Aexels - A universe is discovered...

Forward to 3.0

Since Universe X was first discovered, there have been a handful of additional insights that have been gained, some of which came after the initial development of this app. Previously, I had just tacked on new articles leaving the old articles largely untouched.

However, with this version I am choosing to rewrite each of the articles based on the complete current understanding of Universe X. Additionally I have removed 'Odds and Ends' and integrated its discussions into other sections.

Aexels 3.0 also includes 3 new articles and 2 new explorers:

Articles:
- Electromagnetism: New insights have started to shine some light into the mechanism of E&M in Universe X; this contains some early conjecture.
- Discrepancy: Potentially a substantial difference between Universe X and our Universe has been discovered
- Epilogue: A list of about 30 physics questions that tend to be challenging to answer in our universe, are answered for Universe X.

Explorers:
- Dilation: Observe the actual mechanism underpinning 'animation' dilation in Universe X; see exactly when and how it occurs.
- Contraction: While not explaining the mechanism causing length contraction, this simulation viscerally shows the importance of contraction and shows exactly what Lorentz covariance means and what it does not mean in Universe X.

My hope is that Aexels 3.0 represents a significant step forward in the understanding of Universe X, but of course much work remains. Qualitatively, the big picture is starting to come to light (although it too still has unknowns such as electromagnetism), but quantitatively almost everything still remains to be done.

Hopefully new insights will continue to present themselves and with them the inner working of Universe X will continue to come into focus.

- Joe

A universe is discovered...

Universe X

Come along as we explore this new universe and discover the similarities and differences it has with our own.

There are things we know for certain about Universe X; there are things we can speculate about and there are many things yet to be discovered. Hopefully, over the life time of this app we will be able to continually increase our knowledge and understanding of this new world.

This app is divided into sections that each describe a different aspect of Universe X. Eventually each of these sections will also contain an exploration screen that will allow the user to see each aspect modeled visually.

Aexel's current explorers:
- The Cellular Automata explorer will allow the user to view a number of famous Cellular Automata and will also allow users to define and execute their own Cellular Automata using the Oovium visual programming language.
- The Kinematics explorer compares simple motion in our Universe to that in Universe X.
- The Gravity explorer attempts to qualitatively model the crystalline nature of Aexels themselves.
- The Dilation explorer visually illustrates the mechanism underpinning dilation.
- The Contraction explorer shows why length contraction is important for Lorentz covariance, what Lorentz covariance means and what it does not mean.

So what is Universe X?

Universe X is quite different from our own. Our universe can, at times, seem quite magical: space curves, time dilates and both are intertwined with one another; it contains dark matter and dark energy; it is expanding and expanding at an increasing rate; God plays dice with our universe.

In contrast, Universe X is quite simple; it has no magic at all. Universe X is entirely mechanistic. It follows a few simple rules which are easy to understand and (hopefully) easy to model.

In the 19th century it was speculated that the space between planets and stars contained a fluid called the aether that was analogous to air. This aether was the medium that allowed light waves to propagate, just as air is the medium that allows sound waves to propagate. At the beginning of the 20th century with the discovery of Special Relativity it was realized that this aether does not exist in our universe.

In Universe X, however, not only does the aether exist, fundamentally, it is the only thing that exists. But this aether, the aether of Universe X, has very little in common with the 19th century concept of aether.

The 19th century concept of aether was that of a fluid that the planets and stars moved through and displaced, just as an object moving in air or water displaces each of those fluids. For example, as an airplane flies through the sky, air collides with it and flows along the surface of the craft. It was believed that there must be a similar substance in space that both collides with and flows along the surface of the planets as they orbit the sun.

In 1887, Michelson and Morley performed their famous experiment looking for the flow of that aether along the surface of the Earth. They were shocked to discover that no such flow existed.

In Universe X, the aether is not a substance that is displaced by planets and stars. Rather, in Universe X, the aether is a substance upon which the matter of the universe sits. It is the canvas upon which the painting appears; it is the game board upon which the chess pieces move. The planets, the stars and ALL matter in Universe X sit atop of this aether and smoothly slide along it.

And like a computer monitor that is divided into a 2 dimensional grid of cells, called pixels (from 'picture elements' or 'picture cells'), each displaying a single color in order to render an entire image, the aether of Universe X is divided into a number of small 3 dimensional cells called aexels (from 'aether elements' or 'aether cells').

Currently, there are a few things we know about these aexels. Like the atoms of a liquid, they can move and flow. Like the atoms of a crystal lattice, they repulse when they get too close and attract when they get too far. As such, the aether is compressible; the density of the aexels can vary, sometimes bunching up, other times spreading out.

These aexels have state. Just as each pixel of a screen has a three dimensional state representing red, green and blue, each aexel also has a multidimensional state. This state can change over time. The changing of state in one aexel can, after a short delay, cause the change of state in neighboring aexels.

And perhaps most shockingly, based on those states, new aexels can be created and existing aexels can be destroyed.

At a base level, aexels are the only thing that exist in Universe X. However, Universe X also has two other aspects: space and time. Unlike our own universe where space and time are quite magical notions, where space can curve and time can dilate and each is intimately intertwined with one another, in Universe X, space and time are quite intuitive and boring.

Space in Universe X does not curve or expand; it is simply a three dimensional construct which houses the aexels. Time in Universe X does not dilate; it is simply a one dimensional construct moving at a constant rate from past to present to future, mediating the progression of the state changes of the aexels as well as their motion. In Universe X, space and time are entirely separate notions that are not intertwined at all.

Of course, these facts about the aexels of Universe X leave many questions unanswered. For example, what is the exact equation of force between individual aexels? Does the notion of momentum exist for aexels? How many dimensions of state are there? Answering these questions and many more will be the primary focus of this app for years to come.

As such, let our exploration begin...

Cellular Automata

A cellular automaton is a system consisting of a grid (often times 2 dimensional) of cells each having state, which could be a simple on/off or could be any number of scalar and/or vector values.

The system progresses using a discrete concept of time called a time step. Inherent in the system is a static set of rules that dictate how the state of each cell progresses for each time step. This progression is a function of the current state of the cell and the state of the cell's neighbors.

For example, perhaps the most famous cellular automaton is Conway's Game of Life. In Conway's game of life the world consists of a 2 dimensional square grid of cells. Each cell can be either on or off. The neighbors of a cell consist of the 8 cells directly surrounding it. If exactly 2 neighbors are on, then the state of the cell will not change. If exactly 3 neighbors are on then the state of the cell will be turned/remain on. In all other cases the state of the cell will be turned/remain off.

This simple set of rules is able to exhibit an amazing amount of complexity. Initially, when the cells of such a system are randomly populated the progression of state will be quite chaotic. However, over time, patterns will automatically arise.

For example, if a closed subset of cells has a certain state at time t and that subset of cells returns to that same state at a later time, the cells will be in a stable state loop and continue that loop into perpetuity (or until it is disrupted somehow, i.e., stops being a closed subset). Perhaps the cells remain in the same state each time step giving the loop a period of 1. Or perhaps the cells loop back after 2, 3 or more steps, giving their loop a period of 2, 3 or more steps.

Such simple cellular automata have a number of similarities to Universe X. For example Universe X is also made up of a set of discrete cells, in this case 3 dimensional. These cells also have state and the state changes of these cells often loop back creating stable state loops.

In Universe X these loops can persist for long periods of time, have properties of their own and interact with other stable state loops. These stable state loops are the basis of all "matter" in Universe X.

The matter of Universe X is not fundamental. It is an artifact of the properties of aexels. It is not made up of particles; it is not made up of waves; it does not displace the aether. Matter is made up of stable state loops that exist on top of the aether.

However, there are also some differences between Universe X and most cellular automata. Unlike the static cells of Conway's game of life, the cells of Universe X are dynamic; they can move, they can be created and they can be destroyed.

The aexels of Universe X are created and destroyed as a direct result of the state changes of the aexels themselves. The aexels move because they exert a force on one another, but ultimately this motion is first initiated by the creation and destruction of the aexels themselves.

Another somewhat speculative difference is that although the new states of our simple cellular automata are usually based on the current states of the cell and their neighbors, it is probably the case that the state change of an aexel is a function of the change of state rather than just the absolute state of the neighborhood.

In a cellular automaton, a computer will calculate each time step in its entirety before moving the system forward. There is no such master computer in Universe X. There is simply a time delay in transferring a state change from one aexel to its neighbors. In Universe X this delay is called a 'tic'.

Each aexel in Universe X can only directly affect its neighbors and this effect takes one tic of time to occur. Therefore the fastest a signal can move across a field of aexels in Universe X is one aexel per tic.

In Universe X, one aexel per tic is referred to as 'the speed of light'.

Kinematics

Kinematics is the study of motion absent of force. In our universe, such motion is quite straightforward. Generally things in Universe X are less complicated than in our own universe, but in this case things in Universe X are considerably more complicated.

In the Cellular Automata section, a stable state loop was described as a closed set of cells with a certain state at time t, that returns to that same state at some later time. However, this definition is perhaps unnecessarily restrictive.

If one observes Conway's Game of Life long enough they may notice a very interesting phenomenon. Occasionally a pattern of cells arise that while persisting; does not do so in place; it "moves". The most common such stable state loop in Game of Life is called a glider, which repeats its pattern every 4 time steps while translating diagonally by one cell during those 4 time steps.

Similarly, all of the stable state loops in Universe X have the ability to translate across a field of aexels. However, due to the 'tic' time delay in transferring state from one aexel to its neighbor, this motion is strictly bound by the 'speed of light' (i.e., one aexel per tic). This translation is one of the forms of motion possible in Universe X.

But there is another entirely different way in which a stable state loop can move. Since the aexels themselves can move, it is possible for a stable state loop that is not translating across an aexel field at all, to simply move along with aexels it is sitting upon, like a leaf floating down a stream. And since this motion is not dependent on the signal delay between neighboring aexels, its speed is in no way bounded.

And of course a stable state loop could be (and most of the time probably is) experiencing both of these forms of motion simultaneously.

There are some rather sticky ramifications to all of this. In our universe a single particle moving in the absence of force can be described entirely by a velocity vector (ignoring quantum effects for the time being). In Universe X, in order to accurately understand the motion of a stable state loop it is necessary to know the translating velocity of the loop measured in aexels per time as well as both the velocity of the aexels measured in distance per time and density of those same aexels, which in a simple system could be constant, but in more complex situations could vary from place to place.

Gravity

Gravity is the tendency of objects with mass to move towards one another.

Isaac Newton first described the Gravity of our universe as a force that all objects exert on one another across any arbitrarily large distance, proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. But, he acknowledged some discomfort with this idea:

"That one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one another, is to me so great an absurdity that, I believe, no man who has in philosophic matters a competent faculty of thinking could ever fall into it."

When Albert Einstein described his theory of Relativity he shifted our understanding of Gravity. He described gravity as being a result of the warping of spacetime caused by all objects with mass.

But, even with Newton and Einstein's contributions to Gravity we still really don't understand what Gravity is and why it exists. In our own universe, Gravity remains a mystery.

But, in Universe X, Gravity is a quite simple and mundane phenomenon.

In Universe X there exists many different types of stable state loops. There are potentially three ways these loops could interact with the aexels:

- they could destroy aexels:
It is quite certain that there are loops that destroy aexels in Universe X. In Universe X these loops are referred to as 'matter'. This article, 'Gravity', pertains to these types of loops.

- they could create aexels:
That there exists loops that create aexels in Universe X is somewhat speculative, but for a number of reasons not a tremendous leap. The article 'Darkness' pertains to these type of loops.

- they could do neither:
Given the cellular automata analogy to Universe X, it's easy to imagine the existence of loops that don't affect the aexels; that neither create or destroy them. However, perhaps it is necessary to consider the possibility that these loops are less prevalent than one might initially guess. The 'Equivalence' and 'Electromagnetism' articles discuss these possibilities further.

Generally, the loops that destroy aexels can be thought to have a destruction coefficient, which measures the rate at which the aexels are destroyed. In Universe X, this destruction coefficient is called 'mass'. As matter destroys the aexels, more aexels get pulled in because the aether's crystalline nature does not allow the individual aexels to ever get too far apart.

Imagine a round table with a table cloth upon it. On the table cloth there are plates and glasses and silverware. In the center of the table is a little hole. A person crawls under the table and grabs the table cloth through the hole and then begins to pull the table cloth through the hole. All of the items on the table will begin to slide towards the center of the table. The dishware sitting on the table cloth will appear to be 'attracted' to the center.

In Universe X as various concentrations of matter continually destroy the aether between one another that matter itself will continually tend to clump together. As that clump of matter gets bigger and bigger (or perhaps more precisely, more and more dense) the velocity at which the aether is pulled towards the clump will increase.

At some point, certain clumps in Universe X get so big (dense) and the velocity of the aexels flowing towards the clump becomes so great that a signal moving at one aexel per tic ('the speed of light') will not be able to escape the clump. In Universe X, any clump that draws aether in at the speed of light is referred to as a black hole.

Dilation

Perhaps one of the most magical aspects of our universe is the phenomenon of time dilation.

In our universe time dilation is the variation in the perceived rate of time of various frames of reference based on their relative velocity to one another as well as the relative difference in their gravitational field strength. That the rate of time itself can vary in our universe is severely magical in and of itself.

But, perhaps the most magical aspects of time dilation arise from the fact that in our universe there are no special frames of reference. For example, two space ships traveling parallel to one another in opposite directions near the speed of light will both note that their clocks are running at a different rate than the other ship's clocks. But, the really weird part is that both ships will see their own clock running faster and the opposing ship's clocks moving slower.

In Universe X, however, no such time dilation occurs. There is however an analogous phenomenon, which is perhaps better described as 'animation dilation'.

Previously, the stable state loops of Universe X have been discussed as single entities. However, the loops themselves have properties of their own and are able to interact with other loops in order to create increasingly large and complex composite systems.

Let's classify all loops in Universe X into one of two categories: loops that translate at the speed of light (one aexel per tic) and loops that translate at less than the speed of light.

It would be nice to give names to these two categories, but there aren't great analogous names from our Universe that can be used. One could almost use the term 'boson' for speed of light travelers and 'fermion' for sub-light travelers, but some bosons (such as W, Z and Higgs) move at less than the speed of light. Still, perhaps, they can be a model for new names in Universe X.

It may be the case that all translation in Universe X is at one aexel per tic. But, that some loops move directly in a straight line and therefore the loop itself translates at the speed of light and other loops have internal motion that alternates back and forth in some manner causing the net speed of translation to be less than the speed of light.

As such, let's refer to those loops that translate directly in a straight line (at the speed of light) as 'edisons' (ed-i-sans) and those loops that translate in some sort of alternating fashion (at less than the speed of light) as 'teslons' (tes-lans).

In Universe X teslons can interact with one another in order to create increasingly complex composite systems. The interaction of these teslons will entirely be mediated by edisons. Therefore the rate that the teslons will animate will entirely be dependent on the amount of time it takes the edisons to move back and forth between them.

Exactly how this happens in Universe X is still a subject of speculation, but in broad strokes, teslons continually generate edisons. When one of these edisons interacts with a different teslon it invokes a reaction. (Conjecture on the exact nature of this reaction is further discussed in the Electromagnetism section.)

In this way, complex static or dynamic systems of teslons can be formed. The rate at which a dynamic system will animate will be highly dependent on the amount of time it takes edisons to travel back and forth between the teslons.

For two stationary teslons separated by a fixed number of aexels the edisons will travel between them at one aexel per tic. However, if the teslons are both translating across the aexel field, the amount of time it takes edisons to move between them will vary based on the direction of motion of the edisons relative to the translating motion of the teslons across the aexel field.

In some cases the time will be less, in others the time will be more, but in all cases the time of the roundtrip journey of an edison between the teslons will increase as the rate of translation increases. This increased time will result in a slow down of the rate of the animation of the composite system of loops.

This dilation in Universe X is substantially different than the dilation of our universe. For one thing, there IS a special frame of reference in Universe X. A system will animate most quickly when it is not translating across the aexels at all, allowing the edisons to move most quickly between the teslons.

In Universe X dilation is not an observational phenomena. It is a real physical phenomena that is entirely dependent on a system's rate of translation. A system not translating at all will animate quickest; other systems will animate slower and slower as their rate of translation increases towards the speed of light, i.e. one aexel per tic.

In Universe X, two observers translating across the aexels in different frames will both agree on the relative animation rate of the two systems. Both will see a fast system and a slow system and they will both agree on which is which. There is no twin paradox in Universe X.

Let's try to calculate the animation dilation in Universe X as a function of the translational velocity of a system across an aexial field. Two loops are arranged perpendicular to the aexial flow (north / south). A signal traveling at c is sent out from one to the other and back.

The question is how long does this roundtrip journey take?

First, let's look at the case where v = 0, the loops are not moving at all relative to the aexial field. In this case the total distance traveled is 2d at a speed of c and total time, t = 2d/c.

In the second case, the loops are translating across the aexels at some non-zero velocity, therefore the signal must travel a greater distance along the aexial field in order to complete its journey. The journey north takes time, t_n. The signal therefore travels c * t_n while the system moves v * t_n. Using the Pythagorean theorem we then get:

So, for a system of loops translating across an aexial field the signals traveling between loops will take longer and therefore the animation of that system will slow down entirely as a function of the rate of translation across the aexels and that slowing down will be by the (perhaps familiar) equation above.

Contraction

Length Contraction is a phenomenon that causes all things to shrink in the direction of motion or in the direction of gravity.

In our universe, length contraction, similar to time dilation, has no special frames of reference, length contraction is an observational phenomena. Two parallel spaceships passing each other at high speed will both see meter sticks on the other ship as being smaller then their own.

In Universe X, however, length contraction is a physical phenomenon and like dilation, is entirely a function of the rate of translation of a system across an aexel field. A system that is not translating across an aexel field will experience no length contraction at all. However, a system that is translating across an aexel field will experience a contraction in the direction of translation (or aexel flow from the perspective of the system itself) that is entirely a function of the rate of that translation.

In our universe there is a feature of nature called Lorentz covariance which indicates that the speed of light is constant across all frames of reference.

In Universe X this concept would appear to break down quickly. For any system that is translating across an aexel field it would seem that the speed of light parallel to the direction of the aexel flow would be different than the speed of light perpendicular to the flow.

Certainly, in Universe X, the speed of light is always one aexel per tic. But, since the aexels themselves can move and since they can vary in density it would seem it might be easy to detect variations in the distance traveled per time.

However, Lorentz covariance also holds in Universe X, just as it does in our universe. And it does so because of length contraction.

In the Dilation article we calculated the increased amount of time needed to bounce an edison moving at the speed of light between two teslons when the edison is sent out orthogonal to the direction of translation (north / south).

For this article let's now repeat the same calculation but for an edison sent out parallel to the direction of translation (east / west). Let's start by calculating when the velocity of translation is zero.

In this case the signal travels 2d (the distance to the target) at a velocity of 'c' (the speed of light), so total time, t is 2d/c.

Now let's start translating the same system over the aexel field. While the signal is moving to the right it is 'chasing' the target therefore the total distance it needs to cover is 'd' the distance to the target plus v*t_e, v being the velocity of translation and t_e being the time needed to hit the target moving to the right. Let's calculate that time, t_e:

Once the signal bounces off the target back to the source, the source will be moving towards the signal so the total distance that needs to be covered is d minus v*t_w, the translation velocity times the time needed to return to the source. Let's calculate that time t_w:

The total time, t' is equal to the sum of t_e and t_w. Let's compare it to the time when the system is not translating at all.

For the orthogonal case we saw that the time increased by a factor of gamma, but in this parallel case the time is increasing by a factor of gamma squared. Which would mean that for a translating system two edisons sent out at the same time, both bounced off equidistant teslons, one orthogonal to the direction of translation, one parallel, the two signals would return at different times. Unless...

Length Contraction occurs and the length of things in the direction of translation are reduced by a factor of gamma. In that case both signals would return at the exact same moment and the 'speed of light' would appear to be the same in both directions.

The amount of contraction precisely masks the change in the speed of light caused by the flow of aexels. In Universe X, a meter stick's length itself is a function of the speed of light. As the speed of light changes; the meter stick's length changes.

Measuring the speed of light with a meter stick is essentially a tautological exercise. A meter stick uses the speed of light to measure the speed of light and not shockingly it always comes out to be: the speed of light.

One other important thing to note, is that this contraction only applies to the physical items in the system that is translating, not to the rest of the non-translating universe that happens to lie along the direction of translation.

If a ship is heading towards some distant star, the amount of contracted meter sticks that will fit between the ship and the star will increase as the translation speed of the ship increases. The distance to the star itself will not contract and therefore the distance to the star will appear to increase as the ship's speed increases.

Darkness

Astronomers observing our own universe have noticed some problems with our current understanding of Physics. There are two major issues: One, is that for unknown reasons the universe itself appears to be expanding. The other is that the galaxies of our universe appear to have greater gravitational pull than they should based on the amount of mass that they contain.

From these observations they realized that our universe contains dark energy which causes the universe to expand and dark matter which gives the galaxies more mass than they appear to have. The mass of dark energy and dark matter account for about 96% of the mass of the universe. Our observable universe only accounts for 4% of what exists. 96% percent of the mass of the our own universe has never been observed.

Luckily, once again, Universe X isn't nearly so magical.

Previously, we have mentioned 3 types of stable state loops:

- Loops that destroy aexels
- Loops that create aexels
- Loops that do neither

This article concerns the 'loops that create aexels'. Let's call those loops 'antimatter'.

In our universe, there is a phenomenon known as pair creation. Of the many known particles of our own universe each has an antiparticle that is equal and opposite in every way. If a matter loop destroys aexels then perhaps it's the case that an antimatter loop creates them.

And while the matter of Universe X clumps up into galaxies and stars and planets continually drawing in aexels as a drain in a tub continually draws in water. The antimatter of Universe X spreads out as a dust permeating the space between those galaxies continually creating new aether between the galaxies causing the space between them to continually increase.

It has been observed that at times a particle and its antiparticle can be created. Similarly, if a particle and its antiparticle meet they can each be destroyed. As such perhaps it's the case that the total matter in Universe X is always equal to the total antimatter. And if a matter loop destroys aexels at the same rate that an antimatter loop creates them then perhaps the total number of aexels is always in balance.

This net teleportation of aexels from inside of galaxies to outside of galaxies could then account for a red shift of photons traveling through the antimatter dust; making a steady state universe appear to be expanding.

Alternatively, Universe X may have been initially seeded with more antimatter loops or perhaps the rate that antimatter loops create aexels is greater than the rate the matter loops destroy them and Universe X really is expanding.

If this explains the 'Dark Energy' of Universe X, what about the 'Dark Matter'?

The aexels of Universe X form a crystal like lattice. They sit in a potential well not wanting to get too far away from one another, but also not wanting to get too close. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a pull and a push.

The destruction of aexels in Universe X looks like a pull. The creation of aexels in Universe X will look like a push. If the galaxies of Universe X are filled with matter loops pulling from the inside, perhaps they are also surrounded by antimatter loops pushing from the outside; the same antimatter loops that are causing the aether between galaxies to expand.

As such the antimatter dust of Universe X both causing the 'expansion' of the aether between galaxies and the push on the galaxies from the outside which can be difficult to differentiate from a pull coming from the inside.

Equivalence

E=mc²

Often times the mass-energy equivalence principle is incorrectly described to be a conversion formula; representing the ability to convert energy into mass or mass into energy at the stipulated rate. However, the mass-energy equivalence principle says something dramatically more bold: It says that the total mass of a system and the total energy of a system are always related to one another by the c² factor.

But, how could this possibly be true? What is mass really? What is energy really? This equation strongly implies that mass and energy are two sides of the same coin.

In our universe both mass and energy are conserved quantities. Our own sun loses about 4 x 10^9 kg of mass every second through the fusion process which radiates about 3.6 x 10^26 joules of photons. If mass is a conserved quantity and if photons are massless, where did that mass go? Theoretically, a box with massless mirrored interior walls with light bouncing around inside will have a mass equal to the energy of the photons inside divided by c². Could it be that massless photons do in fact have mass in some manner of thinking?

When initially thinking about Gravity in Universe X, it was hypothesized that 'mass' destroys aexels; it was also hypothesized that energy was the translation of that mass across an aexel field. Thinking back to the classification of Universe X's loops between those that move at the speed of light, edisons and those that move less than the speed of light, teslons; it was easy to imagine teslons being the destroyers and creators of aexels because they have mass while perhaps the edisons, such as photons, doing neither because they don't have mass.

But, thinking about a star radiating photons and losing mass, perhaps it's not 'mass' that destroys aexels, but rather 'translation' that destroys aexels. Perhaps the 'mass' of teslons is simply the internal translations of the components of the loop. And photons while translating also destroy aexels, but always in their wake, never internal to themselves, explaining why the 'mass' of photons is so ambiguous.

As such, if photons actually do destroy aexels, then are there in fact any loops that neither create or destroy aexels? This question and some potential candidates are further explored in the 'Electromagnetism' section.

- potential energy

The energy of any system has 3 forms: mass, kinetic and potential. If the previous explanation explains the equivalence of mass and energy for mass energy and kinetic energy, what is the explanation for potential energy? How could potential energy have mass; how could it have translation; how could it destroy aexels?

Consider two protons in Universe X on a static aexel field directly translating towards one another. We know there is a single quantity that can be called 'mass' or 'energy' or 'aexel destroying loops' that is always conserved. With the help of Aristotle, let's name this stuff 'hyle' which is the word Aristotle used for the primordial matter that made up all things.

Each of the protons has a fixed amount of hyle from their intrinsic mass. They also have an amount of hyle represented in the kinetic energy of their translation.

As the protons approach one another their speeds begin to slow until finally for an instant, both protons come to a complete stop. At that point they still have their internal hyle, but the protons' kinetic hyle is now zero. Has the quantity of hyle been conserved; where has it gone?

The quantity has been conserved because it is now stored in the photons that are being passed back and forth between the two protons. The amount of hyle in those photons is exactly equal to the kinetic energy of the photons when they were infinitely far apart.

In Universe X potential energy is actually just more kinetic energy.

Electromagnetism

Certainly, there is much work to be done on the quantitative aspects of Universe X. The qualitative aspects are starting to come into focus but there is a glaring exception: electromagnetism. However, recent insights have started to shed some light on this topic also.

Equivalence illustrated that there is a conserved type of loop in Universe X that is able to translate and destroys aexels as part of that translation. Originally the effects of the translation of this loop was called energy and the effects of the destruction of aexels was called mass.

It would be nice to give this type of loop a name other than mass or energy, since those words are so tightly associated with their particular effects. Aristotle hypothesized the existence of a primordial matter that made up all things, which he called: hyle. Let's borrow his term to apply to this aexel destroying energy/mass loop; it seems to fit well with his concept.

- loops that do neither

If all teslons have 'mass' and therefore destroy aexels and if photons, also destroy aexels as they translate across the aexel field then the question is do all edisons destroy aexels while they translate or just some? Are there no loops that neither destroy or create aexels?

The exact mechanism of the Coulomb force in Universe X is unknown, but let's speculate a bit on how it might work; hopefully over time things will become clearer.

The Coulomb force drops off at 1/r². Imagine a pile of N grains of salt sitting on a table. Push a finger into the pile of salt and swirl it around creating a ring of salt of radius r. The amount of salt at any point of the ring is N divided by 2πr; now repeat the experiment in 3D creating shells of salt instead of rings. The amount of salt at any point on the shell will be N divided by 4πr². A force that drops off at r² strongly suggests an analogous phenomena; loops being sent off evenly in all directions like the grains of salt.

Dilation and Contraction illustrated that the particular speed a signal moves at does not matter only the time of the roundtrip journey; this hints that a change in the rate of translation of any proton should not occur before a signal's journey has fully completed.

A proton has the ability to send out signals moving at the speed of light. These signals could take on different forms. Perhaps they get sent out uniformly in all directions, an omni-pulse or perhaps they are directed in a single direction, a beam-pulse.

These pulses may or may not be made up of hyle. However, it seems highly unlikely that any omni-pulse would contain hyle. The proton would quickly lose all of its own mass/energy. But a proton is extremely stable; a lone resting proton will last forever and certainly not lose energy.

In our Universe photons are described as the force carriers of the Coulomb's force. Imagine an empty universe with two non translating protons sitting on a static aexel field. Let's look at 3 possible models for coulombs force in Universe X: 0 bounce, 1 bounce and 2 bounce models.

0 Bounce:
Perhaps the proton radiates photons in all directions, which then look for other charge carriers to interact with. There are two issues with this model, one, photons have energy and would be radiating that energy away from the proton similar to our star from before. And two, a photon being sent out hypothetically would interact with any other charged loop that it encounters instantly, not necessitating any bounce and therefore not depending on the roundtrip time of transit.

1 Bounce:
A second option is to have our proton radiate an omni-pulse of hyleless edisons. Right away this solves the conservation of energy and mass issues, since the edisons being sent out aren't destroying aexels as they translate; they have no mass, they have no energy. This non aexel destroying edison now encounters another proton causing that second proton to pass an aexel destroying photon back towards the original. Once that photon hits the originating loop it interacts with the original affecting its translational velocity. However, the instant the target proton sent out its own photon its own rate of translation would have been affected; before the full roundtrip time.

2 Bounce:
If the source proton sends out a hyleless signal (a ping) and then the target proton sends out a different hyleless response (a pong) and only when the original proton receives that pong does it send out a beam-pulse photon towards the target proton, than it solves the conservation of energy and mass issue and requires everything to depend on the time of the roundtrip journey.

The 0 Bounce systems seems impossible in Universe X because of the necessary continuous loss of hyle. Perhaps the first bounce in the 1 Bounce system is just an edge effect and the system does actually depend on the roundtrip time or perhaps the 2 Bounce mechanism is how things actually work. But both the 1 Bounce and 2 Bounce mechanism both strongly hint at the existence of hyleless edisons; of non aexel destroying / creating edisons; of 'loops that do neither'.

Miscellaneous Ruminations

- Throughout this app one aexel per tic is referred to the speed of light. However, rarely are the aexels going to be precisely lined up in the direction of translation. Given the nature of the aexels there is some mean angle between the vector of translation and the vector pointing to the next neighbor, theta. As such it's imaginable that the speed of light is actual one aexel per tic times the cos(theta).
- An omni-pulse ping might be responded to by either an omni-pulse or beam-pulse pong. That pong would then be responded to by a beam-pulse photon. Those beam pulses would need to be sent off in the direction where the source particle is headed not to where it was. The information needed to predict the new location would need to be encoded in the ping (and/or pong) as some sort of internal vector. Perhaps the difference between an electric and magnetic field is based on the combination of the angle of translation, angle of incidence and its internal angle; explaining why electric fields become magnetic fields and visa versa depending on the a target system's rate of translation.
- When playing with the Contraction Lab, one can see that the ping flux increases greatly when moving away from length contracted loops. This might be countered by the reduced flux of the pong response. Or there might be some thing else going on.
- If a single proton is resting on static aexels it will continually send out pings which do not destroy the aexels. A photon is a slinky like progression of electric and magnetic fields shooting across the aether. Perhaps, the rapid changing of the state of an aexel from electric to magnetic (changing the direction of the internal vector?) causes the aexel to be destroyed (or split?)?
- Perhaps the beam-pulse isn't an exact beam, but instead works just as described by the Feynman Path Integral; and in taking all paths is able to find the original source proton again.

Discrepancy

It has been uncertain whether there were verifiable differences between our universe and Universe X. Even though under the covers they are very different, perhaps the end results were exactly the same. Recently, however, a potential difference has come to light.

- Dilation at the Surface of a Sphere

Imagine a nearly empty Universe X with a single non-rotating non-translating planet. What is the Dilation experienced at the surface of this planet?

Previously Dilation in Universe X has been calculated as a function of the rate of translation across an aexel field. In order to calculate the Dilation at the surface of the planet one merely needs to calculate the velocity of the aexels flowing into the planet at the surface.

In Universe X, gravity is not a force, it is a result of the tugging on the aethereal fabric caused by the destruction of aexels by loops with mass. Newton's law of Gravitation is an empirical law, but we can use it to calculate the motion of a tennis ball placed at rest infinitely far from the planet.

Since gravity is not a force; since it can not directly cause the translation of loops across an aexel field, the motion of the tennis ball will show us the motion of the aexels themselves. The velocity of a tennis ball at any point while falling to the surface of a planet must equal the velocity of the aexels upon which it is sitting (like a leaf floating down a river). Using a little Physics 101 math we can calculate the velocity of the tennis ball when it hits the surface (i.e,. the escape velocity):

This gives us the velocity of the tennis ball and therefore the velocity of the aexels. Any system at rest on the planet's surface will have the aexels flowing through it at that velocity, therefore we can plug that velocity into the dilation equation in order to get the dilation at the surface.

Coincidently, the dilation at the surface of a non-rotating sphere in Universe X is the same as that for our Universe.

- Dilation while Falling from Infinity

Let's now consider a related thought experiment using the same nearly empty Universe X and same non rotating, non translating planet. This time let's situate 4 clocks W, X, Y and Z within the universe as follows. Place W at rest at infinity. Let X fall from rest at infinity just like our previous tennis ball until it reaches a distance r from the center of the planet. Let Y sit at rest on a platform the same distance r from the surface of the planet. And let Z blast off from the planet with just enough velocity to reach infinity until it too is a distance r from the center of the planet.

The question is what is the time dilation experienced by each of the 4 clocks.

Clock W at infinity is not translating at all, so it has no translational velocity and therefore its gamma is 1.

Clock X is simply floating down with the aexels and similarly not translating at all; its gamma is also equal to 1.

Clock Y, is sitting on the platform above the surface of the planet with the aexels flowing through it towards the planet as described in the previous section. Its dilation can be calculated by plugging the escape velocity at the platform into the gamma factor:

Clock Z is blasting up from the surface. The aexels will be moving towards the planet at the escape velocity for r. The clock itself will be moving away from the planet at that exact same escape velocity in the opposite direction. Therefore the translational velocity of clock Z will be 2 times that escape velocity. Plugging that into the dilation equation gives:

A generalized equation for the dilation of a system moving in such a scenario can be described. One simply needs to calculate the net translational velocity of the system and plug that into the dilation equation. The net translational velocity will simply be the length of the subtraction of the escape velocity vector from the system's velocity vector; giving:

Let's now consider the exact same thought experiment in our Universe. In our universe the behavior of just such a system is described by the Schwarzschild metric which is a solution to Einstein's equations for a non-rotating sphere.

There is a constant of motion for an inertial observer in the Schwarzschild metric:

For a clock starting from rest at infinity, energy will entirely be due to its intrinsic mass and therefore will be equal to mc². Using this we can calculate gamma:

In our universe the dilation of such a system is never a function of the direction of the velocity vector. The dilation of the falling clock and the blasting off clock is exactly the same.

For our universe the time dilation of the 4 clocks is as follows:

Clock W, r goes to infinity, 1/r goes to 0 and gamma goes to 1.

Clock X

Clock Y, as mentioned previously matches the dilation of Clock Y in Universe X.

Clock Z

The dilation of clocks W and Y match in the two universes; the dilation of clock X and Z do not. And more so, for any given r,

Universe X:
W = X < Y < Z

Our Universe
W < Y < X = Z

This is a rather substantial deviation in the two universes.

If we assume that Einstein's equations hold in Universe X and we also assume that the Schwarzschild metric is a correctly calculated solution to those equations, how could such a discrepancy arise?

Digging deeper into the derivation of the Schwarzschild metric: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivation_of_the_Schwarzschild_solution] it is discovered that the solution is based on 4 boundary conditions. The second of which is:

In our universe gravity is a force and as such this constraint makes sense. However, in Universe X, gravity is not a force it is a result of the flow of aexels. If time were reversed the flow of aexels would also reverse and as such the topology of Universe X would invert; hills would become valleys and valleys would become hills.

For that reason, the Schwarzschild solution does not apply in Universe X and a discrepancy between our universe and Universe X arises.

Epilogue

Math is knowing...
Knowing, is not, understanding.

When learning about the physics of our Universe there are a number of questions that might occur to oneself.

What follows is a list of about 30 of these questions. After the questions will be a list of answers; first answers pertaining to Universe X and next answers pertaining to our Universe.

Questions

[1a] What is the speed of light?
[1b] Why does light travel at that speed?
[1c] Why is it not possible to go faster than the speed of light?
[1d] Why can't things with mass move at light speed?

[2a] Does God play dice with the Universe?
[2b] Is matter a particle? Is matter a wave?

[3a] Is space 4D? 11D?
[3b] What does it mean for space to warp?

[4a] What is gravity? What is its mechanism?
[4b] How can a star attract a photon?
[4c] What is a black hole?
[4d] What happens inside of a black hole?
[4e] Why can't light escape?
[4f] What is a gravity wave? What is waving?

[5a] What is time dilation?
[5b] Is there really no special frame of reference?
[5c] Do two observers both consider their own clocks to be faster?
[5d] How does one resolve the twin paradox?
[5e] What is the relationship between Special and General relativity?

[6a] What is Length Contraction?
[6b] Do two observers both consider their own meter sticks to be longer?
[6c] Why is the speed of light always invariant?
[6d] If length contracts along the direction of travel; when traveling fast will the universe flatten into a pancake?

[7a] What is the expansion of the universe?
[7b] What causes it?
[7c] What is Dark Energy?
[7d] What is Dark Matter?
[7e] Why does there appear to be more matter than antimatter in the Universe?

[8a] What does E=mc^2 really mean?
[8b] What is its mechanism?
[8c] Does a photon have mass? Where does the mass a star radiates go?

Universe X Answers

[1a] What is the speed of light?

Universe X is filled with a quantized crystalline fluid called 'aether'. Each element of the aether is called an 'aexel'. Each aexel can communicate with its neighbors. It takes exactly one 'tic' of time for a signal to move from an aexel to its neighbor. The 'speed of light' is the translation of a signal at one aexel per tic.

[1b] Why is it not possible to go faster than the speed of light?

It's not possible to go faster than the speed of light because a signal can't move between two aexels faster than a tic and each aexel can only talk to its neighbors; it can't jump over or skip aexels.

[1c] Why does light travel at light speed?

Light travels at light speed because it translates in a straight line, moving a full aexel each tic.

[1d] Why can't things with mass move at light speed?

When a frisbee is flying through the air at a certain speed it is also rotating; as a result some parts of the frisbee are moving faster than the frisbee and other parts are moving slower than the frisbee. For a frisbee to move at the speed of light some parts of the frisbee would need to move faster than the speed of light, since its not possible to move faster than the speed of light, the frisbee itself would never be able to move at the speed of light.

Sub-lightspeed particles have analogous internal motion and for the same reason can also never move at the speed of light.

[2a] Does God play dice with the Universe?

No. The seemingly random behavior observed in certain experiments is caused by the (un)known hidden geometry of the aexels at any given point. The precise location of the aexels at any instance can have an impact in the translation of loops crossing over them. The observed behavior is statistical not probabilistic.

[2b] Is matter a particle? Is matter a wave?

Matter is neither a particle or a wave. It is a stable state loop iterating across a field of aexels.

[3a] Is space 4D? 11D?

Space is 3D. The aether is a crystalline compressible fluid. The aexels can flow; they can bunch up; they can spread out. Arguably, the density and/or the rate of flow of the aexels at any point could be considered a 4th dimension. But, calling space or the aether itself 4 dimensional because it's dynamic and compressible really doesn't make any more sense than calling any compressible gas 4D or for that matter any gas that varies in temperature, humidity or any other imaginable property from point to point as 4D.

[3b] What does it mean for space to warp?

Space does not warp. However, the aether squishes; the aether stretches.

[4a] What is gravity? What is its mechanism?

Universe X is made up of a quantized crystalline fabric called the aether which is made up of aexels. Crystalline in that each of the aexels are bound to their neighbors and sit in a potential well away from those neighbors, never letting themselves get too close or too far.

Some state loops in Universe X cause the destruction of these aexels. As the aexels get destroyed these aexel destroying loops tend to clump up. As they clump up the rate of aexels being destroyed increases.

The velocity of aexels flowing towards these clumps will increase the closer they get to the clumps. The increasing velocity; the acceleration, is gravity.

[4b] How can a star attract a photon?

It has been stated that Gravity is a force that is proportional to the product of the masses of two objects. If a photon has no mass doesn't it follow that it will be unaffected by Gravity?

A Photon (and any loop in Universe X whether it destroys or creates aexels or not) will be affected by gravity because gravity is not a force. It is an emergent phenomenon better described as an acceleration caused by the pulling in of the aether and everything sitting on top of that aether.

And as Galileo pointed out long ago that phenomena is in no way a function of the mass of objects being 'pulled' on.

[4c] What is a black hole?

A black hole is any concentration of matter dense enough to have the aexels flowing into it at the speed of light.

[4d] What happens inside of a black hole?

Nothing particularly interesting. A black hole must be filled with matter all the way to its event horizon, because the escape velocity will always be greatest at the surface. Both above and below the surface the escape velocity will drop off. That shell where the escape velocity is equal to c can not have any mass because intrinsic mass loops can't travel at c and can't 'sit' at c (see above).

If a star existed with an escape velocity just below being a black a hole and a tennis ball got tossed into it causing it to cross the line of being a black hole, would anything particularly dramatic happen to the interior of that star?

[4e] Why can't light escape?

Light can't escape a black hole because the aexels are flowing into it at the speed of light. Light can't go faster than light speed and therefore will never be able to cross the boundary of that shell, like a runner running on a treadmill that is turned up past their max speed.

[4f] What is a gravity wave? What is waving?

A gravity wave is a compression wave of the density of aexels. Just as a sound wave is a compression wave of the density of air.

[5a] What is time dilation?

In Universe X, 'time' does not dilate. The rate at which physical systems animate, dilates and it does so because of the delayed round trip time of light speed traveling signals between loops when translating across the aexel field.

[5b] Is there really no special frame of reference?

There IS a special frame of reference; the frame of reference that is not translating across the aexel field at all will animate the fastest and experience no length contraction. Any other frame will animate slower and experience length contraction entirely as a function of its rate of translation.

[5c] Do two observers both consider their own clocks to be faster?

No. There will be an observer with a fast clock, an observer with a slow clock and each will know which is which. And it will entirely be a function of each observer's current rate of translation across the aexel field.

[5d] How does one resolve the twin paradox?

One twin will be translating slower than the other twin on the aexel field. Whichever twin is translating slower will age more rapidly.

[5e] What is the relationship between Special and General relativity?

Special and general relativity are the exact same phenomena; the translation of systems across an aexel field. In the case of special relativity a moving system is translating across a static aexel field and in general relativity a static system is translating across a moving aexel field. But, in both cases the affect simply concerns the translation of a system over an aexel field.

[6a] What is Length Contraction?

Length Contraction is an actual physical phenomena causing loops to sit closer to one another along the direction of translation entirely as a function of the rate of translation.

[6b] Do two observers both consider their own meter sticks to be longer?

No. Just like in Dilation above, both observers will see a long stick and a short stick and will know which is which; it will be based entirely on each system's current rate of translation across the aexel field.

[6c] Why is the speed of light always invariant?

It is always invariant because length contraction masks changes in the speed of light. The length of things in the direction of translation is a function of that speed of translation and that change of length will cancel out the change of the speed of light causing the speed of light to always appear to be invariant.

[6d] If length contracts along the direction of travel; when traveling fast will the universe flatten into a pancake?

No. Length contraction only affects systems that are actually translating. The length between any other non translating systems in Universe X will be unaffected.

[7a] What is the expansion of the universe?

The expansion of the universe is the creation of aexels.

[7b] What causes it?

Every loop has an anti loop that is equal and opposite in every way. Matter loops destroy aexels and as such antimatter loops create them.

[7c] What is Dark Energy?

Dark energy is the antimatter loops creating aexels there by causing the "expansion of the universe"

[7d] What is Dark Matter?

Dark Matter does not exist. The phenomena that hints at dark matter is caused by the same entity that causes the phenomena hinted at by dark energy, namely the antimatter particles that are creating aexels. Those new aexels pushing on galaxies from the outside, but being mistaken for a pulling on the galaxies from the inside.

[7e] Why does there appear to be more matter than antimatter in the Universe?

Matter destroys aexels constantly bringing things towards itself. Antimatter creates aexels constantly pushing things away from itself. While matter continually clumps up into increasing large structures. Antimatter continually spreads out as a dust between the matter clumps.

[8a] What does E=mc² really mean?

E=mc² means that mass and energy are two effects of the exact same phenomenon.

[8b] What is its mechanism?

The translation of certain loops (but not all) cause the destruction (or creation) of aexels. Some of this translation occurs internal to a loop such as in a proton, neutron or electron. The mass of those objects being a measure of the amount of translation occurring internally. Other translation occurs in the movement of the loops as a whole.

The internal translation being the original display of mass and the external translation being the original display of energy. E=mc² points out that both are the exact same phenomenon.

[8c] Does a photon have mass? Where does the mass a star radiates go?

Unlike a proton, a photon does not have internal translation. Its translation is in a straight-line. The destruction or creation of aexels by a photon always occurs in its wake never internal to itself.

So, if mass is the destruction of aexels then yes it does have mass. Alternatively if one were to define mass as only the destruction of aexels caused by internal motion then no it does not.

The mass of a star radiated out leaves with the photons being spewed by that star.

Our Universe Answers

Answering the above questions in our Universe is actually quite a bit easier than answering them for Universe X. Easier because each of the questions has the exact same answer:

I have no idea.