RELATIVITY & THERMODYNAMICS – A VEDIC ANALYSIS.
-Shri Basudeba Mishra Sharma
What is mass (परिमाणम् – परिमितव्यवहार असाधारणकारणम् – unique measurable properties of an object)? The definition that it is the measure of the amount of matter (वस्तु) in a body is vague. It simply substitutes the word matter for mass, without clarifying what is to be measured. Both the object to be measured (मेयम्) and the units of measurement (मानम्) must have similar properties (समलक्षणम्). Hence, this leaves the unit of mass vague.
If mass is a measure of resistance to the acceleration in the presence of external forces, then any object placed on any base or moving at constant velocity under inertia (zero acceleration), would have zero mass (as there is nothing to resist) till it is disturbed by another force. But the object creates a stress on its base continuously, while the base resists its fall. That is weight (गुरुत्व) in solids (निबिडावयव) and liquids (तरलावयव) only (गुरुत्वं जलभूम्योः पतनकर्मकारणम्). This implies, the concept of mass and weight can’t be applied for gases or plasma (विरलावयव), as they do not generate stress on a base and have no fixed volume, even though they have variable density (सान्द्रता).
Kilogram is the unit of weight and not mass, because it has no similarity with mass to be its unit, but has properties similar to weight – generating a stress on its base on its own. Weight is potential energy (बलम्), not kinetic energy (प्राणः) among solids and liquids. Weight (गुरुत्व) is one of the four factors that induce action (कर्म्मम् – भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः – the application of energy leading to the creation and evolution of matter), The other three factors are fluidity (द्रवत्व), efforts by a conscious being (प्रयत्न) and contact with other objects (गुरुत्वद्रवत्वप्रयत्नसंयोगजत्वं).
The measurable quantities of an object could be quantum or macro (अणु-महत्), relatively smaller or bigger (दीर्घ-ह्रस्व), which are fixed for any object (नित्यम्). It could be due to number (संख्याजन्यं – quantity), or volume (परिमाणजन्यं – Latin massa – kneaded dough) or spread (प्रचयजन्यम् – spread of the object with no definite shape – Ite, missa est, “Go, it is the dismissal”), all of which are variables (अनित्यम्). When the spread is measured in three mutually perpendicular directions (since we perceive form through electromagnetic radiation where the electric field, the magnetic field and their direction of motion are mutually perpendicular), it is called dimension (विस्तारस्य यथैवार्थ आयामेन प्रकाशितः । तथारोहसमुच्छ्रायौ पर्यायवाचिनौ मतौ ॥ परिमाणानुसरेण वर्णनोयाः क्षितौ नराः). The three dimensions keeps the form of the object invariant under mutual transformation – hence belong to one class, which can be resolved into ten dimensions. Since time doesn’t fulfil this condition, TIME IS NOT A DIMENSION.
Weight is NOT m*g, as it doesn’t make any sense. The value of acceleration due to gravity, g, is fixed for any place, as it is the combined effect of the gravitational force between the object and the Earth and the centrifugal force due to Earth’s rotation. It will affect both sides of the balance (the object and the unit) equally everywhere, nullifying the effect. One Kg on Earth will be one Kg everywhere in the universe. If a spring balance is used, it has to be recalibrated for the new location leading to the same effect.
Since Einstein, it is said that if you are situated inside a rocket accelerating at 9.8 meters per second squared, and you drop off an object; the object would fall at the rate of 9.8 meters per second squared from the cabin floor – the same acceleration that an object experiences during free fall here on earth. It is said that, as an observer standing inside a cabin floor, you can’t differentiate between whether the object is falling under the gravity of a massive object like the earth or is it the cabin floor that is accelerating it? From this, Einstein formulated his Principle of Equivalence.
The very idea that “no experiment can distinguish the acceleration due to gravity from the inertial acceleration due to a change of velocity”, is wrong and misleading. It is usually explained by a graph of spacetime with x and t axes, where the curves traced by the two objects, called their world-lines, are said to be identical parabolas. But a parabola needs at least two space coordinates – x and y and time – to describe it. The path of the balls through x − y − z space is all straight lines – not curved. Parabola is a curve with two visible dimensions with a locus in time.
The term inertial mass, which appears in Newton’s: a = F/m, describes how much force is needed or how difficult it is to accelerate an object. The more the force is applied, the more will be the acceleration. Gravitational mass is said to describe the strength with which gravity acts. If we take the Newtonian equation, the factors on the right-hand side (G, M, m, and d) are all constants for any system. Hence, the force of gravitation on the left-hand side must be constant. Thus, gravitational force can’t accelerate the bodies, but only stabilizes it in a stable orbit (उर्द्धिर्निधेः प्रतिस्पर्द्धि बलम्) against the common barycenter (उरुगायप्रतिष्ठा). This is also the Vedic theory of gravitation (उद्याम). The theory of attraction (आकर्षणविज्ञानम् – बलात् आनयनम्) is different.
If gravity is curvature of spacetime due to mass, there will be no change or motion till the mass itself changes. The cannonball doesn’t have a hundred times more “gravitational mass” than the musket ball, though the force acting on it may be a hundred times greater than that on the musket ball due to the higher force applied by the explosive fuse and hammer – not gravitation. Then it moves on inertia at the same velocity till another force disturbs it. Its mass remains same during inertia. This is the only effect (not two effects) and it has the same velocity and not acceleration. This is true for all forces. The force that an object experiences in an electric field is related – not proportional – to its charge (unlike positive charges, negative charges do not repel each other (निरर्थक), but coexist like changing linen – that is how we get electricity), which is unrelated to its motion – inertial or gravitational. Thus, different charges placed in the same electric field will have different motions.
Thousands of years ago, Prashastapada in the Chapter on motion of his book Padartha Dharma Sangraha (पदार्थधर्मसंग्रहः), had analyzed this phenomenon. Motion must be considered as moving towards or away from a frame of reference (वर्गशः प्रत्ययानुवृत्तिव्यावृत्तिदर्शनात्). Otherwise, they will be considered as at rest relative to each other. If we perceive (measure) the object as continuously moving away from or towards the reference body, we call the motion as going up (उत्क्षेपणम्) or falling down (अपक्षेपणम्) or various types of sideways motions (गमनम्), etc. Without observing such motion relative to the frame of reference, we can’t precisely describe such motion. Going upward direction at North Pole is opposite of that at South Pole.
An object falling in space wanders in unpredictable trajectories that cannot be described as fall, though it is in motion. While the inertial velocity remains constant everywhere and is proportional to the force applied to change its state of rest or of motion, the object can fall at a fixed rate at any point only when it is subject to gravitation, such as within Earth’s atmosphere. Inertia moves a body at fixed rate per second, whereas acceleration due to gravity is per second per second. So, inertial and gravitational motions are not the same in nature and magnitude.
But what about the person in the elevator going up or down and a person observing it from a floor or a light ray falling inside the elevator from outside? Like a passenger in the train feels, distant trees appear to run backwards while the train appears to stand still, there will be confusion about who is moving and who is at rest or moving backwards. Prashastapada gives the example of a man moving out of a room and entering an adjacent room, while being observed by two people in the two rooms. One will describe the motion as exit while the other will call the same motion as entry. So, entry and exit are relative terms depending upon the position of the observer (निष्क्रमणप्रवेशनादिष्वपि वर्गशः प्रत्ययानुवृत्तिव्यावृत्तिदर्शनात्).
After describing thus, Prashastapada refutes it as conflating the definition with what is being defined (जातिसङ्करप्रसङ्गात्). If the partition between the rooms is removed, or a person is sitting in a vantage position to see both the rooms, he will describe the event as motion from one point (room) to the other point (room), which is valid for all. Moreover, the above motion can be described as exit (प्रध्वंसाभाव) and entry (प्रागाभाव) only if the two rooms are connected and form parts of a bigger frame of reference (द्वयोर्द्रष्ट्रोरेकस्मादपवरकादपवरकान्तरं गच्छतो युगपन्निष्क्रमणप्रवेशनप्रत्ययौ दृष्टौ तथा द्वारप्रदेशे प्रविशति निष्क्रामतीति च). Otherwise, we can’t link that exit to that entry (यदा तु प्रतिसीराद्यपनीतं भवति तदा न प्रवेशनप्रत्ययो नापि निष्क्रमणप्रत्ययः किन्तु गमनप्रत्ययः एव भवति). They are independent motions unrelated to each other – hence, not comparable.
Such confusion is not seen in the case of a projectile or fall under inertia. Everyone observes an equal pattern of moving away or towards something (न चैवमुत्क्षेपणादिषु प्रत्ययसङ्करो दृष्टः तस्मादुत्क्षेपणादोनामेव जातिभेदात् प्रत्ययानुवृत्तिर्व्यावृत्ती निष्क्रमणादीनां तु कार्यभेदादिति). Thousands of years later, Russell in his famous paradox of Set theory, found out the same thing – there cannot be a set of one element. A library (set) consists of books (elements). But a book (element) is not a library (set).
In the second section of his 1916 paper on General Relativity, Einstein considered two bodies far apart in space but connected gravitationally and being observed from one of the systems. He did not give any example, but we can consider the Sun-Jupiter system being observed from Earth. He said one will appear circular and the other elliptical, which is not true. Obviously, he was referring to their orbits as seen from Earth. Instead of celestial dynamics, he used F = ma to solve the problem and obviously failed. Then he used Mach’s principle, which he discarded later. Tensor is no mathematics, as it is logically not consistent.
The idea of curvature came from his teacher, who was trying to solve a practical problem of curvature when metal plates are heated. But space is not limited like a metal sheet and mass doesn’t heat up anything. He went to the forest and scientists are still lost in the same forest.
Einstein himself says: Special Relativity is optics and kinematics. Thus, it is apparent and not real. It is NOT a special case of General Relativity. The man on the platform and his friend in the running train see each other reducing in height, while neither really does. We see mirages, which are not real, but a distorted reality due to known reasons. The man on the spot of the mirage does not see any water. All these events at different locations can be simultaneous. The “relativity of simultaneity (काकतालीय न्यायः)” doesn’t affect how things evolve. Time-evolution is independent of our observation. A plant in the forest will blossom, even if no one is observing it.
In fact, the entire discussion, which leads to time cone and event horizon are misleading. What we see is not the same as what we touch. We see when the radiation emitted from a body (and not the body proper) reaches our eyes. We touch not the radiation, but the body emitting or reflecting radiation. So one-way observation (either seeing or touching) can’t describe the body fully (अनवर्णे इ॑मे भू॒मी । इ॒यञ्चा॑सौ च॒ रोद॑सी).
What the man on the platform is looking at is the height (form – मूर्त्ती) of his friend in the running train, which forms the base of an isosceles triangle whose tip is at between the center of his eyes. With distance, the two sides of the triangle increase and the base correspondingly reduces in length till it becomes a point and vanishes. The point where the base of the triangle becomes zero is the event horizon (ऋक् – ऋग्भ्यो जातां सर्वशो मूर्त्तिमाहुः) for the observer on the platform from his position.
But what about his friend in the running train? He emits light (reflected light – साम – सर्वं तेजः सामरूप्यं ह शश्वत्) all around in concentric spheres (मण्डल) with the center of gravity of the friend in train as the center. A segment of this spherical radiation comes towards his friend on the platform, by which the other sees his friend. With distance, the radius of the sphere increases and the intensity of radiation reduces. Beyond a point, the intensity is reduced to zero and the friend becomes invisible. That point where the intensity of the radiation becomes zero, is the event horizon from the perspective of the friend in the train. The interplay of the energy (सर्वा गतिर्याजुषी हैव शश्वत्) in between is Yajuh (किस्विदत्रान्त॑रा भू॒तम् । ये॒नेमे वि॑धृते॒ उभे । वि॒ष्णुना॑ विधृ॑ते भू॒मी).
But thermodynamic processes are different – they are real and universal. The equivalence of energy (शक्तिः) and mass (परिमाणम्) implies that thermal energy is related to mass (spread, extent), and directly regulates the thermodynamic systems and processes as an effect (अग्निषोमात्मकं जगत्). Our everyday experience shows that increase in thermal energy leads a body to increase in volume and vice-versa. So, the equivalence here implies a proportionality between energy and volume (also intensity) – not inter-changeability of mass and energy. The equality sign in any equation is not unconditional, but implies the conditions under which the equation is valid (साङ्केतिकः). Both sides of an equation can’t be arbitrarily manipulated like in renormalization or the brute force approach.
Heat (अग्निम्) is related to outward molecular motion (अग्रणीभवति) in time (कालेन) in different ways (ध्रुब-धर्त्र-धरुण, निर्भुज-प्रतृण-उभयमन्तरेण, conduction-convection-radiation) that governs the universe along with its complement – cold (सोम) that contracts (सङ्कोचनधर्मा). Thermodynamics deals with how heat behaves – the relationship between heat (अग्निम्), energy (शक्तिः), and work (क्रिया) that affect the properties (गुणः) of matter (द्रव्यम्).
शक्तिः कार्यानुमेया हि यद्गतैवोपलभ्यते । तद्गतैवाभ्युपेतव्या स्वाश्रयान्याश्रयापि च ॥
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. We infer the presence of energy through its effect on matter. It transforms matter or converts it from one form to another. We infer about the nature of such energy from the changes in the matter or the effect it generates on matter. While the total amount of energy in a system remains relatively constant, the transformation or conversion of matter by energy continues in some form or the other. Entropy (अवस्थापरिणाम) is a measure of the randomness or disorder within a system (शीर्णता). Motion is randomness of the whole system with respect to its environment (लक्षणपरिणाम). The second law of thermodynamics tells that the entropy of a closed system will always increase over time (विवर्त्त). In other words, the natural tendency of any system is to become more random and disordered (संसरणशीलः – hence called संसारः). This is an incomplete statement.
The third law of thermodynamics tells us that as the temperature of a system gets closer and closer to absolute zero, the entropy of the system will approach a constant minimum value. Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature, and is equal to -273.15 degrees Celsius, where the particles in a system stop moving and the system reaches NOT a state of complete disorder and randomness, but total stillness devoid of any motion. It hints at the ultimately opposite state of the second law (condition of maximum heat – बडवानल) since motion is directly related to heat.
The thermodynamic (अग्निषोमीय) processes involve heat transfer irrespective of observation (द्रष्टा-दृश्य-दर्शन). It is often undervalued. It is really time evolution (परिणाम), which takes place in six steps (षडध्वा कालः): from being as cause (जायते) to becoming as effect (अस्ति), to growth (बर्द्धते) due to accumulation of similars, to transformation (विपरिणमते) due to accumulation of harmonious others, to transmutation (अपक्षीयते) due to the opposite effect, to final decay and dissolution to the elements (विनश्यति) to be recycled in a new combination. Singularity is when the reverse process or negentropy leads to disentanglement of the field and energy (कश्यपः पश्यको भवति । यत्सर्वं परिपश्यतीति सौक्ष्म्यात्) – total equilibrium devoid of any motion as postulated by the third law. Thermodynamics points to this cycle (कालाः सम्वत्सरँश्रिता) – not time’s arrow.
Black hole (शिलोच्चय) thermodynamics is totally misunderstood. We know heat destroys magnetism. Hence, the interiors of black holes, with strong magnetic fields surrounding it, are highly twisted, but can’t be hot. It can’t be collapsing on itself – whether eternally or sporadically. There is white hole (ज्योतिष्मती) in the center of black holes. Black holes are NOT single structures and do not form due to collapse of big stars, which spreads out – not collapse on itself supernova explosion. They are macro equivalents of neutrons. Like protons come out of neutrons, stars and galaxies come out of black holes, which form first. That is the only logical and scientific explanation for structure formation.
Information, is cognition (संज्ञानम्) by a conscious agent (बहिःसंज्ञ) data about objects (द्रव्यम), regarding different aspects (properties – गुणः) of everything, such as: mass (परिमाण), position (दिक्), spin (आवर्त्त), temperature (उत्ताप), etc. and their interactive potential (कर्म्म) that uniquely identifies (साधर्म्य-वैधर्म्य) each object (क्रियागुणवत् समवायिकारणमिति द्रव्यलक्षणम्). Data – not information – lives on and evolves. Information is infinite.
The universe cannot run forwards or backwards in time (कालः) like charge (लिज्ञ्गम्) or parity (प्रतिविम्बम्). This is because time is a non-physical concept that cannot be fully measured (पदार्थः) – only segments of time can be measured, whereas charge or parity are physical reality (गुणः) that can be measured. Hence, the CPT theorem is misguided.
The universe exists in time, which is emergent by energy from the field (अक्षरात् सञ्जायते कालः) and which generates space (कालाद् व्यापक उच्यते). The stars and galaxies radiate out (व्यापको हि भगवान् रुद्रो भोगायमानो) at a fixed rate (virtual pairs – ए॒तैरादि॑त्यमण्डलम् । सर्वै॑रेव॒ विधास्यते). Their interaction and evolution are designated as time (सूर्यो॒ मरी॑चि॒माद॑त्ते । सर्वस्माद्भुव॑नाद॒धि । तस्याः पाकवि॑शेषे॒ण । स्मृ॒तङ््का॑लवि॒शेष॑णम् ।). When the minimum unit of radiation moves from its position and moves to the next position (the so-called Planck length), it is called a moment (क्षण). A continuous sequence (क्रम) of such momenta is called time. Time doesn’t dilate – objects evolve in time differently. Time flows by itself like a river flowing from eternity never to return (न॒दीव॒ प्रभ॑वात्का॒चित् । अ॒क्षय्याथ्स्यन्द॒ते य॑था । तान्नद्योऽभि स॑माय॒न्ति । सो॒रुस्सती॑ न नि॒वर्त॑ते । ए॒वन्ना॒नास॑मुत्था॒नाः । का॒लास्स॑व्वँथ्स॒रँ श्रि॑ताः ।). Clocks do not represent time. They are mechanical devices showing continuous fixed intervals. If we take out ocean water in a pot continuously, we do not measure the ocean. Information doesn’t evaporate. Only we retrieve it at different times differently.
The evolution of spacetime is secondarily thermodynamic in nature after the initial fluctuation. This is because, heat is generated only in a confined condition – in a closed universe due to back reaction and reconnection. A point of maximum density is impossible in the absence of an external confinement. At the time of the big bang, only energy is spreading freely. Such energy can’t be hot (अयं वाव यजुर्योऽयं पवते एष हि यन्नेवेदं सर्वं जनयत्येतं यन्तमिदमनु प्रजायते तस्माद्वायुरेव यजुः । अयमेवाकाशो जूः यदिदमन्तरिक्षमेतं ह्याकाशमनु जवते तदेतद्यजुर्वायुश्चान्तरिक्षं च यच्च जूश्च तस्माद्यजुरेष एव यदेष ह्येति – शतपथब्राह्मणम् – १०.३.५.१,२).
