EXPLAINING GRAVITY - SIMPLE, CONSISTENT, AND COMPLETE

A physics treatise rethinks a fundamental yet mysterious aspect of the universe.

Isaac Newton thought of gravity as a force pulling together all matter; Albert Einstein, more abstractly, considered it a curvature of space-time, caused by matter. Ticer’s concept of gravity goes further in its complexity and abstruseness, which seeks to unify different threads of cosmology and quantum mechanics. He describes gravity as a “vacuum effect,” generated by virtual particles that blink in and out of existence, and he associates it with the Hubble constant that governs the speed at which the universe is expanding—seen in the cosmic redshift of light toward longer wavelengths—and with a “tired light” notion that ascribes the redshift to interactions between photons from distant stars and intervening objects. The author sets this account against the history of physics from Aristotle to Newton, encompassing Einsteinian relativity and modern models like the Higgs field. Ticer’s theorizing ambitiously seeks to unify discordant strands of thought about gravity, which still lacks an entirely complete and consistent explanation. His early chapters on ancient and early modern physics are lucid and illuminating, and he offers insightful, thought-provoking statements about lapses in modern physics consensus, such as “What is not explained is how gravity is constantly being created as a particular form of energy that does not diminish its source of creations.” However, the book is very dense. Ticer takes on too many topics to systematically develop them all, and advanced material is introduced in an abrupt, sketchy way that presumes readers already have expertise. There are reams of equations but few diagrams to help readers visualize the physical reality behind them. Ticer’s explanation of gravity is not simple, nor is it presented in a systematic or intuitive fashion; instead, it gets lost in turgid, coiling prose: “Mass is to be considered as the superimposition of wave packets of radiation wherefrom it is further explained how a restoring force is created as a recycling process of emitted gravitational radiation….” Lay readers will be baffled, and even physicists may find themselves frequently scratching their heads.

A far-reaching but forbidding disquisition on gravity.