Newtonian Universe Research Articles

Newton in the poetry of Friedrich Schiller

AbstractThis article attempts to explain the peculiar role of Isaac Newton in the poetry of Friedrich Schiller. I show that Newtonian ideas appear from the earliest poems in Anthologie auf das Jahr 1782 wherein gravity is used mainly as a metaphor for love. Newton is made a culprit, in Schiller's cosmological poems, for the destruction of the spheres and for the poet's despair in the ‘empty’, Newtonian universe. I chart the changing role of Newton in the later poetry of Schiller, where it is mainly his Opticks that interests the poet, who at this point has a thoroughly negative idea of the scientist, probably inspired by Goethe. Newton's famous experiment with the prism is figured as being the opposite of the poetry with which Schiller sought to unify (rather than refract) nature.

Fully nonlinear gravitational instabilities for expanding Newtonian universes with inhomogeneous pressure and entropy: Beyond the Tolman’s solution

Fully nonlinear gravitational instabilities for expanding Newtonian universes with inhomogeneous pressure and entropy: Beyond the Tolman’s solution

Another Downside of Interstellar Travel in a Newtonian Universe

Another Downside of Interstellar Travel in a Newtonian Universe

Hyperbolic space in the Newtonian limit: The cosmological constant

In this paper, the cosmological constant and the Boltzmann entropy of a Newtonian Universe filled with a perfect fluid are computed, under the assumption that spatial sections are copies of 3-dimensional hyperbolic space.

The Immanent Infinite

The Immanent Infinite

Rigorous proof of the slightly nonlinear Jeans instability in the expanding Newtonian universe

Due to the nonlinearity of the Euler{Poisson equations, it is possible that the nonlinear Jeans instability may lead to a faster density growing rate than the rate in the standard theory of linearized Jeans instability, which motivates us to study the nonlinear Jeans instability. The aim of this article is to develop a method proving the Jeans instability for slightly nonlinear Euler-Poisson equations in the expanding Newtonian universe. The standard proofs of the Jeans instability rely on the Fourier analysis. However, it is difficult to generalize Fourier method to a nonlinear setting, and thus there is no result in the nonlinear analysis of Jeans instability. We firstly develop a non-Fourier-based method to reprove the linearized Jeans instability in the expanding Newtonian universe. Secondly, we generalize this idea to a slightly nonlinear case. This method relies on the Cauchy problem of the Fuchsian system due to the recent developments of this system in mathematics. The fully nonlinear Jeans instability for the Euler-Poisson and Einstein-Euler equations are in progress.

Quantum Newtonian Cosmology Revisited

We formulate the Lagrangian of the Newtonian cosmology where the cosmological constant is also introduced. Following the affine quantization procedure, the Hamiltonian operator is derived. The wave functions of the Newtonian universe and the corresponding eigenvalues for the case of matter dominated by a negative cosmological constant are given.

The cosmological constant of emergent spacetime in the Newtonian approximation

We present a simple quantum-mechanical estimate of the cosmological constant of a Newtonian Universe. We first mimic the dynamics of a Newtonian spacetime by means of a nonrelativistic quantum mechanics for the matter contents of the Universe (baryonic and dark) within a fixed (i.e. nondynamical) Euclidean spacetime. Then we identify an operator that plays, on the matter states, a role analogous to that played by the cosmological constant. Finally, we prove that there exists a quantum state for the matter fields, in which the above-mentioned operator has an expectation value equal to the cosmological constant of the given Newtonian Universe.

Extrapolating Back in Time to our Off-Planet Ancestors

Trying to guess what happened in the distant past and where we come from, requires a juggling of unknowns, and from most points of view that is what you are going to read here. At the same time, as we accumulate more information, it begins to be clear that the few clues left for us exclude certain possibilities, and point to constantly occurring processes such as Syntropy being involved. It’s always been a mystery to me why for example, physical science is enamoured of the concept of Entropy. Perhaps it is because a decline in structural complexity with time describes well the degradation of our world over time under the dominant philosophy of materialism. Its opposing concept, Syntropy, implies an increase in complexity, brought about by a mysterious force apparently acting from the future, and this process is less easily fitted into a Newtonian universe. Syntropy, or ‘the law of creative connecting’ is defined by the Free Dictionary as the force used by the universe to move us towards a brighter future, and its action is described by vocabularies such as: ‘The will to become’, ‘Intent’, ‘Evolution’. These terms seem to describe the origin of life and intelligence, but Syntropy has been largely shunned by science.One of the most effective mechanisms of syntropy is that for past ages, intelligent life form s have been arriving here, and still are coming to our planet from somewhere else in the cosmos, using their discoveries to speed up our evolution.

Programming Infinite Machines

For infinite machines that are free from the classical Thomson’s lamp paradox, we show that they are not free from its inverted-in-time version. We provide a program for infinite machines and an infinite mechanism that demonstrate this paradox. While their finite analogs work predictably, the program and the infinite mechanism demonstrate an undefined behavior. As in the case of infinite Davies machines (Davies in Br J Philos Sci 52(4):671–682, 2001), our examples are free from infinite masses, infinite velocities, infinite forces, etc. Only infinite divisibility of space and time is assumed. Thus, the infinite devices considered are possible in a Newtonian Universe and they do not conflict with Newtonian mechanics. Note that the classical Thomson’s lamp paradox leads to infinite velocities which may not be producible in acceptable models of Newtonian mechanics. Finally, it is shown that the “paradox of predictability” is similar to the inverted Thomson’s lamp paradox.

Some exact results on quantum Newtonian cosmology

We obtain the wave functions associated with the quantum Newtonian universe with a cosmological constant which is described by the Schrödinger equation and discuss some aspects of its dynamics for all forms of energy density, namely, matter, radiation, vacuum, dark energy, and quintessence. These wave functions of the quantum Newtonian universe are obtained in terms of Heun’s functions and the respective energy levels are shown. We use these solutions to investigate the expansion of the universe and found that the asymptotic behavior for the scale factor is R ∼ et for whatever the form of energy density is. We also analyze the behavior of the universe at early stages.

The Cosmos in a Cabinet: Performance, Politics, and Mechanical Philosophy in Henry Bridges’ ‘Microcosm’

How did ordinary people – artisans, laborers, servants, and children – come to know the Newtonian universe? And what effects did this knowledge have on how they contextualized their place in society? When it appeared in 1733, Henry Bridges’ “Modern Microcosm” promised to give paying customers a view of the entire universe ingeniously recreated in a ten-foot-tall automaton theater. A hit with audiences, this clockwork wonder was displayed in Britain and the American colonies until disappearing mysteriously in the 1770s. This paper attempts to recover non-elite understandings of public science by examining the career of an astronomical wonder in the rowdy marketplace of ideas that was the London show scene.

On the Holographic Bound in Newtonian Cosmology.

The holographic principle sets an upper bound on the total (Boltzmann) entropy content of the Universe at around ( being Boltzmann’s constant). In this work we point out the existence of a remarkable duality between nonrelativistic quantum mechanics on the one hand, and Newtonian cosmology on the other. Specifically, nonrelativistic quantum mechanics has a quantum probability fluid that exactly mimics the behaviour of the cosmological fluid, the latter considered in the Newtonian approximation. One proves that the equations governing the cosmological fluid (the Euler equation and the continuity equation) become the very equations that govern the quantum probability fluid after applying the Madelung transformation to the Schroedinger wavefunction. Under the assumption that gravitational equipotential surfaces can be identified with isoentropic surfaces, this model allows for a simple computation of the gravitational entropy of a Newtonian Universe. In a first approximation, we model the cosmological fluid as the quantum probability fluid of free Schroedinger waves. We find that this model Universe saturates the holographic bound. As a second approximation, we include the Hubble expansion of the galaxies. The corresponding Schroedinger waves lead to a value of the entropy lying three orders of magnitude below the holographic bound. Current work on a fully relativistic extension of our present model can be expected to yield results in even better agreement with empirical estimates of the entropy of the Universe.

The Infinity from Nothing paradox and the Immovable Object meets the Irresistible Force

In this paper I present a novel supertask in a Newtonian universe that destroys and creates infinite masses and energies, showing thereby that we can have infinite indeterminism. Previous supertasks have managed only to destroy or create finite masses and energies, thereby giving cases of only finite indeterminism. In the Nothing from Infinity paradox we will see an infinitude of finite masses and an infinitude of energy disappear entirely, and do so despite the conservation of energy in all collisions. I then show how this leads to the Infinity from Nothing paradox, in which we have the spontaneous eruption of infinite mass and energy out of nothing. I conclude by showing how our supertask models at least something of an old conundrum, the question of what happens when the immovable object meets the irresistible force.

Benjamin, Einstein, Nietzsche

The following remarks were originally written for a colloquium held at DePaul University around The Republic of the Living; although revised, my remarks are still conceived as questions intended for further discussion. When I first read the preface to The Republic of the Living, I was surprised to find it addressing a question that had occupied my thoughts ever since I first encountered the outlines of Giorgio Agamben's Homo-Sacer program more than twenty years ago: what-for Benjamin and, then again, for Agamben-is the counter-concept to life (bloses Leben, la vita nuda)? Benjamin, who drew the term from Heinrich Rickert's philosophy of completed life (Philosophie des vollendeten Lebens), provides no ready-made answer, and Agamben, as a gesture of loyalty to Benjamin's legacy perhaps, does not directly address the question. The structure of The Republic of the Living, by contrast, derives from its answer: the counter-concept to bare life, for Vatter, is eternal life. This thesis, as I see it, lends Vatter's volume a certain drama, which reflects its own thematization of tragedy. The drama of the book can be formulated in terms of a question: how can the concept of eternal life-saturated as it is by theological themes, whether of Aristotelean or Spinozistic provenance-be reconciled with an axiomatic materialism? This question was going to be the focal point of my remarks at DePaul; but as I came upon the final chapter of the book, awaiting the denouement of its argument, the focus of my remarks changed, for Vatter explicitly formulates a micro-question that repeats one that has recently troubled me. And it is to this question that I will now turn, with the expectation that it will ultimately provide a way of approaching the overall argument developed in The Republic of the Living.The micro-question concerns a passage in Benjamin's so-called Theologischpolitisches Fragment-the title probably stems from Adorno-where the problem of the mystical conception of history is illuminated by way of the following image: just as a force [moving] along its way can promote another force directed in the opposite way, so also the profane order of the profane and the coming of the messianic kingdom.1 Prompted by this image, which seems both to conform to, and rebel against, Newton's third law of motion, Vatter asks: What theory of physics is Benjamin thinking about?2 Even in the absence of an answer, the question is itself valuable, for it emphasizes the degree to which Benjamin, here as elsewhere, engages with the theory of the physical sciences. Vatter does not pursue his question from the perspective of Benjamin's broader work-which is completely comprehensible, for The Republic of the Living has no intention of being a contribution to Benjamin philology-but, instead, provides a tentative answer in which the name surprisingly makes an appearance: the Newtonian universe, there is one force at work in nature, and that is the force of gravity. This is the force of attraction between bodies. Benjamin and Scholem were both interested in the mathematical revolutions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and I think it is safe to assume that they also followed the revolutionary developments in physics, beginning with Einstein's discovery of special relativity, which shattered the Newtonian view of the universe. In particular, what must have struck their imagination was Einstein's attempt to apply relativity theory to the entire university (theory of general relativity), thereby giving rise to the first truly scientific cosmology.3Despite some unfortunate formulations-the general theory is not an application of the earlier theory but, as the name indicates, a generalization of its guiding principles-Vatter succinctly captures the novelty of Einstein's 1917 paper, Kosmologische Betrachtungen zur allgemeinen Relativitatstheorie (Cosmological Reflections on the General Theory of Relativity), which introduces a modification into the field equations of general relativity that Einstein had worked out two years earlier. …

Quantum Newtonian cosmology and the biconfluent Heun functions

We obtain the exact solution of the Schrödinger equation for a particle (galaxy) moving in a Newtonian universe with a cosmological constant, which is given in terms of the biconfluent Heun functions. The first six Heun polynomials of the biconfluent function are written explicitly. The energy spectrum which resembles the one corresponding to the isotropic harmonic oscillator is also obtained. The wave functions as well as the energy levels codify the role played by the cosmological constant.

THE PRINCIPLE OF MACH IN NEWTONIAN CONTINUUM THERMOMECHANICS

The paper develops a Newtonian version of Mach's principle for continuum thermomechanics. The starting point is the covariant formulation of Newtonian thermomechanics for the entire (Newtonian) universe.

Dark Energy Calculations Using the Paraquantum Gamma Factor (<i>γ<sub>Pψ</sub></i>) on the Relativistic Energy Equation

A Paraconsistent Logic (PL) is a non-classical logic which revokes the principle of non-Contradiction and admits the treatment of contradictory information in its theoretical structure. Paraquantum Logic (PQL) is based on a type of PL denominated Paraconsistent Annotated Logic with annotation of two values (PAL2v). The PAL2v have a representative Lattice of four vertices (Lattice FOUR) where are made interpretations with construction of Paraquantum Logical Model and equations capable computation values extract of Observable Variable measurements. The studies of the PQL are based on propagation of Paraquantum logical states ψ in a Paraquantum Universe represented by PQL-Lattice of four vertices. These studies of PQL are based in two Paraquantum factors: the Paraquantum Gamma Factor (γPψ) that has his action in the measurements of Observable Variables in the Physical world and the Paraquantum Factor of quantization hψ, which has his action in the Paraquantum Universe. In this paper we analyze the application of Paraquantum Gamma Factor γPψ and its intrinsic characteristics that add important information into the equation of Einstein’s relativistic Energy (E = MC2). In this article were made several calculations to demonstrate the effects of applying the Paraquantum Gamma Factor (γPψ) in relativistic energy equation. It is found that the factors of using the Paraquantum Logical Model make an adjustment in the equation of Einstein’s relativistic Energy and identify related values with recent results found for the Dark Energy and dark matter. In the Paraquantum/Relativistic Energy equation the γPψ appears as an important factor of transition between the relativistic universe and the Newtonian Universe. The results suggest that its use would be very important in the interpretation of the behavior of other astronomical factors as the cosmological constant and gravitation.

History, a Literary Artifact? The Traveling Concept of Narrative in/on Historiographic Discourse

History, a Literary Artifact? The Traveling Concept of Narrative in/on Historiographic Discourse

Geometría y método en diseño gráfico: del paradigma Newtoniano a la Teoría General de Sistemas, el Caos y los Fractales

Throughout history there has been a symbiotic relationship between art, design and science, especially in common research areas such as the concepts of space, elements, order and method. From Newton to the present day, space has been considered in terms of the Newtonian universe – as infinite, stable and ordered. Graphic space is the depiction of a fragment of this universe, marked out by the frame, paper, or screen. Here, elements are organized according to the principles of visual perception, as an extrapolation of the laws of universal gravitation. Special emphasis is placed on the use of scientific method to analyze problems, and on the use of geometry to arrange elements in compositional space. The emergence of the General Systems, Chaos and Fractals Theories has marked a change in the scientific paradigm, and this can provide graphic design and art with a new theoretical and methodological framework for analysis and creation, as well as an explanation of the disorderly behaviour of some of the elements involved. This means, however, that we have to accept that designs are dynamic, that they evolve and eventually die.