Dr Schwarzer's Annus mirabilis year - Interview No5

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Has Quantum Gravity Solved the 3-Generation Problem?

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Troy: In your recent paper you shared amongst physicists “Shouldn’t Quantum Gravity Solve the 3-Generation Problem?” you wrote about the problem of deriving the three generations of particles. Why do physicists care about them? Or why should non-scientists even think about them?

Norbert: Because scientists can’t answer where they are coming from. 

Troy: For the non physicists, what are the three generations in physics?

Norbert: Well, the best is just Google it, look up in Wikipedia, in this case it’s not lying. The three generation of particles just mean that we have a certain sort of particle like a lepton, a charged lepton which is an electron or an uncharged one, the neutrino, and this comes in three generations of different masses, otherwise the properties are equal.

Troy: So just three different types of particles.

 Norbert: Yes three different types, they call it generations. Maybe it has to do with people getting fatter with the generations, I don’t know! Because the basic particle, which – in the case of the charged leptons for instance - is the electron, then comes the next heavier one which is the muon, then the tauon on which is the next heavier one. And to these we have the neutrinos, which the electron neutrino, the muon neutrino and the tauon neutrino.  The same we have with the quarks, which build our hydronic matter being the protons and the neutrons.

Troy: These are fundamental building blocks of our atoms, things that make up our mass.

Norbert: Yes.

Troy: What is unique then about your approach in the paper you have just written, how is it different to what the classical methodologies would be?

Norbert: There is no classical methodologies that can explain three generation of particles.

Troy: They are based on assumptions? How do they start?

Norbert: They measure it. They see theses particles and don’t really know where they come from. Why is it just three generations? Why not four? Why not five? So, there is no true answer. 

Where does my answer come from? Well, I use a quantum gravity approach. This approach is a tensor approach and it has a lot to do with the Ricci Tensor, and this one is based on the Riemann Tensor. This is just a mathematical vehicle describing the curvature of space time. You could say masses might just be curved spaced time. Now the interesting thing is if you have the quantum gravity approach based on the Riemann space time, no matter how many dimensions - we leave this question out - then you can just apply certain mathematical identities, so you just use math like plus and minus or other things. There is one thing that works on the Riemann Tensor, this is the Bianchi identity. And on the Ricci Tensor it would be a compressed or compactified Bianchi identity. And if you apply this, then from those two other quantum gravity equations, you suddenly obtain differential equations of third order. And third order equations have how many solutions?

Troy (quick as a shot): Three.

Norbert: Yes! Applying this on certain particle metrics or metrics which could be interpreted as particles, we get three different masses as possibilities.  Three solutions to the masses.

Troy:  meaning…

Norbert: Three generations.

Troy: Does that mean that you have fully shown that this is the three generations of particles or you have come close to it, what is the next step.

Norbert: I don’t know! I’ll leave it to others, I am not commenting on this.

Troy: What is the next step for an interested scientist, physicist or mathematician to take, would they just take it further?

Norbert: To really find the metric describing the electron in an ensemble of electrons or quarks, this is much more complicated than the Dirac equation and this already is a complicated thing.

Troy: Is that something that would need to be done with more computing?

Norbert: Yes. You would just need more resources. What I have done has been done on a sheet of paper with a pen. 

Troy: So really all that is left is to come from both sides, the theoretical and experimental and find where they meet? Is that the last step?

Norbert: No, I am not saying yes to this.

Troy: It could be?

Norbert: It depends on how you define those tasks. It’s too complicated to just bring into one sentence. Of course you try to look for certain asymmetries and differences and then see whether the theory fits but for this you at first would have the need to find this suitable candidate for the metric of a special particle. And what is a special particle? A particle residing in the Universe alone or one which fears its neighbours. You see it becomes as complicated as the damned Universe is! But the important thing is, the moment you apply the contracted Bianchi identity on the Einstein Hilbert action results of a certain metrical structure you already get those three generations. And so far, nobody knew where to get them from.

Troy: So this is the importance of what you have shown, you have shown where they are coming from.

Norbert (reluctant and drawn): Mathematically. Yes!

Troy: So it seems like there is a huge opportunity, something big waiting there.

Norbert: Yes, big with respect to what else could be extracted from there. This is such a fundamental finding, not simply only holding for elementary particles, but for all systems. No matter what system I describe I can apply this very contracted Bianchi identity and obtain what? – 3 generations.

Troy: Ok, well thank you, that leads me into a question for the next interview. Very interesting, I have no more questions and I look forward to our next discussion.

From Wikipedia "The origin of multiple generations of fermions, and the particular count of 3, is an unsolved problem of physics".

#electron #muon #tauon #quarks #bosons #leptons #generations #particles #neutrino #strange #charm #fermions