Dirac's Interpretation of The Large Number Coincidences
The Weyl and Eddington ratios above can be rephrased in a variety of ways, as for instance in the context of time:
where t is the age of the universe, is the speed of light and re is the classical electron radius. Hence, in units where c=1 and re = 1, the age of the Universe is about 1040 units of time. This is the same order of magnitude as the ratio of the electrical to the gravitational forces between a proton and an electron:
Hence, interpreting the charge of the electron, the mass / of the proton/electron, and the permittivity factor in atomic units (equal to 1), the value of the gravitational constant is approximately 10−40. Dirac interpreted this to mean that varies with time as, and thereby pointed to a cosmology that seems 'designer-made' for a theory of quantum gravity. According to general relativity, however, G is constant, otherwise the law of conserved energy is violated. Dirac met this difficulty by introducing into the Einstein field equations a gauge function β that describes the structure of spacetime in terms of a ratio of gravitational and electromagnetic units. He also provided alternative scenarios for the continuous creation of matter, one of the other significant issues in LNH:
- 'additive' creation (new matter is created uniformly throughout space) and
- 'multiplicative' creation (new matter is created where there are already concentrations of mass).
Read more about this topic: Dirac Large Numbers Hypothesis
Famous quotes containing the words large, number and/or coincidences:
“I do not claim that all women, or a large portion of them, should enter into independent business relations with the world, but I do claim that all women should cultivate and respect in themselves an ability to make money.”
—Ellen Demarest (1824–1898)
“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Only ambition is fired by the coincidences of success and easy accomplishment but nothing is quite as splendidly uplifting to the heart as the defeat of a human being who battles against the invincible superiority of fate. This is always the most grandiose of all tragedies, one sometimes created by a dramatist but created thousands of times by life.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)