Advances in the proposed electromagnetic zero-point field theory of inertia

A NASA-funded research effort has been underway at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto and at California State University in Long Beach to develop and test a recently published theory that Newton's equation of motion can be derived from Maxwell's equations of electrodynamics as applied to the zero-point field (ZPF) of the quantum vacuum. In this ZPF-inertia theory, mass is postulated to be not an intrinsic property of matter but rather a kind of electromagnetic drag force that proves to be acceleration dependent by virtue of the spectral characteristics of the ZPF. The theory proposes that interactions between the ZPF and matter take place at the level of quarks and electrons, hence would account for the mass of a composite neutral particle such as the neutron. An effort to generalize the exploratory study of Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff (1994) into a proper relativistic formulation has been successful. Moreover the principle of equivalence implies that in this view gravitation would also be electromagnetic in origin along the lines proposed by Sakharov (1968). With regard to exotic propulsion we can definitively rule out one speculatively hypothesized mechanism: matter possessing negative inertial mass, a concept originated by Bondi (1957) is shown to be logically impossible. On the other hand, the linked ZPF-inertia and ZPF-gravity concepts open the conceptual possibility of manipulation of inertia and gravitation, since both are postulated to be electromagnetic phenomena. It is hoped that this will someday translate into actual technological potential. A key question is whether the proposed ZPF-matter interactions generating the phenomenon of mass might involve one or more resonances. This is presently under investigation.Comment: Revised version of invited presentation at 34th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, July 13-15, 1998, Cleveland, OH, 10 pages, no figure

Levi-Civita Effect in the polarizable vacuum (PV) representation of general relativity

The polarizable vacuum (PV) representation of general relativity (GR), derived from a model by Dicke and related to the "TH-epsilon-mu" formalism used in comparative studies of gravitational theories, provides for a compact derivation of the Levi-Civita Effect (both magnetic and electric), herein demonstrated.Comment: 8 page

The Zero-Point Field and Inertia

A brief overview is presented of the basis of the electromagnetic zero-point field in quantum physics and its representation in stochastic electrodynamics. Two approaches have led to the proposal that the inertia of matter may be explained as an electromagnetic reaction force. The first is based on the modeling of quarks and electrons as Planck oscillators and the method of Einstein and Hopf to treat the interaction of the zero-point field with such oscillators. The second approach is based on analysis of the Poynting vector of the zero-point field in accelerated reference frames. It is possible to derive both Newton's equation of motion, F=ma, and its relativistic co-variant form from Maxwell's equations as applied to the zero-point field of the quantum vacuum. This appears to account, at least in part, for the inertia of matter.Comment: 8 pages, no fig

A spatially-VSL gravity model with 1-PN limit of GRT

A scalar gravity model is developed according the 'geometric conventionalist' approach introduced by Poincare (Einstein 1921, Poincare 1905, Reichenbach 1957, Gruenbaum1973). In principle this approach allows an alternative interpretation and formulation of General Relativity Theory (GRT), with distinct i) physical congruence standard, and ii) gravitation dynamics according Hamilton-Lagrange mechanics, while iii) retaining empirical indistinguishability with GRT. In this scalar model the congruence standards have been expressed as gravitationally modified Lorentz Transformations (Broekaert 2002). The first type of these transformations relate quantities observed by gravitationally 'affected' (natural geometry) and 'unaffected' (coordinate geometry) observers and explicitly reveal a spatially variable speed of light (VSL). The second type shunts the unaffected perspective and relates affected observers, recovering i) the invariance of the locally observed velocity of light, and ii) the local Minkowski metric (Broekaert 2003). In the case of a static gravitation field the model retrieves the phenomenology implied by the Schwarzschild metric. The case with proper source kinematics is now described by introduction of a 'sweep velocity' field w: The model then provides a hamiltonian description for particles and photons in full accordance with the first Post-Newtonian approximation of GRT (Weinberg 1972, Will 1993).Comment: v1: 11 pages, GR17 conf. paper, Dublin 2004, v2: WEP issue solved, section on acceleration transformation added, text improved, more references, same results, v3: typos removed, footnotes, added and references updated, v4: appendix added, improved tex