In this, the first of a two-part paper, a conceptual purification of physics is advocated, whereby the idea of the field is completely eliminated in favor of particulate dynamical laws. Previous work concerning a specific formulation of such purely mechanical laws is reviewed and is shown to imply the possibility of existence of electrons and positrons within nuclei or “elementary” particles in stable bound states characterized by real mass-energy and imaginary momentum. The second part of the paper will examine the (...) qualitative implications and the sufficiency of such concepts for physical description.Newton, Introduction to thePrincipia. (shrink)

In this second part of our paper abeta structure hypothesis is advanced, according to which all matter and the vacuum are composed solely of electrons. A direct connection is established between beta processes and nuclear forces. Physical implications of the formalism introduced in Part I are examined. Localized violation of the Heisenberg postulate opens extensive descriptive possibilities inaccessible to current field-derived theories. A weakness of the present attempt at “elementary” particle description is its incapacity to predict observed masses or spatial (...) extensions. This results from the particular (one-body) model employed, which posits an infinitely massive point “force center.” Improvements in the formulation of the relativistic many-body problem will be required to correct this shortcoming. In summary, our investigation reaffirms the logical sufficiency (surmised by Newton) of the elements of mechanics for describing the phenomena of nature. (shrink)

In preceding parts of this paper the possibility was examined of accomplishing the entirety of physical description by means of mechanics, without help from field-theoretical ideas. Apart from some easily obtained qualitative agreements with general descriptive features of nuclei and elementary particles, we were balked in this program by an inability to handle in purely mechanical terms the relativistic many-body problem. The present paper is addressed directly to the latter problem. No quantitative calculations are attempted, but three suggestions are made (...) — each of a quite radical nature — concerning the reformulation that will be necessary to restore mechanics to the mainstream of physics. (shrink)

Einstein's second postulate (light-speed constancy) is modified in the following manner:(1) as to motion of light emitters, no modification is made;(2) as to motion of light absorbers, if the absorber moves with velocityv with respect to the observer, that observer will attribute to light the velocity (c+v). It is shown, with reference to the original Einstein train example, that such a modification of the second postulate restores to kinematics a concept of distant simultaneity. Thus is indicated the complicated (acausal) behavior (...) that must be attributed to light in order that the simple behavior earlier attributed (1) to matter (nonoccurrence of the Lorentz contraction) may be consistent with all known facts. A reply is made to Grøn's critique (2) of the earlier paper on metric standards. It is concluded that further experimental data are needed to decide the simple-light-complicated-matter versus complicated-light-simple-matter issue. (shrink)

The basic operational devices in a particle theory are detectors which show that a particle is “here, now” rather than “there, then.” Successful operation of these devices requires a limiting velocity. Given auxiliary devices which can change particle velocities in both magnitude and direction, the Lorentz-invariant mass can be defined. The wave-particle duality operationally required to explain the scattering of particles from a diffraction grating then predicts fluctuations in particle number (the Wick-Yukawa mechanism), if we postulate a smallest mass. We (...) show that this suffices to establish the conventional quantum mechanical scattering formalism without postulating either “interactions” or “analyticity.” By introducing the phase change due to external electromagnetic fields, we can describe the auxiliary devices assumed above to an accuracy ofe 2/hc, thus completing the operational definition to that accuracy. (shrink)

A covariant quantum mechanics for systems of finite-mass particles at finite energy follows from interpreting as Wick-Yukawa fluctuations in particle number the quantum fluctuations which are needed by Phipps to understand measurement theory and by Gyftopoulos to understand the second law of thermodynamics. The dynamical one-variable equations require as input the (N − 1)-particle transition matrices and an N-N vertex or coupling constants at three-particle vertices.

Joule’s Energy Conservation Law was the first “meta-law”: a general principle that all physical equations must satisfy. It has led to many important and useful physical discoveries. However, a recent analysis seems to indicate that this meta-law is inconsistent with other principles—such as the existence of free will. We show that this conclusion about inconsistency is based on a seemingly reasonable—but simplified—analysis of the situation. We also show that a more detailed mathematical and physical analysis of the situation reveals that (...) not only Joule’s principle remains true—it is actually strengthened: it is no longer a principle that all physical theories should satisfy—it is a principle that all physical theories do satisfy. (shrink)

We assume, in the first place, that two kinds of processes occur in nature: the strictly continuous and causal ones, which are governed by the Schrödinger equation and those implying discontinuities, which are ruled by probability laws. In the second place, we adopt a postulate ensuring the statistical sense of conservation laws. These hypotheses allow us to state a rule telling, in principle, in which situations and to which vectors the system's state can collapse, and which are the corresponding probabilities. (...) The way our proposed approach works is illustrated with some examples and with the analysis of the measurement problem. We obtain the exponential decay law. A comparison with other attempts to solve the measurement problem is performed. (shrink)