Evans-Myron · Source catalogue

A 548-page multi-author monograph from the Alpha Institute for Advanced Study (AIAS) arguing that the Einstein field equation (EFE) of general relativity is geometrically wrong. [read] Preface and Ch.1 (Evans): Cartan geometry has a torsion tensor T and a curvature tensor R tied by a Bianchi identity; Evans says the Hodge dual of that identity (the 'Cartan-Evans identity', D^T~ = R~^q) must also hold. The EFE assumes the symmetric Christoffel connection, so T = 0, and the dual identity then demands R = 0, false wherever matter is present. He concludes that the EFE and its consequences (black holes, big bang, dark matter) are wrong and blames Einstein's use of a symmetric connection; Ch.1 (p.16) also says the 1919 Eddington eclipse test lacked precision. [read] Ch.2 (AIAS paper 100) reviews Einstein-Cartan-Evans (ECE) theory: the tetrad is the fundamental field, the electromagnetic potential is postulated as A = A(0) q, the field is torsion (F = A(0) T), a spin connection omega enters E and B, Maxwell-Heaviside is called incomplete, gauge theory is rejected, a wave equation (box + kT) q = 0 is said to give Dirac, Proca and Schroedinger limits and the Heisenberg principle is rejected. Sec. 2.6 (pp.48-49): spin connection makes the Coulomb/Poisson equation an Euler-Bernoulli resonance equation, said to explain Tesla and the Bedini motor and allow circuits to take power from space-time. Sec. 2.7 (pp.49-54): Faraday disk generator and Sagnac effect explained via spin connection (the Sagnac time delay reduces to the standard 4*Omega*A/c^2 result). Sec. 2.8 (pp.54-61): radiative corrections. The book gives g(ECE) = 2.002323(49) against NIST g(exptl) = 2.0023193043718(75), admits a difference of 0.000004 (Eq. 2.217), says it is 'comparable to the experimental uncertainty in h', calls precision tests of QED (g factor, Lamb shift, Casimir, positronium) of 'no utility', and gives an ECE Lamb shift DeltaE = 0.0353 cm^-1 (Eqs 2.232, 2.242) that depends on a length r = 1.69e-7 m stated without derivation in Eq. 2.243. Sec. 2.9 (pp.61-66): a list of 36 'advances' of ECE including spiral-galaxy curves, no dark matter, no black holes, electroweak masses without Higgs, and spin-connection resonance as an energy source. [read] Ch.3 (Crothers, pp.93-141): Schwarzschild's own radius is R(r) = (r^3 + alpha^3)^(1/3) with alpha undetermined, r is not a distance, so black holes, point-mass singularities and the big bang are impossible; vacuum Ric = 0 solutions are meaningless; Secs 3.5-3.9 add: infinite density forbidden by special relativity, 'escape velocity is a two-body concept' (the Michell-Laplace dark body is not a black hole), no exact two-body solution so binaries and mergers are invalid, energy cannot be localised (replacement equation G/kappa + T = 0, Eq. 3.26), the Einstein pseudotensor is meaningless, linearisation is inadmissible (Weyl 1944), the Kretschmann scalar is finite at r = 2m, signature change inside r = 2m, Hagihara 1931. Crothers writes twice (pp.130, 134) that LIGO 'is destined to detect nothing' and that Gravity Probe B did not detect frame dragging, and (p.133) that the search for black holes is 'destined to find none'. [read] Ch.4 (Evans and Eckardt, pp.141-503): Maxima computer algebra for 62 line elements. The 'cosmological charge density' is R^00 and the three 'current density classes' are the space-space components of the contravariant Ricci tensor (minus sign conventions aside); all 62 tables print 'o.k.' for metric compatibility and the cyclic identity, although p.144 says several well-known line elements 'failed'. [read] Ch.5 (Pendergast, pp.505-548): popular history of Einstein, Hilbert, the 1919 eclipse, E=mc2 and quantum mechanics; accepts light bending (Cassini, 1:100,000, quasar lensing), proposes a double-pulsar polarisation test of ECE, argues the Copenhagen interpretation is wrong, and says spiral galaxies come from torsion (Eckardt simulations not in the folder). [read] The book says paper 93 submitted to Physica B met 'crude personal abuse'; the author signs as 'The British and Commonwealth Civil List Scientist'. [read] Ch.2 Secs 2.7-2.9 deep read (round 2): (i) the Lamb-shift length r = 1.69e-7 m IS printed (Eq. 2.243, p.59) but not derived or described as fitted; it equals about 3190 Bohr radii, is not an electron-proton separation inside the atom, and is within 0.3% of the value (1.694e-7 m) that exactly returns the measured 1057.8 MHz [calc], so it works as a fit parameter; with r = 4a the formula gives 28 cm^-1 [calc]. (ii) g(ECE) = 2(1 + alpha/4pi)^2 = 2 + alpha/pi + alpha^2/8pi^2 (Eqs 2.214, 2.223) is 4.19e-6 above experiment, farther off than Schwinger's one-term 2 + alpha/pi (3.5e-6), because the added term has the wrong sign and size against true second-order QED (-3.5e-6) [calc]. (iii) The book's alpha = 0.007297(34) and 'NIST inconsistency' are artefacts of rounding: the book's own inputs give alpha = 0.00729735255, matching CODATA to 1.3e-9; the (34) is about 2e4 times larger than the stated rule gives, and the g uncertainty (49) cannot be reproduced. (iv) Slips: Eq. 2.207 labels h as hbar; Eq. 2.227 prints (alpha/2pi)^2 where (alpha/pi)^2 is standard; Eq. 2.229 R_K equalities wrong; Eq. 2.249 should be 3.47e-14 m not 3.48e-13 m; coefficients in Eqs 2.231, 2.240 and 2.253 disagree with 2.242. (v) Faraday disk: no emf formula or number; Eq. 2.193 applied to A(2) vanishes, only the A(1) component gives Eq. 2.194; the claim that the standard model cannot explain the disk is false (Lorentz force). (vi) Sagnac: omega1 = c/r is solved so that the delay equals the standard 4*Omega*A/c^2, which is the input, so there is no new prediction; the book itself says the gravitation-optics effect is not observable in the laboratory (p.54). (vii) The 36-item list of advances (pp.61-66) contains no numbers, equations or citations; it dates itself to about 2008 (Higgs 'not verified', superseded in 2012 [memory, high]).

Key claims

• The Einstein field equation is geometrically invalid because it assumes zero torsion and so violates the Hodge-dual Bianchi ('Cartan-Evans') identity D_mu T^kappa mu nu = R^kappa mu_mu nu.
• Every known metric solution with finite energy-momentum density gives a nonzero R^kappa mu_mu nu with T = 0, which the Ch.4 computer algebra shows to be a violation of the dual identity (the tabulated 'charge and current densities' are components of minus the contravariant Ricci tensor).
• Several well-known line elements fail metric compatibility (Eq. 4.13) and the cyclic Ricci identity (Eq. 4.12) (p.144); the book's own 62 tables print 'o.k.' for all of them and name no failing case.
• The connection of Riemannian/Cartan geometry must be antisymmetric in its lower two indices and Einstein's symmetric connection was an elementary error.
• The electromagnetic field is the Cartan torsion of spacetime (F = A(0) T, A = A(0) q), so Maxwell-Heaviside is the zero-spin-connection limit.
• A nonzero spin connection makes the Coulomb/Poisson equation resonant, which explains Tesla's resonances and allows circuits (Bedini motor) to draw usable power from spacetime torsion, with no violation of energy conservation (p.49 printed p.41).
• ECE reproduces the electron g-factor (g(ECE) = 2.002323(49), Eq. 2.215, from g = 2 + alpha/pi + alpha^2/8pi^2) and the hydrogen Lamb shift (0.0353 cm^-1, using a stated but underived length r = 1.69e-7 m, Eq. 2.243) without QED, and the precision tests of QED are meaningless because they are limited by the accuracy of Planck's constant h; the book's own formula is 4.19e-6 above the measured g (about 5.6e5 times its experimental uncertainty) and its 'NIST inconsistency' in alpha disappears when its own inputs are not rounded.
• The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is refuted experimentally and replaced by a causal wave equation (box + kT) q = 0.
• Black holes, point-mass singularities, binary-black-hole mergers and the Big Bang are mathematically impossible because 'Schwarzschild's solution' is not Schwarzschild's solution, infinite density violates special relativity, and no two-body solution exists (Crothers Ch.3).
• Einstein gravitational waves are fictitious because gravitational energy cannot be localised; the LIGO project 'is destined to detect nothing' (2010 prediction, pp.130, 134).
• Gravity Probe B did not detect Lense-Thirring frame dragging (p.130; true as the status in 2008-2010, superseded by the 2011 result).
• Dark matter is unnecessary: spiral-galaxy rotation curves follow from spacetime torsion (list of advances, p.62; Ch.5 p.546, simulations not in the folder).
• The 1919 Eddington eclipse test lacked the precision to confirm general relativity (Ch.1 p.16; Ch.5 itself accepts light bending and modern quasar confirmation).
• The Faraday disk generator and the Sagnac effect have no explanation in the standard model and follow from ECE spin connection (pp.49-53); the deep read finds no emf formula for the disk, the Sagnac result 4*Omega*A/c^2 is assumed and omega1 = c/r fitted to it, and both effects are standard special-relativity and Lorentz-force results.
• Sec. 2.9 lists 36 'advances' of ECE since 2003 (pp.61-66), among them no Higgs, no black holes, no dark matter and Tesla resonance as a new energy source; none of the 36 items carries an equation, number or citation, and the Higgs statements pre-date the 2012 discovery.

Relevance: The primary, late (2010) statement of Evans's case against general relativity: his argument (Ch.1-2), Crothers's anti-black-hole mathematics (Ch.3), the computer-algebra 'tests' (Ch.4) and a historical narrative (Ch.5). It is the only source here that carries the spin-connection-resonance energy claim, the radiative-corrections claim (the one sharp numerical prediction against high-precision data) and dated predictions (LIGO detects nothing) that have since been tested. The deep reads show that the Ch.2 radiative-correction numbers do not support the claim (g is off by 4.2e-6, the Lamb-shift length r is a stated, underived fit-like constant, the alpha 'inconsistency' is rounding), that the Ch.4 'violation' is the Ricci tensor and that Crothers's chapter contains a self-contradictory replacement equation, a factor-2 slip in the Doughty acceleration and a misread signature.

Mainstream conflict: Strongly conflicts. Torsion is the antisymmetric part of a connection; the connection itself need not be antisymmetric, the Levi-Civita connection is symmetric by construction, and Einstein-Cartan theory with torsion is a consistent accepted extension. The Evans dual identity is not a standard theorem. Black holes, gravitational waves and light bending are regarded as experimentally supported: GW150914 was detected on 14 Sep 2015 and Gravity Probe B reported frame dragging of -37.2 +/- 7.2 mas/yr against -39.2 predicted (2011) [web in deep read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_observation_of_gravitational_waves ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Probe_B]. QED's g-2 agrees with experiment to about 1 part in 10^12 and the book's g(ECE) differs from experiment by 4.2e-6, about 5.6e5 times the stated experimental uncertainty of 7.5e-12 [calc, this update, from the book's Eq. 2.223 and its NIST value]. Free energy from spin-connection resonance contradicts energy conservation.

A non-specialist's explanation of Evans's 2003-2005 Einstein-Cartan-Evans unified field theory, 15 chapters plus a 75-page glossary, aimed at readers without tensor training. [read] Core ideas: spacetime has both curvature R and torsion T, the tetrad q^a_mu relates them, the Evans field equation R^a_mu - (1/2) R q^a_mu = k T^a_mu generalises Einstein's, and the Evans wave equation (box + kT) q^a_mu = 0 follows from the 'Lemma' box q = R q with R = -kT; it is said to give Dirac, Klein-Gordon and Schroedinger limits. [read, deep] Ch.9 (pp.203-219): 'principle of least curvature' R0 = -(mc/hbar)^2, and m V0 = k hbar^2/c^2 with k = 8 pi G/c^2 (not the usual 8 pi G/c^4) and T taken as a mass density, giving a minimum particle volume and 'no point particles'. The step is an identification (kT = (mc/hbar)^2), not a derivation. For the electron the book prints V0 ~ 1e-79 m^3 and a radius 4e-13 m; the printed formula gives 2.5e-81 m^3 [calc], the 4e-13 m is the reduced Compton wavelength, the disk thickness 2.18e-56 m is back-fitted and the sphere volume omits a cube. The reader (Felker) labels the shape speculation as his own (p.212, p.216 n.46). Ch.10 (pp.220-227): the uncertainty principle is 'refuted' by a microscope argument (dx = lambda/50, dp = 2h/lambda, so dx dp = h/25, quoted against a misstated bound h/2 instead of hbar/2), by the Afshar double-slit experiment (no experimental detail, name misspelled) and by Croca's group (Evans email, p.225 n.51, no data); the replacement law x ^ p -> hbar (as densities) has no prediction distinguishable from Heisenberg. Ch.11 (pp.228-238): the B(3) spin field; the only evidence is a footnote (p.229) that an inverse Faraday effect of 'a million gauss' with pulsed circularly polarised lasers in ultra-dense plasma, plus Evans's own papers (Advances in Chemical Physics vol. 119), show 'no doubt that the B(3) field exists'; the inverse Faraday effect itself is a standard observed effect and the book does not show that it needs B(3). Ch.12 (pp.239-250): electroweak masses without Higgs: m^2 = hbar^2/4c^2 ((W1)^2 + (W2)^2) (Eq. 10) 'gives the experimentally observed masses of 78.6 GeV/c2 (W) and 89.3 GeV/c2 (Z)' (p.245). No W(0) or any amplitude is given, hbar and c alone cannot make a mass, and the quoted values differ from the measured ~80.4 and ~91.19 GeV [memory, high]. Neutrino oscillation is treated only qualitatively (no angles or mass differences). [read, digest] Other chapters: photon mass and helical shape, Aharonov-Bohm reinterpretation, 'electrogravitic' relation E = phi(0) g / c^2 with possible extraction of energy from curved spacetime, non-locality, an oscillatory universe. [read] Felker states (pp.20-21) that Evans 'guided and permitted free use of his writings but did not correct' the book, that Ch.15 contains Felker's own opinions, and that effects 'will be difficult to test since they are quite small'; he quotes Evans emails (e.g. that the uncertainty principle is 'refuted experimentally by the Croca group'). Felker is a chemical physicist with about 700 published technical papers in physical chemistry (p.11).

Key claims

• The Evans wave equation (box + kT) q^a_mu = 0 unifies general relativity and quantum mechanics and reduces to the Dirac, Klein-Gordon and Schroedinger equations in limits.
• A minimum particle volume exists: m V0 = k hbar^2/c^2 (k = Einstein's constant), so point particles and singularities cannot occur and renormalization is unnecessary.
• The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is refuted by a microscope measurement giving dx dp = h/25, by the Afshar experiment and by the Croca group, and is replaced by a causal least-curvature relation.
• The photon has a longitudinal, phaseless B(3) spin field and a nonzero mass; the B(3) field is experimentally confirmed by the inverse Faraday effect in dense plasma (about a million gauss).
• The W and Z boson masses follow from the Evans equations without the Higgs mechanism and equal 78.6 and 89.3 GeV/c2.
• Spacetime torsion and curvature produce a coupled 'electrogravitic' field, E = phi(0) g / c^2, so energy may be extractable from curved spacetime.
• Neutrino oscillation follows from the Evans Lemma without new parameters (stated qualitatively; no mixing angle or mass difference given).

Relevance: The plain-language 2005 version of the Evans programme, written before the 2007 'Bianchi identity' argument of the 2010 book. The deep read of Chs 9-12 shows where the quantitative claims are weakest: arithmetic and unit slips in the minimum-volume numbers, no derivation behind the boson masses, and a footnote as the only B(3) evidence. It also records which statements are Felker's own and which are Evans's.

Mainstream conflict: Conflicts on several points. The uncertainty relation is a theorem about the spreads of non-commuting observables and has been confirmed repeatedly; sub-wavelength resolution does not violate it [memory, high]. The photon mass is bounded extremely small (order 1e-18 eV or less) [memory, medium]. In the Standard Model the W mass follows from the weak coupling and the Higgs vacuum value (v = 246 GeV) [memory, high]; the measured masses are about 80.4 and 91.19 GeV, not 78.6 and 89.3 [memory, high; web check not done]. The Higgs boson was found in 2012 [memory, high]. The inverse Faraday effect is explained within standard Maxwell electrodynamics [memory, low]. The E = phi(0) g / c^2 coupling has no experimental support. Mainstream critics (Bruhn, Hehl, Obukhov, 2008) found the tetrad-electromagnetism ansatz untenable.