The Elementary Process Theory: proposing new Planck-scale physics underlying repulsive gravity

Modern physics has committed itself in great detail to the assumption that gravity is attraction only. Of course, the empirical success of modern physics therefore provides a strong reason to believe that there is no such thing as repulsive gravity. But on the other hand, this detailed commitment also implies that in the event of an experimental detection of a matter-antimatter repulsive gravity, however remotely possible, core theories of modern physics are falsified: gravity is then not what is laid down in General Relativity, and antimatter is then not what is laid down in the Standard Model. That being said, we now do a Gedankenexperiment in which we measure the gravitational acceleration of massive antiparticles on earth, and we consider that this––against all odds––has yielded the outcome that massive antiparticles are repulsed by the gravitational field of bodies of ordinary matter. Since this scenario is strictly forbidden by modern physics, the natural question to ask is: what universal elementary laws of physics must then be in place for such a repulsive gravity to be possible? From that question, the Elementary Process Theory (EPT) has been developed: this consists of a scheme of seven well-formed formulas (wffs), which are nonlogical axioms of a formal axiomatic system, together with a physical interpretation, which yields the picture that these seven wffs are elementary principles governing the super-small scale. The EPT is then consistent with repulsive gravity. The purpose of this talk is to give a comprehensible introduction to the EPT as a proposal for new Planck-scale physics underlying repulsive gravity. In the main part of the talk, the focus will first be on why the EPT has been formulated outside the framework of modern physics: I will argue that existing modifications of modern physics, proposed in order to incorporate repulsive gravity, cannot possibly be fundamental. Thereafter, the focus will be on the EPT itself: I will sketch the theory’s broad contours, and present the core principles of the EPT in classical terms –– although this is an oversimplification, it gives an impression of the physical idea. The final subject will be the correspondence of the EPT to Einstein’s special relativity: the focus will be on the fifth dimension in the universe of the EPT –– what is it, and why is it curled up? –– and on relativity of spatiotemporal characteristics of motion in this five-dimensional spacetime. Throughout this talk, the emphasis will be on physical ideas, not on the mathematical formalisms in which the ideas are expressed.