Dark energy and cosmic expansion are among the most confounding topics in astrophysics. As Philip Perry asks, How is the universe moving faster than the speed of light? By fully understanding the difference between spacetime (which makes up the universe) and the void (into which the universe is expanding), the conundrum of cosmic expansion and […]
spacetime
Reframing the Substantivalism Debate
Abstract: This paper highlights and examines a critical assumption embedded within the framework of the substantivalism/relationalism debate. This assumption is the unacknowledged priority given to the traditional properties of spacetime-as-coordinate-system that have been handed down over the course of the twentieth century. In this paper, I attempt to substantiate my claim that such an unreflective […]
What Does a Proton Look Like?
What does a proton look like? The simple answer: Don’t ask. As with other subatomic particles, a proton is thought to be a complex of quantum wave functions—one for each of its quarks—distributed probabilistically through space. There is no “physical thing,” understood in realistic, everyday terms to which one could point and say, “There’s a […]
The Substance of Spacetime, New book by Andrew M. Ryan
The Substance of Spacetime: Infinity, Nothingness, and the Nature of Matter by Andrew M. Ryan is the second edition of Ryan’s work of theoretical physics and is now available where books are sold. This iteration of the book has been fully revised with a completely new final chapter that considers several of the current puzzles […]