Planck's constant can be regarded as a property of vacuum space, together with light speed, gravity constant, and the two constants for polarization in electric and magnetic fields. Then the energy in space can be proposed as the governing power that creates these constants and enforces the laws they regulate.
If QFT could somehow prevail with predictions of infinite energy in space, then the properties of space could be confirmed as truly constant under all circumstances. GR doesn't accept infinite energy in space, and Partition Theory places a finite limit on energy related to the Planck energy density and a balance of positive and negative curvatures.
In physical things we can touch and measure, the laws of stress and strain apply, and nothing ever tested failed to bend or break under some extreme force. Everything physical seems to reach a limit.
Sometimes dimensional analysis is offered as an explanation of why constants would never vary. Unfortunately those explanations would predict that testing of stress and strain should not find a limit.
For Planck's constant LIGO data of merging black holes has been suggested as a way to decide if the most extreme events can change the constant into a variable. So far the LIGO results have been used in modified PV theory at high speed to accept the possibility of invariant Planck's constant, without excluding the possibility of variation under extreme conditions within the limits of Heisenberg Uncertainty.
The readers are asked for opinions about the question.
Does Planck's Constant Remain Constant Or Become Variable At High Energy?
If Planck's constant could be reduced by "some means", it would undermine Heisenberg Uncertainty. The "minimum uncertainty" would be less than the usual h/2. If that were possible and it went to 0 at "some energy". Then we would have absolute certainty, in the classical sense of absolute determinism. I find that hard to believe.
On the other hand, if Planck's constant could be increased, then one could create "free energy", simply by propagating photons from a lower h to a higher h region. This would violate conservation of energy and momentum and lead to runaway solutions for high energy.
In GR Energy and Time are contra-variant wrt the gravitational field, leaving Planck's constant, constant. These are my reasons, in addition to dimensional analysis in terms of Kpv.
In theories of gravitation which possess variable
effective gravitational constant, it is possible that
h changes with time, but it should remain strictly
positive. No contradiction to other effects will
appear.
Some years ago, it was speculated if the dimensionless fine structure constant, proportional to e2/hc, was changing with time. It was argued that (i) e could not change, because that would violate conservation of charge, (ii) h could not change, because that would violate conservation of angular momentum (half integer multiples of h). Hence, only a changing speed of light, c, was left. Or perhaps a changing value of pi, since that is also involved in the full expression :-D.
Puzzle: Since h and c are dimensionful quantities, they can always be set to unity (1) with proper choice of units (natural units). If this is done when they are "really" changing, how would one notice?
From George E. Van Hoesen · 20.21 · Independent Researcher Feb 2, 2015
"In a relativistic world all values have to be variant. There is no way to get around it. If I bend and twist time and space then everything in that time and space is twisted and bent. In a relativistic universe all constants are not constant. "
In RG question - Is the Planck's constant really a constant?
If we regard the vacuum state as one of bound fermions/anti-fermions that carry radiant energy of EM action by their sympathetic vibrations at 'c' then 'c' will vary as binding energy varies by insertion of non-bound particles - eg as for GRT's curvature of space in grav field. The radiant ACTION is constant but te period of the wave changes when delivering the energy at the point of delivery with local value of 'c'. Viewing GRT with the paradigm of variable 'c' rather than time dilation leaves h unchanged. Time dilation demands variable h ...???
Planck's constant is one of action, not of energy. The Source determines the action. An electron intercepting the 'photon' of radiant energy replicates the action of the source.
Hi Jerry,
The Fine Structure Constant has been measured with great precision, even out at very distant stars. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge, no variation in it's value has been detected.
In the PV Model, eps0 => eps0*K and the speed of light, c => c/K. So when constructing the FSC, the K's cancel out and it is invariant under PV transformations. However, it would not be invariant if Planck's constant were variable at any energy scale. I think it would be detectible in the spectrum, and therefore effect the FSC. The ONLY way for it not to affect the FSC is if if h and e^2 are co-variant, such that changes in one are offset by the changes in the other. I am not aware of any evidence of such a relationship, and in my PV model, it would just add unnecessary complication.
Hello Todd and Michael.
I tested fine structure in my Vacuum Partition theory and predicted that it would remain invariant while the components of it may change under stress.
Choosing a coordinate system where all the components have a value of one unit, is just a differentiable manifold of coordinates systems that happen to have that property for some fractional stress energy change.
With h having units of angular momentum reducible to mass, distance, and time, it is possible to build up a function for h from SR, but I don't have confidence in it since my modified Polarizable Vacuum theory is predicting local curvature is altered by kinetic energy, as Einstein suggested and as QFT represents. A low velocity version could be produced as a limiting function.
h / ho =1 / (1 -v2/c2)2
For small v in dimensional analysis, measured by a traveler.
Just an after thought, and much different than I was expecting to get for the general case.
At very high energies we are speaking of radiation at very high frequencies with energy proportional to the frequency. The constant of proportionality is deemed to be "h". At such high frequencies a small variation of h will encompass a wide range of frequencies and thus a wide range of energies. So the value of h doesn't really matter under these circumstances and the low energy measured value of h will work just fine.
Is there any big difference between time and energy? Even Heisenbergs uncertainty can be shifted to time or energy. What is an action, or a signal at its Foundations?
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