Negative-Energy Matter and the Direction of Time

TL;DR

This paper explores negative-energy matter and its implications for the nature of time, gravity, cosmology, and quantum theory, proposing new axioms and solutions to longstanding problems in these fields.

Contribution

It introduces a set of axioms that simplify relativity with negative-energy matter and applies them to cosmological and quantum problems, offering novel insights and solutions.

Findings

Generalized gravitational field equations derived from new axioms

Solutions to dark matter and dark energy problems

Insights into quantum non-locality and the emergence of time

Abstract

This report offers a modern perspective on the problem of negative energy, based on a reexamination of the concept of time direction as it arises in a classical and quantum-mechanical context. From this analysis emerges an improved understanding of the general-relativistic stress-energy of matter as being a manifestation of local variations in the energy density of zero-point vacuum fluctuations. Based on those developments, a set of axioms is proposed from which are derived generalized gravitational field equations which actually constitute a simplification of relativity theory in the presence of negative-energy matter and a non-zero cosmological constant. Important clarifications are also achieved regarding the nature of the binary degrees of freedom of matter in the final stages of a gravitational collapse. Those results are then applied to provide original solutions to several long-standing problems in cosmology, including the problem of the nature of dark matter and dark energy, that of the origin of thermodynamic time asymmetry, and several other issues traditionally approached using inflation theory. Finally, we draw on those developments to provide significant new insights into the foundations of quantum theory, regarding, in particular, the problem of quantum non-locality, that of the emergence of time in quantum cosmology, as well as the question of the persistence of quasiclassicality following decoherence.