EINSTEIN UNITES GRAVITY & QUANTUM MECHANICS
Albert Einstein, building on the work of Galileo, Newton and Maxwell, was able to scientifically reveal to humanity the central role of local symmetry (harmony, balance) in Nature, i.e., the cosmos, which unites gravity and quantum mechanics.
“As a boy of twelve years making my acquaintance with elementary mathematics (...) I became more and more convinced that even nature could be understood as a relatively simple mathematical structure.”—Albert Einstein (as quoted in The Tower, 13 April 1935; Einstein to the Princeton High School reporter Henry Russo)
Albert Einstein’s genius was to scientifically unveil a) that the LOCAL laws of Nature (the cosmos) are the same, i.e., symmetric everywhere and all the time, and accordingly that b) LOCAL SYMMETRY is Nature’s, i.e., the cosmos’ wonderful core principle.
For Einstein, local symmetry was both his beautiful guiding North Star and his scientific, ground-breaking and revolutionary discovery.
“Einstein’s great advance in 1905 was to put symmetry first, to regard the symmetry principle as the primary feature of nature …”—David Gross (The role of symmetry in fundamental physics, PNAS, vol.93 no.25, 10 December 1996, p. 14256)
“Symmetry Dictates Design (…) Einstein bequeathed to my generation of physicists: nothing less than a new way of doing physics.” –Anthony Zee (Fearful Symmetry, 2007, p.95)
“... Albert Einstein (...) brought a new style into thinking about Nature’s fundamental principles. For Einstein beauty, in the specific form of symmetry, takes on a life of its own. Beauty becomes a creative principle.”—Frank Wilczek (A Beautiful Question, 2015, p.199)
LOCAL SYMMETRY NOT GOBAL SYMMETRY:
The important thing to understand is that symmetry is LOCAL, not global. WHY?
First of all, symmetry is a purely mathematical structure of equivalence (sameness, being identical, being invariant, unity, wholeness), which, via the EQUAL SIGN, equates two seemingly (to our senses) different aspects.
ASPECT #1 = ASPECTS #2
Relative to number 2, number 1 is small, concise, LOCAL. That is why LOCAL comes first. That’s the rule.
Relative to number 1, number 2 is large, the ADDITIONAL, or simply put MORE, which has no end by definition and hence represents INFINITY, i.e., ALL, i.e., being GLOBAL. That is why GLOBAL comes second. That’s the rule.
LOCAL #1 = GLOBAL #2
LOCAL SYMMETRY’S ALL-INCLUSIVE STRUCTURE:
Local symmetry is the most abstract and hence simple, i.e., all-encompassing, mathematical structure (idea, standard, master equation, scheme, piece of information, rule, law, principle), as local symmetry unites the seemingly most incompatible phenomena: UNITY (being a closed system) with INFINITY (being an open system).
UNITY #1 = INFINITY #2
NUMBER 2 OR THE CRUCIAL MORE/INFINITY TERM:
The 2nd aspect of the symmetry equation of UNITY(#1)=MORE(#2) represents ENERGY, since energy is defined as “the ability to do work”, to do MORE against a resistance, which is the UNITY aspect (added up, concentration, resistance).
This gives us:
UNITY = MORE/ENERGY
Since the MORE term refers back to the first term of UNITY, we can see a structure of the following:
1.????MORE SHOWS: THE SMALL-SCALE REALM OF QUANTUM MECAHNICS
UNITY knows no differences, so we can understand it as the void, nothingness, empty space. Out of this UNITY (void) comes ENERGY. Since unity stands for concise, concentration, energy comes out of a small, dense unity (the big bang) and first appears on a realm that is small, the small scale of QUANTUM MECHANICS. Since MORE means, more than unity, or more than being precise (unified), the MORE/ENERGY that shows comes with UNCERTAINTY (MORE than being concrete, unity). Uncertainty, i.e., the Uncertainty Principle is the core of quantum mechanics. And since the local symmetry equation contains the concept of UNITY or a UNIT, the ENERGY/MORE comes in little UNITES, the quanta of action (MORE), and those little lumps of energy (action, MORE) can be MORE, i.e., at infinitely many places at the same time. Since local symmetry makes UNTIY and INFINITY a whole, the different places (MORE/INFINITY) that a quantum can be at, combine (UNITE) into an overall wavefunction, which can (via squaring it) give us the probability for each possible location. We can calculate where a UNITY of ENERGY, a small particle, a quantum (like a photon or electron) is MORE, i.e., more likely to be found.
We can see that the small scale, the realm of quantum mechanics, is MORE, i.e., DYNAMICAL.
2.????MORE ADDS UP: THE LARGE-SCALE REALM OF GRAVITY
Since the 2nd term of MORE of the local symmetry equation of UNITY(#1)=MORE(#2) refers back to the 1st term of UNITY, the simple mathematical structure of local symmetry informs us, that MORE/ENERGY will eventually bend back to UNITY.
This is exactly what GRAVITY does. Gravity is weak on the small scale, because MORE is still little (small-scale based) and only when MORE is concrete, i.e., large-scale based, the ADDING UP, BENDING BACK, or warping of spacetime will occur. This curvature of spacetime that GRAVITY stands for produces round GEOMETRY that, since it is a bending back of MORE (uncertainty, action, energy) to UNITY manifests itself as a SMOOTH (uniform, unified) spacetime curvature.
GRAVITY itself is a symmetrical relationship: the amount of spacetime warping (ADDING UP, UNITY) is equal to the total energy density (MORE, like mass, momentum, all kinds of energy like that of gravity itself) of a system, like planet Earth.
LOCAL SYMMETRY UNITES ALL: QUANTUM MECHANICS = GRAVITY
So, while the small scale of quantum mechanics presents itself as MORE, i.e., with uncertainty and wild undulations—even the most serene spot (UNITY) in empty space exhibits quantum jitters (MORE)—which one can summarize as being primarily DYNAMICAL, the large scale of GRAVITY manifests itself in a primarily GEOMETRICAL, SMOOTH (unified, added up) fashion.
Both these seemingly opposite realms—quantum mechanics and gravity—are, as the structure of local symmetry tells us, the same, identical, symmetric, since both quantum mechanics and gravity are included in the most general, abstract, simple and beautiful, purely mathematical principle of Nature.
THE CONSTANT (SYMMETRIC) LIGHTSPEED:
Since Albert Einstein was able to scientifically, in the most revolutionary fashion, demonstrate, that all aspects of Nature, the cosmos, are one—spacetime, energy, mass, constant lightspeed in empty space and gravity—and hence symmetric, i.e., different aspects of the local symmetry equation, it is important to also understand how the constant lightspeed is part of the local symmetry equation.
As was delineated above, MORE eventually bends back to UNITY. This then means that there is a MAXIMUM to MORE/ENERGY or SPEED. This maximum is the constant (symmetric, always the same) speed of light.
LOCAL SYMMETRY’S CENTRAL ROLE IN SCIENCE & NATURE:
The central position of local symmetry in science, and hence Nature, was first discovered by Galileo in numerous ways. Galileo, starting the era of modern science, revealed that the local laws of Nature are the same for reference frames at rest and reference frames travelling at a constant speed in a straight line. He also demonstrated that heavy and lighter objects fall down at the same rate of acceleration, which later helped Einstein to find his, as he called it, “HAPPIEST THOUGHT”, his equivalence principle, which stands for LOCAL SYMMETRY.
Newton continued the discovery of the core role of local symmetry, be it by calculating that both the INERTIAL MASS (#1) and the GRAVITATIONAL MASS (#2) of each massive object are identical (locally symmetric), or be it, that he could show that the central local laws, which he discovered, exist in harmony (symmetry, unity).
Maxwell, building on Faraday’s scientific findings, uncovered that the speed of light in empty space is constant (always the same, i.e., symmetric).
All that then enabled Einstein to make the final leap of unveiling the CORE ROLE OF LOCAL SYMMETRY IN NATURE. ?Not surprisingly then, Einstein actually wanted to call his theory of relativity INVARIANCE THEORY, with “invariance” meaning LOCAL SYMMETRY (locally no change, locally staying the same), to highlight that the LOCAL LAWS of Nature are the same (symmetric) in every local reference frame (compared to another local reference frame). Essentially, Albert Einstein wanted to call his ground-breaking and revolutionary theory LOCAL SYMMETRY THEORY.
Most talented mathematician Emmy Noether backed up Einstein’s seminal findings, by revealing the connection between continuous symmetries (like the local symmetry of the local laws of Nature compared between each local reference frame) and conservation laws (global symmetries, like the conservation (staying the same, symmetric) of energy with respect to an entire/global reference frame like the entire trajectory of a flying ball).
“Amid the rich and sometimes bewildering dynamics, our understanding of the world hangs on those factors that do not change, thanks to underlying symmetries that lead to invariance and conservations laws. Standing tall in the middle of it all we find Emmy Noether’s wonderful theorem.”—Dwight E. Neuenschwander (Emmy Noether’s Wonderful Theorem, 2011, p.200)
On the quantum mechanical level, countless physicist, like Yang and Mills, unveiled that it is LOCAL SYMMETRY which keeps systems (like the phase of an overall wavefunction of an electron) symmetric overall (globally), which in turn made clear that the vital interactions of quantum mechanics, like electromagnetism, are based on local symmetry.
“… local symmetry is what’s essential.”—Frank Wilczek (A Beautiful Question, 2015, p.207)
“Based on our experiences so far, we have reason to be confident that nature is the realization of the simplest conceivable mathematical concept.”—Albert Einstein (On the Method of Theoretical Physics, 10 June 1933, Author translation)
All human beings are then on an EQUAL FOOTING, as they are all local observers who will detect the same (symmetric) local laws of Nature.
“... the language has been learned - whatever new answers are found, and deeper questions spawned, about the universe or its mathematical fabric, at the center will be symmetry.”—Leon M. Lederman & Christopher T. Hill (Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe, 2004, p.289)
CONCLUSION:
In the course of human evolution, it was the honorable privilege of both Albert Einstein and Emmy Noether to reveal to humanity—with scientific and mathematical elegance—the central role of LOCAL SYMMETRY in beautiful Nature, in the magnificent cosmos. This was and is the greatest gift for a civilization. But humanity has not yet fully accepted this most vital and beautiful gift. I think, it would be most wise, if humanity, with joy, gratefulness and frontier spirit embraced this wonderful beauty of Nature for the benefit of all—each local individual and the planet.
“The perspectives offered by symmetry (…) It is imperative that we try to give the nonscientific members of society, who, through democratic processes, make the final decisions, a better understanding of the key issues. In fact, our future depends upon it.”—Leon M. Lederman & Christopher T. Hill (Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe, 2004, pp.24-25)