Why There Are Three Spatial Dimensions
John A. Gowan
Aug., 2013
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Fundamentally, the dimensionality of spacetime is a matter of
energy conservation: three dimensions are sufficient to establish
an entropic domain in which the basic thermodynamic requirements
necessary to conserve the energy of free forms of electromagnetic
energy (light, EM radiation, etc.) are present; likewise, four
dimensions are necessary to meet the conservation requirements of
bound forms of electromagnetic energy (mass/matter).
Light is a 2-D transverse wave, with no time dimension and no
space dimension in the direction of motion (clocks stop and meter
sticks shrink to nothing at velocity c - as per Einstein). Light
requires two dimensions to accommodate its alternating electric
and magnetic fields, which induce each other at right angles. The
energy of light is encoded in its frequency (E = hv) with
its implied (but suppressed) time dimension. The intrinsic motion
of light ("velocity c") "sweeps out" a third spatial dimension,
creating, expanding, and cooling a 3-D spatial volume. The energy
component of light is therefore 2-dimensional, while the entropy
component corresponds to the 3rd spatial dimension. The entropy
"drive" of light (free electromagnetic radiation) is the
"intrinsic motion" of light, as gauged by the universal
electromagnetic constant "c".
We see that three dimensions are sufficient for 2-D light to
establish an entropy domain for its own conservation needs, and
therefore light has no need to explore additional dimensional
possibilities. Similarly, in the case of 3-D bound energy forms of
electromagnetic energy (massive atomic "solids"), one further
dimension (time) must be added to establish the entropy domain for
matter (history), in which the "intrinsic motion" of time produces
aging and decay (since atoms have no spatial form of intrinsic
motion they must resort to time - which also suggests that the 3rd
spatial dimension is the only possible higher-dimensional entropic
option for light - if it is to remain in its free form). Gravity
combines these two electromagnetic entropy domains into our
familiar spacetime, the composite entropy domain of our universe
of free and bound forms of electromagnetic energy. (See: "The Conversion
of Space to Time" .)
In the "black hole", the electromagnetic metric of light and
space (as gauged by the universal electromagnetic constant "c") is
completely overwhelmed and replaced by the gravitational metric of
matter and time (as gauged by the universal gravitational constant
"G"). The energy of the black hole is encoded in its mass (hv
= mcc), while the entropy is encoded in the two-dimensional "event
horizon" (as per Bekenstein and Hawking - see: Scientific
American Aug. 2003 pp. 58 - 65.) The entropy drive of matter
and the black hole is the "intrinsic motion" of matter's time
dimension, which creates the spatial flow of matter's
gravitational field. A gravitational field is the spatial
consequence of the intrinsic motion of time. The expansion
of the black hole's "event horizon" is required (when energy is
added to the hole) since the gravitational intensity and material
density of the hole is already at a maximum (g = c); therefore the
only way to increase the gravitational flow (which is necessary to
increase the temporal entropy encoding for the added energy) is to
increase the size of the gravitating mass, in other words,
increase the boundary or surface area of the event horizon, which
is the only part of the hole in active/actual contact with the
outside spatial universe. If the black hole has a 3-dimensional
"volume" at all, it is permanently hidden behind the event
horizon, which is in fact a temporal entropy surface (see: "A Description of Gravity"). Hence
the extreme temporal/gravitational/material metric suppresses
space just as the extreme spatial/electromagnetic/light metric
suppresses time.
Information is encoded in our ordinary universe in all four
dimensions. Information requires the one-way 4th dimension (time)
for its entropy drive and for its historical conservation domain,
due to the causal characteristic of information. Because the black
hole either destroys, suppresses, or hides both the third and 4th
dimensions, (time stands still at the event horizon and meter
sticks shrink to nothing), the black hole contains almost no
information, or as John Wheeler says: "A black hole has no hair".
Information may live forever in the historical domain, but not in
the black hole. Hawking should have stuck to his guns. (See:
Leonard Susskind: "The Black Hole War"; Back Bay Books,
Little, Brown and Co., 2008.)
The energy and entropy of information are encoded in the black
hole's mass and the surface area of its event horizon. The causal
component of information ceases to form new linkages upon entering
the black hole and inside the event horizon distinguishable atoms
are converted to "anonymous" photons. Causal linkages created by
information outside the black hole, however, continue to propagate
forever in historic spacetime. Entangled elements swallowed by the
black hole are moot, since they remain hidden forever, suspended
or "frozen" in time at the event horizon.
Information is one-way (asymmetric) due to causality, as well as
due to the absence of antimatter ("anti-information");
Gravity is one-way and asymmetric;
Time is one-way and asymmetric;
Entropy is one-way and asymmetric;
Matter is asymmetric - due to its time dimension, gravitational
field, lack of intrinsic motion, mass, and lack of an antimatter
complement.
The black hole is the extreme case of the gravitational metric, as
gauged by the universal gravitational constant "G". The black hole
is the ultimate contrast to a universe of light with no matter at
all, the extreme case of the electromagnetic metric, as gauged by
the universal electromagnetic constant "c". In the light universe,
all forms of energy move at velocity "c', time does not exist, nor
does space (in the direction of a photon's motion). In the black
hole also, all forms of energy move at velocity c, and space and
time are absent. In this comparison, we see "velocity c" acting in
both cases as the "gauge" of a symmetric energy state -
specifically, a state of non-locality either outside or inside the
black hole. In the light universe, photons and their energy content
are distributed equitably everywhere, simultaneously - since there
is no time parameter and no distance parameter (clocks stop and
meter sticks shrink to nothing in the direction of motion at
"velocity c"). This same "non-local" symmetric state with regard to
the distribution of energy is achieved by the black hole within
the boundary of its "event horizon" - again because all forms of
energy move at velocity c, time has stopped and space has vanished,
due to the action of a gravitational field whose strength is locally
equivalent to the electromagnetic constant "c" (g = c). Clocks stop
and meter sticks shrink to nothing at the "event horizon" of a black
hole.
This discussion suggests that the conservation
role of gravity is to pay the "location" symmetry debt of
matter. The "location" symmetry debt/charge arises in consideration
of the spatially undistributed (hence asymmetric) local
concentration of immobile bound energy (matter), VS the spatially
symmetric "non-local" distribution of light's energy (due to light's
intrinsic motion "c"). Because matter is originally formed from
light (bound electromagnetic energy is originally formed from free
electromagnetic energy), matter carries a gravitational "location"
charge, among other symmetry debts in the form of charges and spin,
due to matter's formation from all-symmetric light. (See: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field
Theory".) The gravitational "location" charge is unique in
that it represents an entropy debt as well as a symmetry debt.
Because the intrinsic motion of light is both the entropy drive of
light and the cause of light's non-local distributional symmetry,
the gravitational "location" charge must conserve both functions if
it conserves either one. (See: "The Double
Conservation Role of Gravitation".) Gravity pays matter's
"location" symmetry debt by creating black holes, in which "Hawking
Radiation" converts (eventually) the entire bound energy (mass) of
the black hole back to free energy (light).
Along the gravitational pathway leading to the creation of black
holes, bound energy is also converted to free energy via the
nucleosynthetic pathway of stars, and by the even more efficient
conversion of gravitational energy and mass to light in other
astrophysical processes such as supernovas and quasars. But once the
black hole condition is reached, conversions of bound to free energy
(in any appreciable quantity) essentially stop (so far as we know),
if only because gravity prevents the escape of any light produced by
such processes, should any occur. In the event horizon, gravity
creates a temporal metric for matter which is the symmetric
equivalent of the spatial metric of light - a metric in which all
forms of energy move with intrinsic motion c. What happens in the
interior of the black hole is moot, since we can never know. I
suspect, however, that proton decay occurs at the singularity, and
hence the black hole is filled only with light - another way in
which the gravitational "location" symmetry debt is paid, also
solving the problem of the infinite compressibility of matter. But
nothing else matters once the event horizon is formed (at g = c); a
symmetric temporal metric has been constructed in which all energy
forms travel at c, and it would appear that no further conservation
concerns need be addressed. But is this really the final word?
What then of "Hawking Radiation"? We note, of course, that Hawking
radiation is pitifully small for any large hole, and tellingly, it
gets smaller as the hole grows larger, not an encouraging sign for
the cause of symmetry conservation at least via this route, since
the natural tendency of the black hole is to forever increase in
size, which means this symmetry conservation pathway is
asymptotically suppressed in the natural course of events. However,
if the interior of the black hole is indeed filled only with light,
then some photons may escape the event horizon by quantum mechanical
"tunneling", and this process might increase with the size
of the hole, counteracting the decrease in Hawking radiation.
Whatever the case, the amount of time available for this process (in
a universe that does not collapse) is essentially unlimited
(assuming that other, unknown cosmological processes do not
intervene), so in the end the hole will completely evaporate its
mass to light: bound, asymmetric electromagnetic energy returns to
free, symmetric electromagnetic energy. One rationale for this
scenario is that the temporal entropic metric of the black hole
event horizon is less symmetric (being one-way) than the "all-way"
spatial entropic metric of light, driving the eventual and final
conversion of mass to light in complete satisfaction of Noether's
Theorem. Nevertheless, the time required for this conversion to go
to completion is so immense that it suggests Natural Law is in fact
rather comfortable with this arrangement - the temporal metric of
the black hole is stable, leaving little to be desired either inside
or outside the event horizon in terms of conservation issues. This
is another reason for suspecting that the interior of the black hole
is filled with nothing but light, rather like a superconducting
medium in which photons have become heavy.
All this notwithstanding, a major conservation issue remains
unresolved, as attested by the continuing presence in the
surrounding universe of the black hole's powerful gravitational
field, even after the event horizon has formed. So long as this
field is present, the symmetry debt it encodes and represents
remains unpaid. One reason that gravity keeps working even after the
formation of the event horizon is that matter's entropy debt must
keep being paid until matter's symmetry debt is completely paid, and
as far as the outside universe is concerned, the black hole still
represents a grossly asymmetric concentration of undistributed,
immobile mass-energy, a severe affront to symmetry conservation in
terms of the equitable dispersion of energy throughout space - as
was originally the case for the light from which the black hole's
matter was produced. The gravitational entropy debt of matter can be
thought of as an "interest" payment on matter's symmetry debt - just
as on planet Earth, the interest has to be paid until the symmetry
debt is retired. But the Earth's gravitational field is too weak to
convert mass to light, so it never "pays down" the principle on its
symmetry debt - that is, despite the continuous working of Earth's
gravitational field, it never gets weaker because it never converts
any of Earth's mass to light. In our Sun, however, we see gravity
actually "paying down" the symmetry debt of the Sun's mass by
converting some of the Sun's bound energy to light, and hence
reducing the Sun's total mass and its associated gravitational
field. Gravity will vanish completely when its symmetry debt is well
and truly paid, like any other charge (see: "Does Light Produce a Gravitational Field?").
So the black hole's gravitational field keeps working until the mass
energy of the hole - whose entropy is represented by the surface
area of the event horizon - completely evaporates away.
Since it is the surface area of the event horizon which is in
contact with the outside universe, it is the surface area which
generates the gravitational field. Hence the connection between
time, gravity, and entropy is especially evident in this example. A
gravitational field is the spatial consequence of the intrinsic
motion of time (see: "The Conversion
of Space to Time"). (See also: "The
Destruction of Information".)
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