CHAPTER 16
Cosmic Atom Building
In essence, the cosmic ray decay is a process whereby high energy combinations of motions that are unstable at speeds less than that of light are converted in a series of steps to low energy structures that are stable at the lower speeds. A requirement that must be met in order to make the process feasible is the existence of a low energy environment that can serve as a sink for the energy that must be withdrawn from the cosmic structures. Where a high energy environment is created, either fortuitously or deliberately, the decay process is reversed, and cosmic elements of lower atomic number are produced from cosmic elements of higher atomic number, or from material particles, kinetic energy being absorbed from the environment to meet the additional energy requirements.
The first step in the reverse process is the inverse of the last step in the decay process: a neutron equivalent is converted into one of the rotating systems of a cosmic krypton atom by inversion of the orientation with respect to the space-time zero points. It is convenient, from a practical standpoint, to work with electrically charged particles. The standard technique in the production of transient particles therefore is to use protons, or hydrogen atoms which fragment to protons, as the “raw material” for cosmic atom building. In the high energy environment that is created in the production apparatus, the particle accelerators, the proton, M 1-1-(1), ejects an electron, M 0-0-(1), and then separates into two massless neutrons, M ½-½-0, each of which converts to a half c-Kr atom (that is, one of the rotating systems of that atom) by directional inversion. These half c-Kr atoms cannot add displacement and become muons because they are unable to dispose of the proton mass, which persists as a gravitational charge (half of the normal size, as the proton has only one rotating system). They remain as particles of a distinct type, each with half of the c-Kr mass (52 MeV), and half of the 931 MeV mass of a normal gravitational charge, the total being 492 MeV. They can be identified as K mesons, or kaons, the observed mass of which is 494 MeV.
As can be seen from the foregoing, the initial production of transient (cosmic) particles in the accelerators is always accompanied by a copious production of kaons. Each of the subsequent steps in the cosmic at building process that requires the addition of mass, such as the product of c-neon (the lambda particle) from c-silicon (the pion) and the product of the psi-3105 particle from one of the heaviest of the hyperons similar to the initial cosmic particle production, except that the proton mass is added to the product as a gravitational charge instead of forming a kaon. Where kaons appear in connection with the product of these particles, they are the result of secondary processes.
Furthermore, kaons are not produced in the decay processes, either in the cosmic rays or in the accelerators, because the decay takes place on a massless basis. A few kaons appear in the cosmic ray decay events, but they are not decay products. They are produced in collisions of cosmic rays with material atoms under conditions such that a temporary excess of energy is created—in miniature equivalents of the particle accelerators, we may say.
If the reverse process, the atom building process, is carried beyond c-hydrogen the final particle vanishes into the cosmic sector. Otherwise the cosmic atom building which takes place in the material sector is eventually succeeded by a decay that follows the normal path back to the point of reconversion into massless neutrons. Where the excess kinetic energy in the environment is too great to permit the decal proceed to completion, the production and decay processes arrive at an equilibrium consistent with the existing energy level.
In such a high-energy environment, the life of a particle may be terminated by a fragmentation process before the unit time limitation takes effect. This is simply a process of breaking the particle into two or more separate parts. The degree of fragmentation depends on the energy of the disruptive forces, and at the lower energy levels the products of fragmentation of any transient particle are mainly pions. At higher energies kaons appear, and in the fragmentation of hyperons the mass of the gravitational charges may come off in the form of neutron or protons. Corresponding to fragmentation is the inverse process of consolidation, in which particles of smaller mass join to form particles of larger mass. Thus a f particle, with a mass measured as 1020 MeV has been observed to fragment into two kaons. The 36 MeV excess mass goes into kinetic energy. Under appropriate conditions, the two kaons may consolidate to form a f particle, utilizing 36 MeV of kinetic energy to supply the necessary addition to the mass of the two smaller particles.
The essential difference between the two pairs of processes—building, and decay on the one hand, and fragmentation and consolidator on the other—is that building and decay proceed from higher to lower cosmic atomic number, and vice versa, whereas fragmentation and consolidation proceed from greater to less equivalent mass per particle, and vice versa. The decay process as a whole is a conversion from cosmic status to material status, and the atom building in the particle accelerators is a partial and temporary reversal of this process, but fragmentation and consolidation are merely changes in the state of the atomic constituents, a process that is common in both sectors.
The change in cosmic atomic number due to fragmentation may be either upward or downward, in contrast to the decay process, which always results in an increase in the cosmic atomic number. This difference is a consequence of the manner in which the mass of the gravitational charges enters into the respective processes. For example, the decay of c-St, the pion, is in the direction of c-Kr. On the other hand, the kaon, a gravitationally charged c-Kr atom, cannot decay into any other cosmic particle, as it is at the end of the line so far as decay is concerned, but it can fragment into any combination of particles whose combined mass does not exceed the 492 MeV kaon mass. Fragmentation into pions reverses the direction of the decay. If the maximum conversion to pions (mass 138 MeV each) takes place, three pions are produced. Frequently, a larger part of the total energy goes into the kinetic energy of the products, and the production of pions decreases to two.
The existence of both 2-pion and 3-pion events has been given a great deal of attention because of the bearing that they have on various hypotheses as to the laws that govern particle transformations. The present study indicates, however, that if the basic requirement, an excess energy environment, is met, so that conversion of the kaon to the material status is prevented, there are no restrictions on the fragmentation reactions, other than those considerations that are applicable to matter and energy in general in the material sector of the universe.
The study of the transient particles, which had its origin in the observation of the cosmic rays, is now carried on mainly in the accelerators. It is assumed that the same particles and the same processes are involved, and that the details thereof can be more conveniently ascertained where the conditions are subject to control. This is true, to a degree, of course, but the situation in the accelerators is much more complex than that to which the incoming cosmic rays are subject. The atom building process does not merely invert the decay process. The actual inverse of the cosmic ray decay is a situation in which material elements enter a cosmic (high energy) environment and eject negative displacement in order to build up into structures that can ultimately convert to the cosmic status. The cosmic entities initially produced in this process are sub-atomic particles. The accelerators, however, produce the cosmic elements that are closest to conversion to the material status (c-Kr, etc.), and then drive them back up the decay path by creating temporary energy concentrations in the material (low energy) environment. Because of the uneven character of these concentrations of energy, cosmic atom building in the accelerators is accompanied by numerous events of the inverse (decay) character, and by various fragmentation and consolidation processes that involve neither building nor decay. Many of the phenomena observed in the accelerator experiments are therefore peculiar to the kind of environment existing in the accelerators, and are not encountered in either the cosmic ray decay or in normal cosmic atom building.
It should also be kept in mind that the actual observations of these events, the “raw” data, have little meaning in themselves. In order to acquire any real significance they must be interpreted in the light of some kind of a theory as to what is happening, and in such areas as particle physics the final conclusion is often ten percent fact and ninety percent interpretation. The theoretical findings of this work are in agreement with the experimental results, and they also agree with the conclusions of the experimenters in most cases, but it can hardly be expected that the agreement will be complete where there are so many uncertainties in the interpretation of the experimental results.
The sequence of events in cosmic atom building in the accelerators has been observed experimentally in the so-called “resonance” experiments. These involve accelerating two streams of particles—stable or transient—to extremely high speeds and allowing them to collide. The relation of the amount of interaction, the “cross-section,” to the energy involved is not constant, but shows peaks or “resonances” at certain fairly well-defined values. This result is interpreted as indicating the production of very short-lived particles (indicated lifetime about 10-23 seconds) at the energies of the resonance peaks. This interpretation is confirmed in this work by the agreement of the sequences of resonance particles with the theoretical results of the cosmic atom building process.
Because of the difference in the nature of the processes, the sequence of elements in cosmic atom building is not the inverse of the decay sequence, although most of the decay products above c-He are included. As brought out in Chapter 15, the decay process is essentially a matter of ejecting positive rotational displacement. There is also a decrease in equivalent mass, but the mass loss is a secondary effect. The primary objective of the process is to get rid of the excess rotational energy. In the atom building process in a high energy environment the necessary energy is readily available, and the essential task is to provide the required mass. This is supplied in the form of c-Kr atoms, mass 51.73 each. The full sequence of cosmic atoms in the building process therefore consists of a series of elements, the successive members of which differ by 52 MeV. Aside from the lower end of the series, where two of the 52 MeV units are required per cosmic atomic weight unit, the only
| Atomic Number |
Element | Atomic Mass |
51.73 n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | *c-Kr | 52 | 52 |
| 18 | *c-A | 103 | 103 |
| 12 | c-Mg | 155 | 155 |
| (10) | *c-Ne | 186 | |
| 9 | c-F | 207 | 207 |
| (8) | c-O | 232 | |
| 7 | *c-N | 266 | 259 |
| 6 | c-C | 310 | 310 |
| 5 | *c-B10 | 372 | 362 |
| 4-½ | c-B9 | 414 | |
| 4 | c-Be8 | 466 | 466 |
| 3-½ | *c-Be7 | 532 | 517 |
| 569 | |||
| 3 | c-Li6 | 621 | 621 |
| 672 | |||
| 2-½ | *c-Li5 | 745 | 724 |
| * member of decay sequence | |||
significant deviations from this pattern in the experimental results are that c-B9 is absent, while c-Ne (a member of the decay sequence) and c-O appear in lieu of, or in addition to, c-F. The complete atom building sequence is shown in Table 4.
Most of the reported experimental results omit many of the steps in the full sequence. Whether this means that double or triple jumps are being made, or whether the intermediate stages have been missed by the investigators is not yet clear. However, the most complete set of results, the “sigma” series, is close enough to the theoretical sequence to suggest that the build-up does, in fact, proceed step by step as indicated in Table 4.
Regardless of any deviations from the normal sequence that may take place earlier, the first phase of the atom building process always terminates at c-Li5 (the omega particle, mass 1676 MeV) because, as is evident from the description of the steps in the cosmic ray decay, the motion must enter a second dimension in order to accomplish any further decrease in the cosmic atomic number. This requires a relatively large increase in energy, from 1676 to 3104 MeV. In the decay process there is no alternative, and the big drop in energy must take place, but in the reverse process the addition of energy in smaller amounts is made possible by reason of the ability of the cosmic atom to retain additional gravitational charges in an excess energy environment.
The doubly (gravitationally) charged cosmic element of lowest energy within the atom building range is c-Kr, the first atom that can be formed from conversion of material particles. The energy difference between doubly charged c-Kr and the last singly charged product, c-Li5, is substantial (238 MeV), and all of the cosmic atom building series theoretically include doubly charged c-Kr as well as singly charged c-Li5. There are, in fact, some intermediate stages. All but the last small increment of the mass required for the second charge is added in the form of c-Kr atoms (52 MeV each), as in building up the rotational mass, and this addition is accomplished in four steps. Similar inter-stages are possible between c-Be7 and c-Li6, also between c-Li6 and c-Li5, where two c-Kr mass increments are required between the cosmic elements.
Beyond doubly charged c-Kr, the regular sequence is again followed, with some omissions or deviations which, as mentioned earlier, may or may not represent the true course of events. At doubly charged c-Li5, mass 2607 MeV, the atom building process again reaches the one-dimensional limit, and a third charge is added in the same manner as the second, inaugurating a new series of resonances which extends to the neighborhood of the 3104 MeV required for the production of the first of the particles that have scalar motion in two dimensions.
Table 5 compares the theoretical and observed values of the masses of the particles included in the several series of resonances that have been reported. The agreement is probably about as close as can be expected in view of the difficulties involved in making the measurements. In more than a third of the total number of cases the measured mass is within 10 MeV of the theoretical value. It is also worth noting that in the only case where enough measurements are available to provide a good average value for an individual cosmic element, the 11 measurements on c-Li5, the agreement between this average and the theoretical mass is exact.
All of the singly charged transient particles moving in only one dimension are stable against decay for about l0-10 seconds. However, they are extremely vulnerable to fragmentation under conditions such as those that prevail in the accelerators, and only the particles of lowest mass escape fragmentation long enough to decay. The lifetime of the heavier particles is limited by fragmentation to the absolute minimum, which appears to be the unit of time corresponding to three scalar dimensions of motion, or about 10-24 seconds.
In the tabulations of particle data in the current scientific literature,
the information with respect to the series of resonances thus far discussed is presented under the heading of “Baryon Resonances.” A further classification of “Meson Resonances” gives similar information concerning particles that were observed by a variety of other techniques. These are, of course, entities of the same nature—cosmic elements in the decay range—and largely the same elements, but because of the wide variations in the conditions under which they were produced the meson list includes a number of additional elements. Indeed, it includes all of the elements of the regular atom building sequence (with c-Ne and c-O substituted for c-F, as previously noted), and one additional isotope, c-C11. The masses derived from the experiments are compared with the theoretical masses of the cosmic elements in Table 6. The names currently applied to the observed particles have no significance, and have been omitted.
In preparing this table, the observed particles were first assigned to the corresponding cosmic elements, an assignment that could be made without ambiguity, as the maximum experimental deviations from the theoretical masses are, in all but a very few instances, considerably less than the mass differences between the successive elements or isotopes. On the assumption that the deviations of the reported values from the true masses of the particles are due to causes whose effects are randomly related to the true masses, the individual values were averaged for comparison with the theoretical masses. The close correlation between the two sets of values not only confirms the status of these observed particles as cosmic elements, but also validates the assumption of random deviations, on which the averaging was based. Presumably these deviations are, in part, due to inaccuracies in obtaining and processing the experimental data, but they may also include a random distribution of differences of a real character: more of the “fine structure” which, as previously noted, has not yet been studied in the context of the Reciprocal System.
The averaged values are shown in parentheses. Where only single measurements are available, the deviations from the theoretical values are naturally greater, but they are generally within the same range as those of the individual values that enter into the averages. Longer lived decay products such as c-Ne and c-N are not usually classified with the resonances, but they have been included in the table to show the complete picture. The gaps still remaining in the table will no doubt be filled as further experimental work is done. Indeed, many of these gaps, particularly in the upper portion of the mass range, can be filled immediately, simply by consolidating Tables 5 and 6. The difference between these two sets of resonances is only in the experimental procedures by which the reported values were derived. All of the transient
| c-Atomic number |
Element | Grav. charge |
Inter- stage |
Theor. | Mass Obs. ** |
Mass Individual Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | c-Li6 | 621 | ||||
| a | 673 | 700 | ||||
| 2-½ | *c-Li5 | 745 | (760) | 750,770 | ||
| a | 797 | 784 | ||||
| d | 952 | (951) | 940,953-958 | |||
| 36 | *c-Kr | 1 | 983 | (986) | 970,990,997 | |
| 18 | *c-Ar | 1 | 1034 | (1031) | 1020,1033,1040 | |
| 12 | c-Mg | 1 | 1086 | (1090) | 1080,1100 | |
| 10 | *c-Ne | 1 | 1117 | 1116 | ||
| 8 | c-O | 1 | 1164 | (1165) | 1150,1170-1175 | |
| 7 | *c-N | 1 | 1197 | 1197 | ||
| 6 | c-C12 | 1 | 1241 | (1240) | 1237,1242 | |
| 5-½ | c-C11 | 1 | 1270 | (1274) | 1265,1270,1286 | |
| 5 | *c-B10 | 1 | 1303 | 1310 | ||
| 4-½ | c-B9 | 1 | 1345 | |||
| 4 | c-Be8 | 1 | 1397 | |||
| 3-½ | *c-Be7 | 1 | 1463 | (1455) | 1440,1470 | |
| a | 1515 | 1516 | ||||
| 3 | c-Li6 | 1 | 1552 | 1540 | ||
| a | 1604 | (1623) | 1600,1645 | |||
| 2-½ | *c-Li5 | 1 | 1676 | (1674) | 1660,1664-1680,1690 | |
| b | 1779 | (1773) | 1760,1765-1795 | |||
| c | 1831 | (1840) | 1830,1850 | |||
| 36 | *c-Kr | 2 | 1914 | 1930 | ||
| 8 | c-O | 2 | 2095 | 2100 | ||
| 5 | *c-B10 | 2 | 2234 | 2200 | ||
| 4-½ | c-B9 | 2 | 2276 | 2275 | ||
| 4 | c-Be8 | 2 | 2328 | 2360 | ||
| 3-½ | *c-Be7 | 2 | 2394 | 2375 | ||
| 36 | *c-Kr | 3 | 2845 | 2800 | ||
| 36 (kaon)½ | c-Kr | 1-½ | 1423 | (1427) | 1416,1421,1430,1440 | |
| * Decay sequence | ||||||
particles, irrespective of the category to which they are currently assigned, are cosmic elements or isotopes, with or without gravitational charges of the material type.
The absence of singly (gravitationally) charged particles corresponding to c-B9 from the list of observed resonances is rather conspicuous, particularly since the similar particle of twice this atomic weight, c-F18 is also missing, as noted earlier. The reason for this anomaly is still unknown.
The last particle listed in Table 6 is a kaon, one of the two rotating systems of a c-Kr atom, with a full gravitational charge in addition to the half-sized charge that it normally carries. This particle has the same relation to the normal kaon that the atoms of the doubly charged series in Tables 5 and 6 bear to the corresponding singly charged atoms.
ln the first edition it was suggested that some of the cosmic ray particles entering the material sector might be cosmic chemical compounds rather than single atoms. In the light of the more complete information now available with respect to the details of the inter-regional transfer of matter, this possibility must now be excluded, but short-lived associations between cosmic and material particles, and perhaps, in some cases, between cosmic particles, are feasible, and evidence of some such associations has been obtained. For example, the lambda meson (c-neon) is reported to participate in a number of combinations with material elements, called hyperfragments, which disintegrate after a brief existence. The current view is that the meson, which is assumed to be a sub-atomic particle, replaces one of the “nucleons” in the material atom. However, we find (l) that the material atom is not composed of particles, (2) that there are no nucleons, and (3) that the mesons are full-sized atoms, not sub-atomic particles. The hyperfragment therefore cannot be anything more than a temporary association between a material atom and a cosmic atom.
The new findings as to the nature of the transient particles, and their production and decay, do not negate the results of the vast amount of work that has been done toward determining the behavior characteristics of these particles. As stated earlier in this chapter, these theoretical findings are generally consistent not only with the actual experimental results, but also with the experimenters’ ideas as to what the raw data—the various “tracks,” electrical measurements, counter readings, etc.—signify with respect to the existence and behavior of the different transient particles. But what appears to be an immense amount of experimental data actually contributes very little toward an explanation of the nature of these particles, and their place in the physical universe; it merely serves to define the problem. As expressed by V. F. Weisskopf, in a review of the situation, “The present theoretical activities are attempts to get something from almost nothing.”
Much of the information derived from observation is ambiguous, and some of it is definitely misleading. The experimentally established facts obviously have a bearing on the problem, but they are too limited in their scope to warn the investigators that they cannot be fitted into the pattern to which scientists are accustomed. For instance, in the world of ordinary matter, a particle mass less than that of the lightest isotope of hydrogen indicates that the particle belongs to the sub-atomic class. But when the effective masses of the transient particles, as determined by experiment, are interpreted according to this familiar pattern, they give a totally false account of the nature of these entities. Thus, while the determination of the particle masses adds to the total amount of factual information available, its practical effect is to lead the investigators away from the truth rather than toward it. The following statements by Weisskopf in his review indicate that he suspected that some such misinterpretation of the empirical data is responsible for the confusion that currently surrounds the subject.
We are exploring unknown modes of behavior of matter under completely novel conditions…. It is questionable whether our present understanding of high-energy phenomena is commensurate to the intellectual effort directed at their interpretation.67
Availability of a general physical theory which enables us to deduce the nature and characteristics of the transient particles in full detail from theoretical premises, rather than having to depend on physical observation of a very limited scope, now opens the door to a complete understanding. The foregoing pages have provided an account of what the transient particles are, where the particles of natural origin (the cosmic rays) come from, what happens to them after they arrive, and how they are related to the transient particles produced in the accelerators. The aspects of these particles that have been so difficult to explain on the basis of conventional theory—their multiplicity, their extremely short lifetimes, the high speed and great energies of the natural particles, and so on—are automatically accounted for when their origin and general nature is understood.
Another significant point is that, on the basis of the new theoretical explanation, the cosmic rays have a definite and essential place in the mechanism of the universe. One of the serious weaknesses of conventional physical theory is that it is unable to find roles for a number of the recently discovered phenomena such as the cosmic rays, the quasars, the galactic recession, etc., that are commensurate with the magnitude of the phenomena, and is forced to treat them as products of exceptional or abnormal circumstances. In view of the wide extent of the phenomena in question, and their far-reaching consequences, such characterization is clearly inappropriate. The theoretical finding that these are stages of the cosmic cycle through which all matter eventually passes now eliminates this inconsistency, and identifies each of these phenomena with a significant phase of the normal activity of the universe. The existence of a hitherto unknown second half of the universe is the key to an understanding of all of these currently misinterpreted phenomena, and the most interesting feature of the cosmic rays is that they give us a fleeting glimpse of the entities of which the physical objects of that second half, the cosmic sector, are constructed.