Aether Science Papers: Part I: The Creative Vacuum
Pages 18-25

Copyright © 1996 Harold Aspden

INTRODUCING THE CREATIVE VACUUM

As the reader will now understand, this monograph provides a documentary record pertaining to Unified Field Theory. It summarizes research by the author spanning 40 years from the mid 1950s when the theory was first conceived.

It has been ignored by the scientific community because it is seen as a contradiction of the Einstein four-space doctrine. Einstein died in 1955, having failed in his lifelong quest to discover how to unify gravitation and electromagnetism. Yet, Einstein's followers have not, in the 41 years thereafter, been able to succeed where Einstein failed and so the scientific community sits and waits, hoping that the Unified Field Theory will one day be discovered.

It is the common belief of theoretical physicists that there has to be a way of understanding the force of gravitation in terms of electromagnetic action. The challenge is to discover the unifying link by which the electromagnetic field theory and gravitational field theory merge to have a causal physical connection that we can understand. This author, now 68 years of age, is acutely conscious of the fact that those scientists who do see it as their exclusive right to search for the Unified Field Theory will never abandon beliefs rooted in Einstein's theory.

This monograph, therefore, is this author's final effort to present his theory as a formal collection of the key published papers, all of which have passed the test of referee scrutiny, but yet they are unlikely to be found in the standard periodical stock of a typical university library. The papers all fail the test of conformity with the Einstein model of four-space, but all offer a meritorious solution to problems which are far outside the scope of Einstein's theory. The author's papers that are of record in the mainstream periodicals are also listed for reference, but this collection of fourteen prior published papers suffices as a concise summary record which will allow physicists, who are so minded, to understand and appreciate what is here presented, most assuredly the ultimate theory of the unified field.

It was in 1980 that the author did succeed in breaking through the referee barrier of the Institute of Physics in U.K. by styling a paper on the subject putting all the emphasis on its rigorous mathematical foundation. The Einstein gravitational field equation of his General Theory of Relativity was derived without using any of Einstein's arguments and solely from the consideration of how energy deploys in the field separating two interacting bodies.

Analogous papers on the spatial deployment of energy in the electromagnetic interaction and the Coulomb electrostatic interaction were also published elsewhere in the mainstream literature and at about the same time. An adequate discussion of and reference to these three contributions appears in the last of the fourteen papers appended in Part 2.

That paper, entitled 'Retardation in the Coulomb Potential', though published in 1995, is really only a summary review paper of earlier work, but it offers the reader a cogent introduction and it is recommended that it should be read first. The author is gratified by the fact that the first reprint copy of the paper read by an academic colleague, whose contribution to electromagnetism earned him an Sc.D. degree from Cambridge, was acknowledged with a note saying that it was "brilliant".

This has encouraged the author to make this final bid to interest the scientific community in what is a very comprehensive unification of field theory. It is a theory which should not be ignored because, though, to be sure, critics will inevitably feel uncomfortable about accepting much that is proposed, that discomfort will stem primarily from the irritation of having to revise what they have come to believe. The merit of the theory offered lies in the powerful cohesion of its foundations and the ultimate test that it affords precise quantitative values for the fundamental dimensionless constants of physics.

Science cannot stay forever in a stalemate condition, where Einstein's General Theory of Relativity stands apart from quantum theory and wave mechanics, never to be united but always living in hope. Unified field theory should not be seen as the quest to link these two disciplines, but rather as the quest to discover the causal physical connection between magnetism as rooted in quantum activity and gravitation as also rooted in the same activity!

The title 'The Creative Vacuum' for this introductory text has been chosen because it aptly describes the function of the vacuum medium. It is an orderly composition of electrical charge, neutral overall, but active as a sea of energy. It constantly strives to create matter in the form of protons and electrons, but is subject to equilibrium and the latter is only upset when matter already created decays to lose its mass and so its energy. That energy is then subjected to regenerative effects, owing to the jitter motion which prevails throughout that vacuum medium.

The theory is founded on the understanding of magnetic induction and how the vacuum medium stores and returns the energy associated with the magnetic field. This is rooted in quantum mechanics, the mechanics of the vacuum itself. The aether has a jitter, a so-called Zitterbewegung. The need for its dynamic jitter to be balanced leads to the gravitational feature. The theory offers a full qualitative account backed by quantitative evidence, because, as already indicated, it gives precise values for the relevant dimensionless constants which incorporate the constant of gravitation, Planck's constant and the proton-electron mass ratio.

If you, the reader, wonder why a theory having such scope and importance is not already well known and copiously referenced in the standard scientific literature, then in that you begin to share this author's own thoughts. There is something wrong with a system that encourages scientific endeavour and encapsulates it in numerous scientific papers which are then well and truly buried, not always on the shelves of university library archives. I will here indulge in a little digression on this subject, but I shall eventually come back to the main theme.

The problem just mentioned is, of course, the escalation of the university system with the need for academic staff, also escalating in numbers, to add the weight of their own contributions to the growing piles of information, with the result that, as with the proverbial 'black hole', the system has collapsed and now offers very little enlightenment. There is so much incentive academically urging academics to contribute papers to conferences and to periodicals that there is little of real merit being added. For example, if Einstein's theory really did explain gravitation, why are so many thousands of papers still being written, all trying to develop the theory of gravitation? Much the same applies to magnetism, where the concept of 'spin' has some special meaning, but one wonders precisely what it can be. It seems to me that the fundamentals of a subject are not understood but yet scientists persist in probing the periphery of their subject whilst repelling intruders who offer something of fundamental significance.

Not long ago, I had wanted to look up one of my own papers in the bound periodical collection of my local university. I found that the librarians had cleared the shelves of journals published before 1970. Upon enquiry I was informed that I was not the only person to ask what had happened to the earlier works of reference. The librarian was surprised, especially as he had just had the same enquiry about the chemical journals from another staff member. He explained that in science and technology anything dated before 1970 was deemed to be outmoded and of little interest. To him, it seemed that the pace of development was such that only the work of the past twenty or so years was worth remembering. I would need to go to another repository where the old archives had been buried if I wished to trace what I had contributed to science before 1970.

Now, it might not be appreciated by everyone, but when, as a scientist, you contribute to knowledge by securing publication of a peer-reviewed paper, and you are told that your work has been 'buried' along with other papers of the same vintage, it is as if you have become a ghost and are searching for your own grave in a cemetry.

There is so much being published in science that we have reached a state of chaos, which puts us in a situation where we need to fight to be heard, and there are those amongst us who see no point in engaging in that struggle.

I will now, for a moment, stand back from that ongoing contest to mention that 1996, the year in which I am now writing, is the fourth centenary of the birth of the person who introduced the aether into science, by postulating that it had mechanical properties. Since we are concerned with the 'creative vacuum' or the `aether' it is appropriate to remember Rene Descartes. Descartes assumed that the aether comprises particles that are continually in motion, but as there is no empty space, he inferred that those particles are continually moving into places vacated by other aether particles which are themselves in motion. Overall, the motion was that of vortices as the particles were all part of a great machine, but one which we can now examine at a microscopic quantum level and see as a kind of universal clock mechanism.

Sadly, however, towards the end of the 19th century, the mechanistic aether seems to have lost favour, because the aether came to be viewed, not as a clock which kept everything in the universe together in a rhythmic dance, but rather only as a 'sea' rippled by light waves. The luminiferous aether concept became the dominant consideration. The aether was not deemed to be the bonding agency which wedded all matter in the universe together in an energy machine. Electromagnetic waves and their finite speed were seen as the signature that proved the aether existed and, once that signature became blurred, there were those who broke away from the aether faith.

It was in the early part of the 20th century that a French astronomer, Alexandre Veronnet [123], made a bid to arouse interest in an 'etheron' particle picture of the aether, bringing the Bohr magneton into that 'clock mechanism', but wave mechanics had a different style of presentation and the aether began to sink into its own sea of oblivion.

Einstein was the champion who led the aether dissenters. As philosopher Bertrand Russell explained:

"Empty space, to Descartes, is as absurd as happiness without a sentient being who is happy. Leibnitz, on somewhat different grounds, also believed in the plenum, but he maintained that space is merely a system of relations. On this subject there was a famous controversy between him and Newton. The controversy remained undecided until the time of Einstein, whose theory gave the victory to Leibnitz." (Quoted from:) History of Western Philosophy, 1961 Edition, Published by Allen & Unwin, page 87.

Well, I now submit here that the controversy is far from over. Space is not merely a system of 'relations'. It is a real mechanism, albeit one that is, as is all matter, rooted in the electrical form of the constituent aether particles.

The way forward from the Einstein diversion requires that we heed what another British philosopher had to say about Einstein's theory.
"The effects of rotation are among the most widespread phenomena of the apparent world, exemplified in the most gigantic nebulae and in the minutest molecules. The most obvious fact about rotational effects is their apparent disconnection from outlying phenomena. Rotation is the stronghold of those who believe that in some sense there is an absolute space to provide a framework of dynamical axes. Newton cited it in support of this doctrine. The Einstein theory in explaining gravitation has made rotation an entire mystery."
(Quoted from:)p.356 of The Principle of Relativity in the book Alfred North Whitehead: An Anthology, published by Cambridge University Press, 1953.

So I assert that we must look to 'rotation' to see how we can revive belief in the aether, and I note that vortices and rotation are complementary aspects of the universal mechanism that is tuned to the spirit of Descartes.

Can the aether spin?

If those 'vortices' or those aether particles describing minute circular orbital motion, as part of that universal clock we call the aether, can store energy, as by expanding their orbits so as to move faster, then we have territory to explore.

If, further, those aether particles can, by analogy with matter, group together to form structure, but by keeping their mutual spacing, then we have the makings of a dimensionless physical constant connected with both energy quanta and that aether. That gives us a larger aether form that we can explore in terms of spin, a form which might set up pulsating ripples as surrounding aether is disturbed by that structural rotation. This suggests a route to the photon, linked to the theoretical derivation of the fine-structure constant, the latter comprising Planck's constant, the fundamental unitary electric charge and the speed of light.

On a larger scale, maybe large spherically formed expanses of aether can be set in rotation, as with body Earth or the Sun, all leading to interesting properties revealing the role of the aether.

On an intermediate scale, there are other possible spin forms of aether. Remember that we can move through the aether, as if it does not exist, and so aether in spin can move through a solid wall to transport its action from one side of that wall to the other. Yes, there is evidence of that to be seen in the thunderball phenomenon, which becomes a candidate for research enquiry into the aether. There are the mysteries connected with atmospheric electrical phenomena and invariably there is something spinning, as in the funnel of a tornado. Indeed, observers have seen the tornado travel one way when the prevailing wind direction was in the opposite direction! Rotation, therefore, offers the logical entry point for a fascinating study of the aether.

My main aim here is to interest the reader in my theory as a whole, but that can only be by individual study of my many published papers and other writings on the subject. The appended papers and bibliographic listing are, therefore, the main contribution I make in presenting this work, but I need to encourage you, the reader, to make that effort. So I will digress a little more.

In 1977 I was invited to explain my aether theory to the students and staff of the Physics Department at Cardiff University in Wales. One simple diagram I presented at that Cardiff meeting and which appeared in the lecture paper [113] of that occasion is reproduced by the following dimensional expressions:
charge density σ: .... M1/2L-3/2T-1k1/2
angular velocity ω: ........... T-1
mass density ρ: .......... ML-3
(σ2/ω2ρ): ........... k

My argument was that the aether contains electric charge, as needed to sustain displacement according to Maxwell's theory. Charge has the dimensions of mass M, length L, and time T, taken together with the electrical dimension of the dielectric constant k. The question at issue was that of understanding how, if the aether could develop spherical pockets that could rotate inside enveloping aether, its angular rotation or spin would relate to electric charge. If I assumed that a uniform charge density would be induced in proportion to the angular velocity of vacuum spin I found that the aether would need to exhibit a uniform mass density to keep the dimensions in balance. In fact, I developed the relationship between vacuum spin, the radial electric field and the angular momentum of aether spin, together with their energy connection.

I was aiming at the objective of showing that the energy added owing to that rotation would be both the electric field energy stored by charge displacement and an equal amount of kinetic energy.

The easiest way in which to explain this vacuum spin' induction is to imagine that all space exhibits a quantum activity as if everywhere there is electric charge keeping in universal phase in minute orbital loop motion at the same frequency. Here we need to picture large spheres of aether as capable of spin at an angular frequency þ and see every charge in that aether as a quantum unit having a microcosmic orbital spin motion at a very high frequency compared with þ. This high frequency is the Compton electron frequency (Ω/2π) and it corresponds to the photon energy needed to create an electron.
Quantum mechanics involves linear harmonic oscillations and that tells us that the controlling medium has a linear restoring force rate when displaced. An electric charge e in the aether, as needed in Maxwell's displacement theory, complies with a force rate of 4πNe2, where there are N charges e in unit volume of space, all neutralized overall by a universally-constant density of background charge of opposite polarity. Here I use the c.g.s system of units, in which an electric field of strength E stores energy density E2/8π in vacuum of unit dielectric constant, owing to Ee being equal to 4πNe2x, where x is displacement distance. Energy density is N times (4πNe2x)(x/2), which is E2/8π.

This restoring force rate determines the jitter frequency of the vacuum state by the equation:
8πN2e2 = ρ(Ω)2
where ρ is the effective mass density of the e charges, which is proportional to N. In the equation 8π has replaced 4π because, to assure dynamic balance, the orbital radius of the motion is half of the displacement, which spans the orbit diameter.

Now consider the superimposed effect in a sphere of aether which spins at the angular frequency ω. If the spin is in the same sense (parallel axes of spin) as the quantized orbital motion, then to keep the phase-lock as between enveloping aether and aether in spin, the above equation becomes:
8π(N-δN)e2 = (ρ/N)(Ω-ω)2
where ρ/N is constant.

From these two equations we can deduce the relationship:
δN/N = 2ω/Ω approximately

This means that δN charges e per unit volume of that aether sphere are displaced from it owing to spin ω. Conversely, if we can feed electrostatic energy into that sphere to displace that amount of charge, the phase-lock asserted by the external aether will promote the spin at &oemga;. Or, if we can get the aether sphere to spin by other means, the phase-lock asserted by the external aether will promote charge induction. Once the external aether has to assert itself to hold that phase-lock as between different regions of aether, it does work and that is our 'free energy' input!

Suppose we can contain some positive ions into a small sphere. The aether will see this as producing a radial electric field from the centre of that sphere and it will develop a charge displacement to neutralize that core charge and effectively transfer the charge effect to the surface of the sphere. Now, this means that N has been changed in that sphere and so the natural frequency of quantum jitter will change. The aether charges lying outside that sphere will, however, not allow this loss of synchronism and very powerful electrostatic forces are asserted to ensure that the synchronism holds. The vast amount of energy sustaining the quantum jitter at the Compton electron frequency in the aether of enveloping space will be pooled with the rotating aether sphere to keep that state of synchronism. The relative frequency is what is held constant. Thus, if N increases in the sphere to cause the local value of Ω to increase, then the offset of ω, will assure that synchronous condition. In other words, rotation at ω follows as a consequence of the phase-lock constraint. This imports energy from the aether.

Owing to the linear harmonic motion properties of the quantum world, there is equipartition of energy in the sense that for every unit of electric field energy stored there is an equal unit of kinetic energy stored. Therefore, by adding one joule of energy in one pulsation of the 'vacuum spin' state we receive 'gratis' one further unit of energy drawing on the universal energy priming of the aether activity at that jitter angular frequency Ω.

It has therefore become an interesting task, technologically, to reiterate this action at a rapid pulse rate, given that we can, in fact, set up that priming radial electric field or the spin in an effective way. This is what now takes this aether subject from the realm of oblivion and, without stopping in the arena of philosophical debate, progressing directly into the field of technology, where the aether can be seen to serve us as an energy source.

As long ago as 1960 I published my first account of this 'vacuum spin' induction theory [107] and evaluated the spin charge density in relation to spin angular frequency ω. The formula gave the charge density as 4.781 esu/cc per rad/s of spin (page 32 of that reference). In terms of coulombs, one micro-coulomb per cc would correspond to aether spin at 6,000 rpm. I note that ten micro-coulombs per cc. squeezed into a sphere of 10 cm. diameter corresponds to an energy density of the order of 109 J/m3.

In my 1977 lecture paper [113] I explained how the Sun was created by gravitational attraction between protons setting up a positive core charge which produced a radial electric field. That charge had the density of G times the 1.4 gm per cc mass density of the Sun. Put G as 6.67x10-8 in c.g.s units and one obtains 3.6x10-4 esu/cc, which develops a vacuum spin of 7.5x10-5 rad/s or one revolution every 23 hours. If the whole angular momentum of the solar system as it is today were to be put back into the Sun, then, as that paper [113] shows, the Sun would spin at 8.3x10-5 rad/s or one revolution every 21 hours. My 1980 book Physics Unified [112] put on record a more formal account.

This is close enough to explain how the solar system got its angular momentum from the phase-locked aether and support the proposition that energy can be shed by this 'vacuum spin' activity of the aether and transferred to matter. Our experiments can tap the aether energy in the same way, simply by setting up a radial electric field inside a conductive medium that can sustain the build up of the charge displacement.

In 1983 I presented the theory of 'vacuum spin' at a conference held by the U.K. Institute of Physics at Oxford University. See pages 179-184 of reference [29]. I explained how the known facts about the energy density of thunderballs pointed to an aether in which there could be energy storage by spin.

I referred to Altschuler et al. of the High Altitude Lab. in Boulder, Colorado (1970) and their suggestion in Nature [114] that thunderballs might be nuclear powered because they all had an energy density in the range 2 to 5x109 J/m3. This is the same energy density as mentioned above!

My 1983 paper went further because I knew that if the Earth shared its spin with the aether then that would involve two systems each neutralizing one another in electric charge terms but in a way which would still produce a magnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field is seated in the charge displaced in, and rotating with, the Earth, but the vacuum charge involved in that aether spin cannot develop a magnetic field because it is the reference against which magnetic action is measured.

From knowledge of the strength of the Earth's magnetism I could calculate the Earth's vacuum spin charge and it was found to have a value which would constrain vacuum spin, whether in thunderballs, tornadoes or in certain homopolar motor experiments, to have an energy density estimated as being 2.37x109 J/m3. See page 183 of reference [29].

To understand how it is that we can survive on Earth inside a sea of electricity packed by energy that can intrude upon us, just consider two microbes, one in the space between two parallel plates of a highly charged capacitor and the other sitting inside a sphere in which there is radial displacement of vacuum charge. The first microbe will die from electrification once the voltage between those capacitor plates is high enough. Its constituent positive and negative charges will be pulled in opposite directions and torn from its body. Whether the second microbe survives will depend upon which comes first, the vacuum spin with its radial displacement or the microbe. The electrification involves tearing electric charge from the constituent atoms in any matter within that sphere as charge of one polarity goes to the surface, the ionosphere in the case of body Earth, whereas the positive ions left behind simply move to positions intermediate the centre and the boundary surface of the sphere to cancel the electric field and allow the entering microbe to survive unharmed. We humans actually live in a powerful electrified environment which allows the Earth, by rotating, to set up a magnetic field that arises from an electric charge we cannot sense. Vacuum spin precession is why the magnetic N pole orbits the Earth's N pole.