information not action...
• connection between entangled quantum objects: -> physical connection or logical connection? connection speed, instant connection? Locality has to do with events, continuous (meaning) connection (conn-action, action with, shared action: link, association, relationship, correspondence, etc.), no action at a distance
• action (instant physical action at a distance -> not possible, it would imply zero-time causality, superluminal speeds; instant logical action at a distance, what does it mean)
• measurement (every interaction between quantum object and the Elementary Field, itself and another quantum object):
• decoherence: one or more of the entangled quantum objects undergoes variation in its quantum state (or dynamics) due to interaction with another structure(s).
• probability or statistical representation of quantum states: spatial distribution -> probability of the outcomes of measurements of quantum states
• meaning of the Schrodinger Equation: -> probability (uncertainty or lack of info) -> certain state (snapshot) - > the particle going on with its dynamics influenced by the measurement -> try to draw a time line (before measurement, measurement interval / interaction, after measurement i.e

Links to the tables of contents of TFNR Paper

• Go to the contents list of the paper "The Fundamental Nature of Reality"

• Go to Chapter 2 "A first look"