Reflections on the physical nature of space

In popular science articles, a fairly common picture is where space illustrated using a coordinate grid. There is a certain coordinate cube, and inside the cube there is the “territory of existence” of the entire world or at least… a separate room (the scale does not matter for understanding the problem).

Using this technique, a variety of physical phenomena and processes are usually depicted.

For example, the notorious gravity according to one theory, this is a distortion of space, which is inevitable will also lead to deformation of the guide lines of the coordinate grid under consideration. Consequently, schematically its “cause” is usually drawn as a kind of “dent” in the fabric of space-time.

Objects with mass inevitably leave such “dents,” and other surrounding massive bodies then “roll” into the depressions.

By the way, here I would immediately like to note that bodies do not at all rush into these deformation holes, like sleds from a mountain. This idea oversimplifies even the theoretical description of the problem, and the real state of affairs is probably even further from this model. Well, the traditional example of visualization, where a watermelon is thrown onto a tablecloth, which crushes this tablecloth, and balls roll into the hole from the watermelon, is not suitable at all. Although it looks beautiful, and can be shown at a lecture. But this is worth talking about in a separate article.

Let's concentrate on the analysis of a popular scheme. Do you know what the most interesting question here is? What is such a distortion from a physical point of view?

I would like to point out right away that I present my personal understanding of the familiar model. It is far from a fact that it will turn out to be absolutely correct. This idea was compiled as a result of an analysis of many sources, and is not a figment of imagination. Moreover, I would like to make this description accessible to any reader and avoid complex language.

The main question is the nature of space

When you think about such distortions, the first thing you want to do is decide on the understanding of the term “space” itself. Let us discard the term “time” for now from the study of these “dents”, based on the fact that this is already an integral function of space. Let us leave in the narrative only the word “space” itself and Let's try to understand its physical meaning.

It is worth saying that I never found a direct, understandable definition of “space”. If the density of the material is perfectly described in the textbook and there is a concise, understandable explanation, then with “space” it does not work that way. Moreover, it is not entirely clear can space be considered a physical object or not?

It would be tempting to describe space like cotton candy (or anything physical) and leave it at that. There is volume, matter, and properties, and it can be deformed, and the main thing is that you can then feel it with your hands. This is always not enough for objectivity in physics. But everything is much more complicated.

People often make comments here that they say there is no need to confuse “volume” and “space”. They also remember that it is also wrong to imagine space as some kind of empty room or box. These are true statements and we will keep this in mind.

A mathematical understanding of reality comes to our aid.

The logic suggests itself that space is a model, and matter and so on are some “stuffing” of this model (a matrix, if you like).

Let's imagine a simple problem. It may not be formulated entirely correctly, but still. There is a balloon containing 100 ml of oxygen. Then we added another 200 ml of oxygen. It is necessary to describe the increase in the volume of this ball.

How to do it?

Write an equation describing the volume of the ball. You don’t even have to calculate the pattern. Just count the first value and then the second. Well, then subtract it.

How can a robot describe such a change using only its machine vision?

Right. Model the coordinate volume, as the terminator did in the movie, picking up his jacket, and place first one ball in it, and then the second, while calculating the delta and starting from the coordinate grid in the volume. The key phrase is coordinate volume. This is the space of experiment. But is this the final physical meaning of space?

A few words about “mathematical physics”

Complex explorations, ball analogies related to “searching for mathematics”, processes or pattern identification give birth to the so-called “mathematical physics”.

Many obviously have a negative attitude towards her. The approach involves identifying a pattern using mathematical calculations, and then confirming the hypothesis in practice (or its refutation). The desired phenomenon emerges from understanding mathematical laws.

This logic implies that The world around us is strictly ordered and obeys mathematical laws (which need to be found, and if found, extrapolated to the entire volume).

Imagine a sinusoid, which is the graph of the most common function y = sin x. The simplest option assumes that the graph will always maintain its usual appearance. Also, for example, the Schrödinger equation (this is just an example), once found and worked out mathematically, allows us to proceed from the fact that the “mathematical rules” will continue to be fulfilled. It was not by chance that we remembered this. This is significant, since once a pattern has been identified, it is possible to create a “matrix” of any process.

In approximately the same way, a complex form of a particular function will be able to describe the specifics of existing matter, and the rules of mathematics will determine the behavior and the possibility (or impossibility) of the existence of a phenomenon. Add all this to our robot in the ball example and let's get space in physics. The auxiliary device of description becomes something akin to a physical entity.

Space is not matter. But it's not just volume. It is a “set of mathematical rules” containing instructions. A kind of development environment, if you like.

Computers will help

I found a simple analogy for myself – you need to imagine the coordinate volume in which an object is created in a 3D graphics editor or in a modeling program. Upon closer examination of the editor, it becomes obvious that space is definitely not a real physical object, but rather refers to a metric.

Space is a complex mathematical model, equivalent to a development environment for modeling, and this is clearly visible when working in such systems. In the modeling environment there are functions that describe, for example, the ability of an object to move along a curve in the editor (in reality, these are the usual laws of physics, say, the attraction of two masses). There are also coordinates and there is that same coordinate grid that allows you to determine the geometric position of the object in the development space.

Objects in real space are generated according to a program description at points specified in space from energy.

In fact, we come to the conclusion that there are only two global entities – space containing the code and energy, which is a way of materializing this code. But this is also not entirely the topic of the article.

The right to exist of such an approach is evidenced not only by “convenient logic” and many intersections with virtual reality, but also by the statements of physicists themselves.

For example, Einstein once said that space and matter cannot be separated. Matter does not exist without space, and space does not exist without matter.

This means that matter cannot appear without energy, which interacted with the code of space, and a code without energy has no value. The connection between space and matter is described through the same laws of mathematics (and physics as a consequence).

This reinforces the logic about some code that describes the entire Universe. And space is no more than a coordinate grid with a set of parameters. Exactly a 3D graphics editor! You can draw a line, you can specify a movement, or you can use any built-in function (equivalent to a physical law).

So what is being distorted then?

It turns out that any distortion of space is a simple change in the parameters of the grid and the functions associated with it.

Net there is a visualization object and do not really exist. But each straight line is specified mathematically. Mathematically, it may be distorted. Turning a straight line into a parabola on the screen is not difficult even in Basic. And even more so, this is not a problem for the engine of the entire “surrounding world”. The cause of the distortion, alternatively, may be the interaction of a massive object with space. This is programmed into the system. It’s just that next to a massive object there should be such and such properties.

What means “interaction”? This implies that the equation describing the appearance of a massive object with given parameters at a given point has also become a solution to the equation of space. The straight line of the grid at this point should become a curve with the curvature specified by the solution. So we got a dent with the parameters. However, there is another good illustration of gravitywhich does not contradict the described logic.

Other objects will then be repelled from this distorted line when they are calculated. There will be, for example, a rush of other objects in the wake of the massive one and what is called “gravity” will manifest itself.

It's all just a connected set of mathematical functions. Objects and methods if you wish. In this situation, there is no difficulty in understanding the nature of the existence of space-time distortion.

The conclusion is simple – space is an auxiliary measurement system containing a library of properties. This is not matter in the literal sense of understanding. This is a set of instructions. Then the distortions are easy to explain, and the number of measurements does not raise questions.

Actually, if you are interested in my thoughts and the whole topic of studying the physics of the world order, then I will glad to see you on my channel.