Cosmic,
In an appendix of Voyage Beyond Doubt I wrote about Dr. Ed Wilson's Electromagnetic Theory of Gravity and your post reminded me that there is now more to that story. I think it comes under the heading of discoveries science refuses to make, or perhaps, refuses to acknowledge. This is a rather ‘techie’ discussion, hopefully some of you will be able to follow and comment on.
One of the outcomes of Dr. Wilson's theory is a prediction that the speed of light in a vacuum will not be an unvarying, universally constant value, as modern science presently believes. There is experimental evidence supporting cyclic light speed variation from an experiment designed by Albert Michelson (of Michelson and Morley fame) and run at Pasadena California in the early 1930s. If such cyclic light speed variation were to be confirmed by future experiments a huge mass of scientific theories could crumble and fall, including the Big Bang Theory. A rather fitting description for the resulting belief system crash.
Here’s what I wrote about Dr. Wilson’s theory back in 1996:
THE THEORY:
The force we call gravity is the result of an imbalance in electromagnetic radiation pressure acting upon a mass. This imbalance is due to density gradients in an almost incomprehensibly dense field of purely randomly acting electromagnetic energies. The density gradients are induced by localized compression of that field.
ASSUMPTIONS:
1. Existence of an extremely dense Field of purely random acting energy which can be conceptualized as electromagnetic in nature. This Field fills, interpenetrates and travels throughout all of “empty space.” It can be visualized as almost uncountable numbers of “beams” of electromagnetic energy of all types (visible light, radio, x-ray, infrared, etc.) traveling in purely random fashion from all directions through any point in space.
2. This Field of extremely dense energy, conceptualized as electromagnetic in nature, has the property of internal cohesion.
Since that writing in 1996 I’ve revised the analogy of the “Field” to resemble something closer to a conceptualization of the Quantum Field as the origin of the three fields we call: electric; magnetic; and gravitational. The properties of these three fields are then conceptualized as the result of different forms of density gradients within the quantum field. Predictions based on Dr. Wilson's theory form a theoretical basis, for example, to understanding the work of T. Townsend Brown in which an electric field exhibits a force that appears to be gravitational in nature.
In an updated version of Dr. Wilson’s theory of gravity the quantum field is conceptualized as a boundary between nonphysical and physical 'space'. For simplicity’s sake let’s say that at this boundary particles of matter are constantly popping into and out of physical existence. And, that they pop into physical existence with some mass, moving at some velocity, and are traveling in some random direction. These newly minted quantum particles can then be thought of as zillons of tiny billiard balls capable of transferring momentum to particles of matter already within physical space.
Dr. Wilson’s theory claims that the density of these quantum particles is not uniform due to localized stretching and compression of the quantum field. His theory claims that density gradients exist within the field and that these gradients, acting upon a mass in a sort of biased Brownian motion, are the force we call gravity.
So, back to the “discovery” . . .
If Dr. Wilson’s field gradients exist, density of the field at any point in space should vary in correspondence with the gravitation force at that point in space. If this field is the media through which light travels (the oft theorized ‘ether’ or ‘aether’) density variation should lead to variations in the "ether's" index of refraction. And as all good little physicists know, as the index of refraction of the media, through which light travels, varies so do both the speed of light and its wavelength.
Now back to Michelson’s experiment from the 1930s, actually Michelson, Pearson and Pease. This experiment was an attempt to more accurately determine the speed of light. For those interested in such things the experiment’s report, published by Pearson and Pease after Michelson’s death, is available online in PDF format at:
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1935ApJ....82...26...(Note: This is a large document and takes a while to download)
In that report the authors discuss their observed correlation between their light speed measurements and the local ocean tides. My own analysis of data from their report points to strong evidence of cyclic variation in their light speed measurements that correlates to the gravitational tidal force of the Moon. The Earth-Moon distance goes through a two-week cycle of apogee/perigee leading to a two week, cyclic variation in the Moon’s gravitational force. Dr. Wilson’s theory of gravity would predict light speed variation on a two week cycle as a result. It also predicts light speed variation on a daily cycle. Rotation of the Earth causes daily cyclic variation in the Moon’s gravitational influence, as well as a six-month cyclic variation due to earth’s apogee/perigee in its annual orbit of the Sun. My analysis of the Michelson data suggests that the daily cycle of light speed variation exists.
So, what’s next?
Other experimental light velocity evidence, notably the work of Roland DeWitte, points to the validity of Dr. Wilson’s theory. I’d like to see scientists rerun an updated version of the Michelson, Pearson and Pease experiment. Who knows, maybe what Dr. Wilson passed along after he passed on would be validated. Any scientists out there interested in talking to an amateur about the design of such an experiment?
Bruce