Since I was last here I've developed my "internet essays" into a paper that I've submitted to a journal. Whilst I can't say I'm confident that it will be accepted in its current form, I am confident that the paper has some value. As to how much, we shall see, but the model it presents is coherent, so much so that the logic appears to be unassailable, hence I would urge readers to take an interest. It's 40 pages in all, and is available online at:

http://www.relativityplus.info

Here's the introduction:

A qualitative 3+1 dimensional geometrical model

Abstract

Current avenues within physics do not offer an intuitive understanding of the significant features of the universe. I present a new qualitative model built upon a re-examination of base concepts commonly accepted as fundamental and foundational. The new qualitative model refers repeatedly to the tenets of Special Relativity and the subsuming General Relativity, throws new light on The Standard Model, and is expected to redirect and refocus interpretation thereof via the delivery of powerful insight into the nature of time, energy, mass, charge, gravity, space, and particles.


1   Introduction

In comparison to the advances of the early twentieth century, physics appears to be at an impasse. Its popularity amongst the population at large appears to be falling, and it appears to be in danger of losing its senior science status to biology. The detailed reasons for this are beyond the scope of this paper, but simple logic dictates that if a rigorous bottom-up mathematical approach cannot provide the answers we seek, then we must take a searching top-down look at the very foundations of physics that provide the  axioms we use within our mathematics. To this end I have returned to first principles to analyse a set of basic concepts that are considered by many to be unsuitable for examination, either because understanding is already presumed, or because such concepts are considered to be fundamental. My analysis indicates that such is not the case, and the result is new understanding that dispels many former mysteries. 

The initial concept analysed is time. A subtle conceptual shift is performed, viewing time as a derived dimension associated with motion, and then applied incrementally to energy, mass, charge, gravity, space, and particles. The approach is methodical and logical, initially somewhat metaphysical in appearance, but is so robust that it is able to build step by step to deliver a geometrical view of electromagnetism along with a new appreciation of Planck’s constant, the fine structure constant, and  wave/particle duality, plus an topological overview of Standard Model fermions and the forces along with the combination of matter/energy with space as the root fundament of a flat expanding universe. 

The tenets of Special Relativity and the subsuming General Relativity recur repeatedly to such an extent that RELATIVITY+ seems an apt working title for the resultant qualitative model. This is geometrical in nature in 3+1 dimensions, and seems to bear some resemblance to Einstein’s purported goal during the later years of his life. Supporting evidence is arguably already present though requiring interpretational review, and the end product appears so coherent and compelling that further development via the re-application of existing mathematical rigor and computer modelling heralds an attractive and exciting prospect.

And here's the conclusion:

11  Conclusion 

The model herein is merely qualitative, it lacks mathematical rigor, and some of it may prove to be incorrect. But the basic concepts that I have examined collectively appear to demonstrate a satisfying degree of fit. In summary:     

Time exists like heat exists, being an emergent property of motion. It is a cumulative measure of motion used in the relative measure of motion compared to the motion of light, and the only motion is through space. So time has no length, time doesn’t flow and we don’t travel through it.

Energy is the capacity to do work, and is in barest essence a volume of stressed space.

Mass is a measure of the amount of energy that is not moving with respect to the observer.

Charge is curl, charge is twist. The electromagnetic field is a region of twisted space, and if we move through it we perceive a turning action which we then identify as a magnetic field.

Gravity is an extended tension gradient opposing matter/energy stress, wherein the speed of light varies resulting in gravitational time dilation and attraction through refraction.

Space is a one-trick pony, and the only trick is distance. The photon is energy, and is a rippling change of distance. A change of distance is a distance, and space is distance so space light and energy are but different aspects of a common fundament. 

The photon is fundamental, it’s the ultimate quantum, a wave of distance variation, and we can tie it in knots to make particles. But the distance variation underlies Planck’s constant, so each type of knot comes in one size only. The electron is a trivial knot, a turn and a twist. The proton is a trefoil knot, the neutron is a proton with two extra turns and a twist. The neutrino is a turn, a running loop, and muon and tau neutrinos have more loops, as do the muon and tau themselves. The antiparticles go the other way, and the unstable particles come undone. And all the forces are but different aspects of the strength of purest marble geometrical space.

The degree of fit appears so coherent that the model appears to possess value. There is of course much work to do. A revised mathematical formalism somehow needs to incorporate field equations with knot theory and elasticity, perhaps assisted by computer modelling. We need to properly model all the leptons, we need to confirm the geometry of the proton, and the neutron, then move on up to atoms and molecules and down to all the hadrons and bosons and fermions that represent the ways in which space can be configured. This will involve a fresh look at Quantum Physics, starting with Quantum ElectroDynamics and new simple concept to replace “many paths”. Then we can look again Quantum ChromoDynamics and review color and charm, whilst finally driving a stake through the heart of the Many Worlds Interpretation. I’m not sure what we’ll end up with, or what it means for The Standard Model or Cosmology. The Higgs Boson will go, gravity will come into the fold, and the result will hopefully be simpler, more elegant, and more understandable. 

On a personal note, one of my heroes of physics is of course Albert Einstein, whilst another is Richard Feynman. If these great minds had worked together, either at Princeton or CalTech, I wonder what they might have come up with fifty years ago? Time is the key, and Einstein found it in 1949. Had he passed the torch to Feynman, I think QED and history would have been very different. Because once you understand time, you’re free to look at the other concepts with fresh eyes. And every step of the way you see relativity. It’s there in the time, in the energy, in the mass, in the charge, in the gravity, in the space. It recurs time and time again. That’s why I have given this model the working title RELATIVITY+. It is my sincere wish that it will contribute to a new foundation that will in the end lead to a deep and wide understanding of the universe, ranging from particle physics to cosmology, and the eventual mastery of gravity. Then NASA won’t be flying rockets with O rings. They’ll be flying something different. Something bigger. Something faster, further, higher. They won’t be reaching for the moon. They’ll be reaching for the stars.