Against the Tide. A Critical Review by Scientists of How Physics and Astronomy Get Done

Nobody should have a monopoly of the truth in this universe. The censorship and suppression of challenging ideas against the tide of mainstream research, the blacklisting of scientists, for instance, is neither the best way to do and filter science, nor to promote progress in the human knowledge. The removal of good and novel ideas from the scientific stage is very detrimental to the pursuit of the truth. There are instances in which a mere unqualified belief can occasionally be converted into a generally accepted scientific theory through the screening action of refereed literature and meetings planned by the scientific organizing committees and through the distribution of funds controlled by "club opinions". It leads to unitary paradigms and unitary thinking not necessarily associated to the unique truth. This is the topic of this book: to critically analyze the problems of the official (and sometimes illicit) mechanisms under which current science (physics and astronomy in particular) is being administered and filtered today, along with the onerous consequences these mechanisms have on all of us.\ud \ud The authors, all of them professional researchers, reveal a pessimistic view of the miseries of the actual system, while a glimmer of hope remains in the "leitmotiv" claim towards the freedom in doing research and attaining an acceptable level of ethics in science

The Riemann hypothesis and tachyonic off-shell string scattering amplitudes

The study of the $$\mathbf{4}$$-tachyon off-shell string scattering amplitude $$A_4 (s, t, u)$$, based on Witten’s open string field theory, reveals the existence of poles in the s-channel and associated to a continuum of complex “spins” J. The latter J belong to the Regge trajectories in the t, u channels which are defined by $$- J (t) = - 1 - { 1\over 2 } t = \beta (t)= { 1\over 2 } + i \lambda$$; $$- J (u) = - 1 - { 1\over 2 } u = \gamma (u) = { 1\over 2 } - i \lambda$$, with $$\lambda = real$$. These values of $$\beta ( t ), \gamma (u)$$ given by $${ 1\over 2 } \pm i \lambda$$, respectively, coincide precisely with the location of the critical line of nontrivial Riemann zeta zeros $$\zeta (z_n = { 1\over 2 } \pm i \lambda _n) = 0$$. It is argued that despite assigning angular momentum (spin) values J to the off-shell mass values of the external off-shell tachyons along their Regge trajectories is not physically meaningful, their net zero-spin value $$J ( k_1 ) + J (k_2) = J ( k_3 ) + J ( k_4 ) = 0$$ is physically meaningful because the on-shell tachyon exchanged in the s-channel has a physically well defined zero-spin. We proceed to prove that if there were nontrivial zeta zeros (violating the Riemann Hypothesis) outside the critical line $$Real~ z = 1/2$$ (but inside the critical strip) these putative zeros $$don't$$ correspond to any poles of the $$\mathbf{4}$$-tachyon off-shell string scattering amplitude $$A_4 (s, t, u)$$. We finalize with some concluding remarks on the zeros of sinh(z) given by $$z = 0 + i 2 \pi n$$, continuous spins, non-commutative geometry and other relevant topics

The Riemann Hypothesis is a consequence of CT-invariant Quantum Mechanics

The Riemann’s hypothesis (RH) states that the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta-function are of the form sn = 1/2 + iλn. By constructing a continuous family of scaling-like operators involving the Gauss-Jacobi theta series and by invoking a novel CT-invariant Quantum Mechanics, involving a judicious charge conjugation C and time reversal T operation, we show why the Riemann Hypothesis is true. An infinite family of theta series and their Mellin transform leads to the same conclusions.

Thermal Relativity, Corrections to Black-Hole Entropy, Born's Reciprocal Relativity Theory and Quantum Gravity

Starting with a brief description of Born’s reciprocal relativity theory (BRRT), based on a maximal proper force, maximal speed of light, and inertial and non-inertial observers, we derive the exact thermal relativistic corrections to the Schwarzschild, Reissner–Nordstrom, and Kerr–Newman black hole entropies and provide a detailed analysis of the many novel applications and consequences to the physics of black holes, quantum gravity, minimal area, minimal mass, Yang–Mills mass gap, information paradox, arrow of time, dark matter, and dark energy. We finish by outlining our proposal towards a space–time–matter unification program where matter can be converted into spacetime quanta and vice versa.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author