Abstract
Some speculations on a causal model that could provide a common conceptual foundation for relativity, gravitation, and quantum mechanics are presented. The present approach is a unification of three theories, the first being the repulsive theory of gravitational forces first proposed by Lesage in the eighteenth century. Lesage attempted to explain gravitational forces from the principle of conservation of momentum of some hypothetical particles, which we shall call gravitons. These gravitons, whose density is assumed homogenous, are constantly colliding with objects. The gravitational force is caused by a shielding effect of bodies when they are near each other. One also can make a clear physical distinction between an accelerating and a nonaccelerating object from this viewpoint. The second of these theories is the Brownian motion theory of quantum mechanics or stochastic mechanics, which treats the nondeterministic nature of quantum mechanics as being due to a Brownian motion of all objects. This Brownian motion being caused by the statistical variation in the graviton flux. The above two theories are unified in this article with the causal theory of special relativity. Within the present context, the time dilations (and other effects) of relativity are explained by assuming that the rate of a clock is a function of the total number or intensity of gravitons and the average frequency or energy of the gravitons that the clock receives. Two clocks having some relative velocity in the same intensity gravitational field would then have a different rate because the average frequency of the gravitons would be different for each clock owing to the Doppler effect. That is, they would essentially be in different fields considering both the frequency and intensity. The special theory would then be the special case of the general theory where the intensity is constant but the average frequency varies. In all the previous it is necessary to assume a particular model of the creation of the universe, namely the Big Bang theory. This assumption gives us the existence of a preferred reference frame, the frame in which the Big Bang explosion was at rest. The above concepts of graviton distribution and real time dilations become meaningful by assuming the Big Bang theory along with this preferred frame. An experimental test is proposed.
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Buonomano, V., Engel, A. Some speculations on a causal unification of relativity, gravitation, and quantum mechanics. Int J Theor Phys 15, 231–246 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01807095
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01807095