Related papers: Some Speculations on the Ultimate Planck Energy
I argue that the linearity of quantum mechanics is an emergent feature at the Planck scale, along with the manifold structure of space-time. In this regime the usual causality violation objections to nonlinearity do not apply, and nonlinear…
We add a new scalar field in the no-scale Brans-Dicke gravity and require it to have a global O(2) symmetry with the original scalar field in the Brans-Dicke gravity. This gives us a new massless scalar field in the Einstein frame due to…
Ultrarelativistic particles called cosmic rays permeate the Milky Way, propagating through the Galactic turbulent magnetic fields. The mechanisms under which these particles increase their energy can be reasonably described by current…
It is shown here that a dynamical Planck mass can drive the scale factor of the universe to accelerate. The negative pressure which drives the cosmic acceleration is identified with the unusual kinetic energy density of the Planck field. No…
Our knowledge of the Universe remains discovery-led: in the absence of adequate physics-based theory, interpretation of new results requires a scientific methodology. Commonly, scientific progress in astrophysics is motivated by the…
A thermodynamic system of non-interacting quantum particles changes its statistical distribution formulas if there is a universal limitation for the size of energetic quantum leaps (magnitude of quantum leaps smaller than Planck energy). By…
Superluminal particles are not excluded by particle physics. The apparent Lorentz invariance of the laws of physics does not imply that space-time is indeed minkowskian. Matter made of solutions of Lorentz-invariant equations would feel a…
A nearly-massless, slowly-rolling scalar field $\phi$ may provide most of the energy density of the current universe. One potential difficulty with this idea is that couplings to ordinary matter, even if suppressed by the Planck scale,…
If there is explicit violation of baryon plus lepton number at some energy scale, then the electroweak theory depends upon a {\theta}-angle. Due to a singular integration over small scale size instantons, this {\theta}-dependence is…
Electromagnetism becomes a nonlinear theory having (effective) photon-photon interactions due at least to electron-positron fluctuations in the vacuum. We discuss the consequences of the nonlinearity for the force felt by a charge probe…
Starting with a study of the cosmological solution to the Einstein equations for the internal spacetime of an extreme supermassive cosmic string kink, and by evaluating the probability measure for the formation of such a kink in…
Although cosmic rays were discovered 90 years ago, we do not know how and where they are accelerated. There is compelling evidence that the highest energy cosmic rays are extra-galactic -- they cannot be contained by our galaxy's magnetic…
The quantum effective action for the electromagnetic field in an expanding universe has an anomalous dependence on the scale factor of the metric arising from virtual charged particles in the loops. It has been argued that this Weyl anomaly…
This paper is devoted to some simple approach based on general physics tools to describe the physical properties of a hypothetical particle which can be the source of dark energy in the Universe known as phantom. Phantom is characterized by…
Lorentz symmetry has been tested at low energy with great accuracy, but its extrapolation to very high-energy phenomena is much less well established. We expect a possible breaking of Lorentz symmetry to be a very high energy and very short…
A web of interlocking observations has established that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up and not slowing, revealing the presence of some form of repulsive gravity. Within the context of general relativity the cause of cosmic…
The origin of cosmic rays is one of the major unresolved questions in astrophysics. In particular, the highest energy cosmic rays observed possess macroscopic energies and their origin is likely associated with the most energetic processes…
Based on general considerations, the Standard Model of particle physics with its extensions (SM) can be ruled out as a valid theory of fundamental forces: it requires far too many parameters, which are not determined from first principles.…
Planck stars form when a collapsing shell of matter within a black hole reaches the Planck density, roughly equivalent to the mass being compressed into a volumetric size near that of the proton, and rebounds outwards. These planck stars…
The classical concept of "mass density" is not fundamental to the quantum theory of matter. Therefore, mass density cannot be the source of gravitation. Here, we treat electromagnetic energy, momentum, and stress as its source. The…