Space & Speed of Light

The only values that have been confirmed recently (NOW on graph) were obtained by the Planck cosmology spacecraft (2013). Dark energy would be 100% at the beginning and has provided the energy for the quantum fluctuations to build the normal matter, space and dark matter. As the mass of the universe increases the speed of light will also increase minutely while it approaches 100%. ​The following article supports my idea of a slower light speed in the past: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6092-speed-of-light-may-have-changed-recently/. 

The controversial finding is turning up the heat on an already simmering debate about the constancy of the speed of light. A varying speed of light contradicts Einstein’s theory of relativity, and would undermine much of traditional physics. But some physicists believe it would elegantly explain puzzling cosmological phenomena such as the nearly uniform temperature of the universe.

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A more recent article in Live Science also suggests that the speed of light may be changing and is determined by the reaction with virtual particles (from quantum fluctuations) thus  showing that space is not the simple vacuum but a structured platform that determines the speed of light, vacuum energy and gravity.

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"Photons of light, as they fly through 'space', are captured and re-emitted by these virtual particles. Urban and his colleagues propose that the energies of these particles — specifically the amount of charge they carry — affect the speed of light. Since the amount of energy a particle will have at the time a photon hits it will be essentially random, the effect on how fast photons move should vary too."

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This also relates to my theory that the mass of a universe determines the speed of light at the time of measurement. For example, although the formation of virtual particles is random, there must be an average energy level across thousands of these in forming 'space' so the photon capture/re-emission across thousands of particles will average out. It could be argued that the total of all particles in the universe accounts for the mass and density of the universe. Therefore they determine the density of 'space' which would increase as 'space' and matter is created by the quantum fluctuations. Surely, if the density of virtual particles determine the speed of light in the universe, then doesn't this show that the speed of light is proportional to mass of the universe and slowly increases as shown in the graph above?

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The Fine Structure Alpha Constant 1/137

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In physics, the fine-structure constant, also known as the Sommerfeld constant, commonly denoted by α, is a fundamental physical constant which quantifies the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles. 

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α  = Fine-structure constant (alpha)

ε0 = electric constant

e = elementary charge

ħ = reduced Planck constant

c = speed of light in a vacuum

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Numerically, the fine-structure constant, denoted by the Greek letter α (alpha), comes very close to the ratio 1/137. It commonly appears in formulas governing light and matter. The fine-structure constant has no dimensions or units. It’s a pure number that shapes the universe to an astonishing degree. In the physics of low-energy matter — atoms, molecules, chemistry, biology — there’s always a ratio of bigger things to smaller things. Those ratios tend to be powers of the fine-structure constant.

 

Because 1/137 is small, electromagnetism is weak; as a consequence, charged particles form airy atoms whose electrons orbit at a distance and easily hop away, enabling chemical bonds. On the other hand, the constant is also just big enough: Physicists have argued that if it was something like 1/138, stars would not be able to create carbon, and life as we know it wouldn’t exist.

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The constant is everywhere because it characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force affecting charged particles such as electrons and protons. Alpha is a pure number constant that shapes the universe to an astonishing degree — “a magic number that comes to us with no understanding,” as Richard Feynman described it. Paul Dirac considered the origin of the number “the most fundamental unsolved problem of physics.”

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The structure of 'space' appears to be constant across the universe but how can we define this structure because it defines distance, time, gravity and controls the speed of light. Perhaps the constant α defines this structure and is the most significant number representing a binding agent glueing our universe together and preventing chaos. Remember the earlier article where results built on previous studies by Vopson, who postulated that information (including constants) is the fifth state of matter (alongside solid, liquid, gas, and plasma) and that Dark Matter itself could be information?

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Significance of Planck's Constant

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Planck’s constant, h, appears throughout quantum mechanics and is one of the fundamental constants of physics. It currently has a value of:

h = 6.6260693 x 10^-34 J s

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Planck’s constant has the units of action ( energy x time, which can be shown to be the same as momentum x length ). This also represented as ħ, which is the reduced Planck constant, h/(2π).

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Planck’s (reduced) constant appears in the two uncertainty relationships: 

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ΔxΔp ≥ ħ     and      ΔEΔt ≥ ħ

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where we have uncertainties in the measurements of a particle’s or wave-packet’s position Δx, momentum Δp, energy ΔE and lifetime Δt.

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Planck’s law for the energy Eλ radiated per unit volume by a cavity of a blackbody in the wavelength interval λ to λ + Δλ (Δλ denotes an increment of wavelength) can be written in terms of Planck’s constant (h), the speed of light (c), the Boltzmann constant (k), and the absolute temperature (T):