There have many other attempts prior to mine to describe the workings of energy in the tiny Planck realm. It is my futile hope that these groups of physicists would combine their efforts instead of blindly pursuing as individuals the Nobel Prize. They are all trying to add detail to descriptions of a part of the universe hidden from view and embedded in the quantum vacuum. There is the zero point field hypothesis, there is super-string theory and there is twistor space. All theories bring back the old notion of an all pervading ether (although renaming the concept as zero point field, quantum vacuum, quantum fluctuations, quantum jitters or twistor space) in which all energy is embedded.
There is a history of scientists attempting to name and describe the quantum vacuum area -- space as small or smaller than the Planck length (1.6 centimeters divided by ten to the 33rd power) -- which is not at all an empty vacuum. Back in the 19th Century the term ether was used. In 1858 Lord Kelvin, in formulating his theory of vortex rings (the predecessor of string theory) called this space the perfect fluid. Kelvin didn't believe this space was empty and maintained it was filled with vortex sponges giving rise to vortex motions whirling in all directions. In contrast, string theory sees this area (deep within the tiniest submicroscopic particle) filled with virtual electrons, virtual positrons and virtual photons. Very confusing attempts are currently being made to describe this space: some say it is inhabited by microscopic wormholes or by shifting minispace bubbles or fluctuating space foam. Others refer to it as a zero point field. Roger Penrose speaks of twistor space. All admit that this area can never be magnified enough (neither by an electron microscope nor any existing or probable energy accelerator) to provide an answer to the mystery. As you have read, my name for the forever hidden area is Planck realm.
1) The Zero point quantum fluctuation theory hypothesizes that, beneath the viewable threshold, there is an electromagnetic field, forecast by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, where energy particles blink into and out of existence. There is a tendency for physicist to refer to this submicroscopic area as vacuum space. But two physicists, Haisch and Rueda, state: "the vacuum of modern physics is far from empty -- quite the opposite. It is a seething soup of subatomic particles and energy fields bubbling in and out of existence, a cauldron where the very notions of space and time may take on meaning." These researchers try to visualize a quantum sea in which charges can be projected as mass. They ask, "Maybe there is no such thing as mass -- only charge, which gives the illusion of mass where it is immersed in the quantum vacuum." They continue, "Physicists universally accept the reality of the quantum vacuum, a sea of virtual particles and photons that wink in and out of existence too fast to be seen." They do not quantify what speed "too fast" is but the shortest duration measured on a subatomic baryon (heavy) particle is a lifespan of only 58 septillionth of a second (58 seconds divided by 10 to the 21st power). To shorten this alphabet soup, I call the vacuum space the Planck realm.
It seems that in this sub microscopic Planck realm we would be dealing with Planck lengths and Planck times. A Planck second is the time it takes light to travel a Planck length. Trying to visualize these tiny sizes is impossible but it obvious that we would have to shrink down to Planck size in order to take the vibrational pulse or heartbeat of the creation of the universe. Haisch and Rueda want to rethink what mass or matter is. "What we feel and interpret as mass is, in this theory, an electromagnetic resistance arising out of the zero-point field." They saw mass as a consequence of charge. To the zero point field they connect the concept of inertia, the force needed to accelerate energy or mass through space. All that is really being said is that ignorance is the godmother of fantasy.
2) String theory substitutes tiny closed loops (with a diameter of the Planck length) for the point particles found in the particle accelerators. Strings of energy are said to vibrate like banjo strings to compose the myriad of subnuclear particles which have been found. String theory has become the current rage of many physicists who admit there is no way to test the existence of these vibrating strings of energy. Their most common manner of describing this hidden realm is to claim that frenzied quantum fluctuations create pairs of virtual string photons which blink in and out of existence. Although there is no current way to measure energy in the Planck realm, all of these physicist point you to their blackboards of chalk equations to support their theory. When asked if they will ever be able to verify their theory with experiment they point to the fact that it would take a device, an energy accelerator with a circumference of millions of miles, to direct energy to hit a target the size of a string of the Planck length. Current technology can measure 1 x 10 to the minus 20 centimeters but this quantum foam is bubbling up on the Planck scale. Brian Greene admits, that in order for physicists to ever detect the Planck length strings or loops of energy and these virtual electrons, one would need an accelerator with the circumference size of our entire galaxy. No such technology to magnify these tiny events appears to be on the human horizon.
Whether you consider the whole ball of string theory's theoretical wax, all eleven dimensions, or just five, the scales of examining the hidden dimensions are the same as with the zero-point vacuum fluctuations. Brian Greene, in THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE, for example, goes to great lengths to describe where the seven extra dimensions are hiding. He mentions a quantum foam and says "the string/anti string pairs can momentarily erupt into existence, borrowing energy from the universe, so long as they annihilate one another with sufficient haste, thereby repaying the energy loan. Such pairs of strings, born of the quantum frenzy but which live on borrowed energy and hence must shortly recombine into a single loop are know as virtual string pairs." Most of the time Brian speaks as if he was describing an actual process instead of a fictive cosmology that his mathematics has dictated to him. It is as though Brian Greene and Haisch-Rueda (of zero point fluctuations fame) lived in two different universes. Yet they both inhabit planet earth and both are speaking of the same Planck realm.
3) The only thing I learned from Roger Penrose's brainchild, twistor theory was repetitive: Important processes occur in the submicroscopic realm. Twistors are geometrical formulations of submicroscopic space. A twistor is as much smaller than an atom as the atom is smaller than our solar system (a sun and nine planets, with Pluto over three billion miles from the sun). Penrose's main hope is that one day testable predictions can be made using twistor theory. The massless particles (photons) he sees as composed of one twistor; those with mass (electrons) need two twistors for definition; and the protons and neutrons go for the three twistor costume. Don't hold your breath waiting for this theory to be verified.
When one studies string, zero point or twistor space theory, you quickly learn that you are being invited into the area of the submicroscopic world. It would appear to me that however you visualize these tiny events, whether as massless particles or as charges of energy, these virtual doodads can't be seen or measured. The only way you can enter this Alice in Wonderland world is with metaphor -- and metaphor is what my worldreels cosmology is all about.
In conclusion, to assemble my fictive worldreels cosmology I looked for a means of recording all of the events occurring in this fast moving world. I found neutrinos that pass through all matter and could deposit these images on a Planck film, a blueprint of the world hidden in the Planck realm. I then looked for a way to magnify and project this miniature model into view. I found the space net and the Planck lens. In my fictive world the all connecting space-net acts as the Planck lens to focus and project mass into the visible space-time continuum. This is all accomplished by the flick-flack bouncing of the energy-loops, colliding with existing real sized energy particles -- virtual energies blinking in and out of existence. I then allowed one of my characters to acquire a device, the attoprojector, to project the neutrino trail on the Planck film, the blueprint of all existence. World frame by world frame, Planck second by Planck second, this laser attoprojector brings the worldreels into Keeber's view. Each worldreel frame captures and pulls after it the next frame. All the worldframes comprise one worldreel, a Planck second snapshot of this world. The process continues and repeats -- blink-blink, blink-blink. This streaming picture fills out the fourth dimension of time. How ironic, it seems, that the human brain, through concentration, dreams, hypnosis, hallucinations and spiritual trance can contact the Planck blueprint and magnify these tiny images into view. Even characters without a special projector have a brain capable of producing their own record, insights, intuitions, dreams, poetry, song and memories. They do, however, lack the ability to control these fast moving images or integrate them sensibly into their lives.
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