Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Weak and Strong Join as One Phenomenon in the mnp Model - Edited

The charge loop structure of matter, as presented in the mnp Model, provides insight into the Weak and Strong Forces that show them as unified by charge loop exchange. The Strong Force arises when the exchange is stopped by the presence of a third quark. Reasons nucleons formed as multiples of the basic charge are proposed. Reasons for left-handed preference, at least in regions of the universe, are sketched. Reasons for up/down/electron dominance are touched upon. The "Strong Residual Force," which holds protons together with neutrons and forms a "surface" for each, appears to be very different and is the remaining inadequately explained Force in the mnp Model.

The Addendum ends with a sketch of how many of the ideas developed here could be adapted to the unitary elementary particles of the Standard Model.

What's Up With Protons and Neutrons in the mnp Model?

The Weak Force, which holds the charge of a particle or changes the charge of a particle, is the same mechanism as the Strong Force, which tries to change the charge of quarks but fails, leading to connection between those quarks. The strongest quark combination happens to be a triplet that pretty much insures failure of charge change. That combination is called a proton. One other triplet is fairly durable. No other combinations except the two opposites last very long, and the two opposites do not last long when vastly outnumbered in the modern universe.

Unfortunately, this differs from orthodoxy which sees Electro-magnetic and Weak as unified into the Electro-weak force and the Strong Residual Force as the residue from the Strong Force.

Background - the mnp Model View of Particles

The mnp Model is a sub-preon image of the physical realm based on three tiny entities that interact in three ways over very short distances and which the author hopes can become a Theory of Everything. The three entities m n and p are called figments. They are tiny, moving at the speed of light in an empty orthogonal space, have an even tinier radius over which they resist getting closer to other figments (called Separation), have a radius within which they try to align Travel path with other figments, and have a radius within which they try to align Axis with other figments. m-figments have Axis perpendicular to their direction of movement. n-figments have Axis aligned with direction and p-figments have Axis opposite their direction of movement.

The Travel Alignment effect is stronger than Axis Alignment but figments form filaments which are strongest for n and p-figments where the Axis Alignment reinforces the Travel Alignment effect. In the early universe, filaments formed, joined into strands the most durable of which were six filament strands of the same type. Once a strand started to bend, it continued to coil as tight as the Separation effect would allow. When the filaments in a strand met the tail of that strand, the six became loops and the structure was what we call an electron or a positron. These particles then decayed on encountering each other, but the durable loops of charge material remained. From these quantized durable loops, which the author calls structural charge material, electrons, positrons, quarks, and the other particles formed and re-formed. Six loop strands are more durable and stiff than a single loop, which is amorphous and takes part in the fields with the loose figments left unless recruited into a six loop strand or a two loop muon neutrino. Six loop strands of one type are most flexible and lead to the smallest particles, electrons and positrons. Five:one strands are stiffer, Four:two strand slightly stiffer, and Three:three strand combinations the stiffest. Adept readers will already have realized that these combinations lead to the charge carried by the quarks and explain the lack of "near matches" for charge.

Charge material and charge and charge loops and charge structure material are terms used here to refer to the n-figments organized in quantized loops aligned into a strand that form the basis of negatively charged matter and the p-figments organized in loops aligned as a strand that are the basis of positively charged matter. When loops are not in strands, they may be part of particle physics "virtual photons" or may be just take part with the unaffiliated and ever present m n and p figments that can be recruited and organized into gravitational, electro-static, magnetic, and electro-magnetic fields. The mnp Model has explanations for gravity, electro-static, and electro-magnetic forces that arise from Separation, Travel Alignment, and Axis Alignment. Field formation is highly non-intuitive and is discussed in the main paper. So the terms "charge" and "charge material" are useful when speaking of particles and matter, but the mechanisms for interaction and classical forces are different in the mnp Model.

This discussion ignores neutrinos and covers simple fermions, which are based on six charge material loops of two types that the mnp Model sees as forming the strand that coils to be the structure of the basic (small) fermions. The loops are given letters n and p corresponding to the basic entities/figments n and p. When the names are needed, neutrons and protons are spelled out. Neutrinos are not addressed here, so "six loop fermions" refers to the simple quarks and leptons for want of a better term.

Filaments, Loops, Strands, Coils, and Spin 2013-05-14

As described earlier, filaments of either n or p figments are formed into quantized loops. When six of these loops form a strand with hexagonal cross section, the strand coils tightly. With no other forces acting, those coils are a fixed size and mass, based on the Travel Alignment and Separation effects. Since the loops are closed, these coils will form a closed spherical shape (with an odd number of coils). These coils can be either clockwise when looking from outside the sphere or counter clockwise. This document will refer to coil direction rather than the ambiguous term Spin used in the 2012 December 11 post. Coils traveling in the same direction in space will tend to attract each other by Travel Alignment and will try to rearrange their cross sectional configuration by Axis Alignment if the filaments are of differing type n or p. When two spheroids interact, if the coil direction is opposite, the touching coils will be moving the same direction in space, so spheroids with opposite coil directions attract. Subsequent posts will cover how quantum mechanics Spin arises from the coiled strands.

What's a Proton?

A proton is three quarks, two up (5p1n which is a coiled strand of five loops of positive charge material and one loop of negative charge) and one down (2p4n which is a coiled strand of two loops of positive charge and four loops of negative charge) for a total of 12p6n or a net charge exactly balancing an electron's charge. This balance is one reason the universe exists as it does and a main reason chemistry works at all. One quark has coil direction differing from the other two, so it can attach to the surface of the other two. Answering "How does this work?" requires answering three questions fundamental to the way the mnp Model sees charge change.

Why Do Quarks Attract?

Coiled strands would be attracted to coiled strands traveling in the same direction and of (about) the same radius by Travel Alignment. This requires proximity, within the radius over which Travel Alignment occurs, perhaps called h~. The closer the charges in the strands are to matching, the stronger the attraction. There are two ways for spheroids of coils to have the strands traveling the same direction in proximity. If the coils of each sphere are turning opposite directions (relative to the center of each sphere), the coils can align when the spheres touch. Otherwise, if the coils travel the same direction on each of the two spheroids, the spheroids must be nearly coincident. Squashing two fairly stiff spheres together takes a great deal of energy, though the figments are capable of passing through each other. The direction of coiling matches quantum mechanics and particle theory concepts of spin. Says here.

What IS Charge Change?

Take, for example, a cross section of joined strands of up and down:
 p p
p   p
 p n
 p p
n   n
 n n
The upper n may try to change places with the p below it, forming over some length of coil.

N.B. The author suggests that, at least in electrons and positrons, each loop of a coil is accompanied by a half twist which allows each loop to be the same length. If present in quarks as well, this leads to more twisting of the connection between strands. The filaments of course can pass through each other over the resistance of the Separation effect.

The result would be a strand of six matching loops:
 p p
p   p
 p p
 p n
n   n
 n n
If nothing interrupts this change, a positron of six p loops and an anti-up of five n loops and one p loop will result because the positron's coils are significantly smaller than a quark's coils. Obviously, in a proton or neutron, something interrupts this process.

Why Are Quark Triplets Durable?

In a triplet, there is another quark with a coil direction. It will be attracted to one or the other of the first two quarks of opposite coil direction, and will form a similar attachment to the quark of opposite coil direction. This document will call the quark whose coil direction differs from the other two the "binding quark". The third quark may be called bound quark #2. The mnp Model sees that third quark preventing the decay of the first pair. Coils are long and complete change would require one or probably MANY more traversals of each sphere by the other. The third quark, also attempting to change charge structure with the partner gets in the way and repels the first quark (and may be traveling an opposite path so interference is assured.) The attempted interchange will be "undone" at some point between the quarks, with related roiling of the near electro-magnetic fields that appear as glue made mostly of m-figments.

Quarks as triplets are durable, and once a durable structure exists it might be expected to endure. Only outside influences will change that structure. In the early universe there were many such influences.

Why Are Protons Durable?

Quarks triplets in general are durable. A proton may be especially durable if the binding quark is the down quark, since the preferred strand joining will be to the p strands of the binding quark.
 n p
p   p     up
 p p
 p p
n   n     down
 n n
The single n filament of the up quark tends to be pushed to the outside of the twelve strand combination, so there is less opportunity for six adjacent p loops to form as a strand. More important, neither up quark can roll around the down quark enough to exchange strands and produce a positron since it is repelled by the other up and the down is restricted from rotating by the other up quark. So protons as currently formed have an expected lifetime exceeding 10^33 years, according to experiment and many theories.

The strand join between an up quark and down quark have NO combinations that are symmetrical, so something will always be happening between joined coils. The quark triplet will be dynamic, always moving and changing.

Presumably the process, especially the undoing, will attract m-figments that look like glue, but the basis of the joining and failure to complete the transfer of the entire charge loop is what keeps the proton together as a proton. The "glue" is a result rather than a cause.

What's a Neutron?

A neutron is three quarks, one up (5p1n) and two down (2p4n) for a total of 9p9n or no net charge. For the most durable neutron, the up quark has coil direction different from the two down quarks. The down quarks may be slightly larger than the up quark, but the coil diameter is similar enough. Whether the p loops get sent around more, and so are a little "above" the more staid n loops that are the bulk of the down's is an open question. Experiment shows the neutron "shell" appears positive(?), but picturing the shell and the attraction among protons and neutrons is still to be developed as the future "Strong Residual Force in the mnp Model"

The down quarks are a little bigger because the strand is a little stiffer, the coils are a little bigger, and so the down quark engages a little more "glue" in the form of m-figments and perhaps n and p figments and so has a little more mass. So when a down receives three p loops in trade for three n loops, the resulting up is a little smaller and gives up some of the field that the up quark had retained.

Why is a Neutron Durable?

The neutron has been reported to have a half life of 15 minutes, 62, days, and when combined with protons, exceeding the life of the universe. Triplets, themselves, seem quite durable. Change may require outside influence. Further discussion of neutron change will be given in the "Why do Quarks not Congregate as Groups of Four and More?" quarks section below. How the proximity of other nucleons or specifically protons affects neutron decay is not worked out in the mnp Model. Better explanation of the Residual Strong Force probably helps understand neutron non-decay.

Why Are There No Other Quark Combinations?

Protons and neutrons may be been selected as the most durable types - investigation and enumeration of the possibilities is needed. Issues include fractional charges, the "neutral quark," the solitary charged quark, nucleon fractional charges, 3/2 spin nucleons, quartets and bigger groups, two quark combinations, mesons with spin 1, and anyons. After considering those issues, the Model is prepared to look at the formation of durable triples, left handed preference, and the dominance of up and down quarks.

Why No Other Charge Fractions in Quarks?

Loops of charge material have been quantized since the early universe. The mnp Model suggests early recruitment led to stable quantized loops of n or p figments as described in the Refresher, above.

Incomplete strands no longer need to exist. A strand of five will find another loop of some kind to fill to six, so incomplete strands are expected to be uncommon. Six strands look more stable to the author than some other number (though four strands could be stable with opposing charges). Experimental results indicate that six works for charge options in the quarks, so the Model will be tuned for that result. The necessary numeric tuning will teach us about the stability and durability of our universe's constants. The mnp Model does not yet prove that six filaments make a stable strand, so that number can be considered an experimentally determined input for now. In collider experiments, positron/electron annihilation are expected to provide numerous loops of available material. Six filament strands are stable, so quark charges will be even multiples of 1/6.

Six of one type is a positron or an electron, whose strand is flexible and so the lepton is tiny. Unless something special happens, the lepton is lost to further interaction with a quark bundle.

The blog article Bigger Quarks in the mnp Model covers the one form of up and anti-up and the three forms of down and anti-down (the symmetrical form is Strange).

The only other type of complete strand in addition to the up family and the down family is a 3+3. For lack of known precedent, I might call that a z. It would, in stable form, either be three and three or all alternately spaced:
 n n    n p
n   p  p   n
 p p    n p
The alternately spaced version would be unstable in the presence of any other strand, so is probably not relevant except as a rare variant. This hypothetical fermion could combine with other quarks, but it would be hard to coax into proximity with other quarks since it is electrically neutral and very nearly magnetically neutral. It would behave rather like a sedate neutrino.

The 3+3 is called z here. Capital Z may be 9+9 current structure loops, and W- 6+12 and W+ 12+6 or some other even bigger structure or combination, given that a muon appears to be 6+12 or perhaps 9+3. As a "quark" z would be hard to see since it has no charge. It is big to be considered a neutrino, though a single pair of mixed strands might be the basis for a muon neutrino and have a rest mass around .17MeV/C^2.

Are "Neutral Quarks" Candidates For Nucleons?

From a charge loop structure viewpoint, z's could participate in triplets for form nucleons. Since they don't or such triples are exceedingly rare, an explanation needs to be found. One possibility: z's are bigger, their coils are bigger, so when the quarks soup existed from which nucleons were formed, z's might have been preferentially attracted to z's of opposite coil direction, with the result being an electron-positron pair that would usually degenerate to twelve charge loops. z's might also be slightly more attracted to down and anti-down quarks, based on loop size similarity.

Another explanation is that z's would not be attracted electrically to quark pairs of the same coil direction but opposite charge and so have little chance to form triples. Eventually, when the universe had expanded enough and stable triples had formed, further triple formation was not possible.

Why are Quarks Not Found Alone?

The author suggests quarks do exist alone, but in the modern universe they are exceedingly rare and generally short lived. A table of combinations can be offered. The quarks are shown by charge rather than name, though z (0 charge) and e and p are shown as letters to indicate that they more or less drop out after a reaction:

Quark Charge contents 2/3 1/3 -1/3 -2/3
2/3 5p1n p 1/3 p z p -2/3 p e
1/3 4p2n p z p -1/3 p e e 2/3
-1/3 2p4n p -1/3 e p e 1/3 e z
-2/3 1p5n e p e 2/3 e z e 1/3

Note that of 16 possibilities for the charged quarks, four lead to electron-positron pairs which usually result in twelve bare charge structure loops or ten plus a muon neutrino. Four possibilities yield a lepton and a z, the "Neutral Quark." The other eight yield a lepton and a single quark. So the number of free charged quarks goes down 75% per generation of exchange. Note that interaction requires the quarks to be of opposite coil direction. If two quarks are attracted only by charge and meet another quark of opposite coil direction, they could potentially form a triplet.

The z also makes itself scarce. It is not attracted by charge to other quarks, so will encounter another quark only by proximity and accident and will combine only if the coil directions are opposite. A z meeting a z of opposite coil direction will produce a positron-electron pair. The frequency of spontaneous lepton pair generation may give us some hint of the density of "neutral quarks" in matter and regions of space.

Quark contents 2/3 1/3 -1/3 -2/3
z 3p3n p -1/3 p -2/3 e 2/3 e 1/3

So a z meeting a bare quark will produce a lepton and a charged quark, which can in turn be attracted to another charged quark. A generation for z decay is expected to take MUCH longer than a generation for charged quark decay.

This discussion makes examining neutron decay (and proton to neutron conversion) feasible. Since the only channel seen for neutron decay is to a proton and an electron, a feasible picture emerges. A z finds a down quark of opposite coil direction in a triplet and attaches on the outer side. It is not repelled by the charge of the other quarks. It donates three positive charge loops in exchange for three negative charge loops. This exchange occurs as the n loops attract each other and p loops attract each other along the shared 12 strand. When the six matching n loops are in position to separate, they do. Energy may be released from the z, which becomes much smaller, and is released from the down which becomes a little smaller.

This image of neutron decay is heavily dependent on the presence of z fermions, so neutron decay might well be dependent on recent high energy reactions.

The author expects particle physicists to have great trouble with these sketches, since the familiar cross section, entry angle, and scattering vocabulary is not used. They rightfully ask about the energy results or drivers required by the reactions. Someday.

Why no Nucleons With Charge +-1/3 or +-2/3?

The later section "How Do Durable Triples Actually Form" suggests reasons that only nucleons with neutral or integer charge were formed in the early universe. Further speculations on non-integer charge is in the addendum.

Why Are There No 3/2 Spin Nucleons?

If all three quarks have the same coil direction, they do not interact to attempt "Color Change." The surfaces do not join strands rotating in the matching direction and the quarks can only be attracted by charge. So the tend to quarks separate. The universe is old enough that those quarks have either found matches or been returned to six charge loops. Now we see only complete nucleons or mesons (pions/kaons and other quark pair structures) as a result of high energy experiments in colliders or high in the atmosphere.

In a composite of # quarks, at least one must have a different coil direction for the composite to function, unless two or more are essentially coincident or concentric, which should be quite rare and short-lived.

Why do Quarks not Congregate as Groups of Four and More?

Three is a great number - with two directions of coil direction, three is the biggest collection that can be stable with two types of units. For more than three quarks, there must either be enough room around one quark of different coil direction for three or more. Numeric investigation is needed to rule out this possibility. If both coil direction directions have two or more quarks, quarks of mismatched coil directions would be expected to find each other quickly and an electron or a positron might be expected to drop out quickly. A line of alternating quarks would not last very long either, since the quarks are attempting to roll around each other? This must be developed further.

Note that neutron conversion to proton and electron seems to require a fourth, z fermion, for the duration of that conversion. Another image of neutron decay, requiring a z to trade three p loops for three n loops so that an electron can be formed while leaving a proton, suggests that for a while a four quark unit exists and decays to a proton and an electron. Investigation on why a z and an up or why a z two ups and a down have nothing to do with each other is warranted when mnp computations are possible. This section heading had once been "Getting Down With Quarks as Threesomes" but the internal editor chose to save that for the few reader's still with us. Aren't you lucky.

The careful reader (and many others) can reasonably conclude this exposition on three quark models is interesting but unpersuasive. The careful reader may also have recognized z's as a candidate for dark matter. To be continued.

Why Are Two Quark Combinations Unstable?

None of the two quark combinations can stay stable. If the coil directions are the same, there is no "color exchange" so the quarks do not associate for long. They may stay together by charge attraction and be willing to combine into a triplet with a third quark of opposite coil direction, which might be attracted by charge.

If two quarks have opposite coil directions, there are always six of one charge loop, so a positron or electron can drop out. The symmetrical balanced charge patterns are expected to be more stable. The anyon versions quickly decay or find other items. (To be enumerated at some point.) If experiment shows that same coil direction quarks combine as pairs, either some momentum or force is causing one to invert and so reverse coil direction or the two are not touching but happen to be coincident. Note that the concept of "quantum numbers" and unique quantum position is currently seen as very nuanced and very non-automatic in the mnp Model.

The quark anti-quark combinations may be the only symmetrical combinations that have a chance of lasting a short while. To be looked into. For example, up and anti-up and down and anti-down:
 n p           p p        n n
p   p         p   p      n   n
 p p           n p        p p
 n n           p n        p p
n   n         n   n      p   p
 n p           n n        n n 
Looks like down and anti-down would last longer than up and anti-up since the symmetry looks better.

Why are the 1 Spin Mesons... So Short Lived?

If the two quarks in a meson have the same coil direction, the two parts do not bind strands and have no basis for interaction other than an attraction by differing charge. If the two quarks have opposite coil directions, there is a basis for connection between the strands and "weak" interaction is likely.

Anyons are Rare in the Modern Universe

We don't see many anyons any more because our experiments start with positrons and electrons (from the LEP which can maybe generate stuff but starts with multiples of six loops) and with protons (LHC) and with nuclei (LHC) which already bias toward up and down?

Mesons are not created denovo any more, but from up and down mostly, so they don't have the freedom of association they did in the early second of the universe.

How Do Durable Triples Actually Form? 2012-12-07

All Right Already! Can we now describe how durable triples would form? Yes, and that means refactoring this document. For those not acquainted with last two decades of computer science, refactoring is the recasting of an entire work based on new understandings or new requirements that change the implementation fundamentally or new hardware that requires radically different approaches or new development tools and languages that seem to require a completely new means of negotiating in the problem domain.

Any quark pairs of opposite coil direction will produce a lepton plus either a lepton, a z, or a charged quark. No triples there. Only opposite charge quarks of the same coil direction will stay near each other. If their net charge is 0 (2/3 and -2/3 or 1/3 and -1/3), they will not attract another quark and each is free to be attached to another quark of opposite coil direction as a pair with resulting lepton and fermion. Only if their combination has a net charge will they attract a quark of charge opposite their charge balance. The only combinations are 2/3 with -1/3 and -2/3 with 1/3. These will attract a -1/3 or -2/3 and 1/3 or 2/3 respectively. If that third quark has opposite coil direction, they will combine as a triple. If the third quark has +-1/3 net charge the resulting triplet is neutral, and it will not attract more attention from other quarks by charge. The two matching quarks will have opposite coil directions.

Why only a neutral quark? The preferred explanation is based on a highly charged binding quark with a highly charged bound quark. Take the up, anti-up binding quark, and down quark case:
2/3 to -2/3    -1/3 to -2/3
 p p            n p
p   p          n   p
 n p            n n
 n p            n n
n   n          n   n
 n n            n p
The two highly charged quarks of opposite charge tend to push/pull the single p strand from the binding quark to the bound quark. The other bound quark will tend to keep its two p filaments away from the negative filaments of the binding quark because the n filaments will be more attracted. The second bound quark will not contend for the single p filament in the binding quark. So a positron will pop off, leaving a quark pair to become an electron and a down. The other case, with an up binding quark, will produce the opposite results. This explanation calls for a low charge binding quark to match the low charge bound quark.

A second explanation involves further quarks and is relegated to the author's "Journal of Negative Results."

So there is a plausible picture of why three part quarks have the balance they do and why only four combinations were possible in the early universe. The only two arbitrary issues are left vs right coil direction and charge direction which is the choice of "up and down" or "anti-up and anti-down". For both issues, once a choice is made by the universe or a region, it would stay set. Rather like the ^4 term in the Lagrangian that is assumed to indicate time could have gone either way from the Big Bang. We would never know the difference.

Why a Preference for Left Handedness?

(2012-12-07 2230) When quarks were forming, loops would be recruited into strands, coiling left or right would occur, and more loops would be recruited. Extra loops might retain the coiling hinted by the strand they did not join, so leading to more quarks of the same coil direction. If a small region had quarks of the same coil direction, they might well recruit/create still more of the same coil direction. The quarks would survive because they would not join for Weak charge exchange. The imbalance could spread. Quarks of different charges but matching coil direction would attract by charge difference. Quarks that happened to be created with the opposite coil direction would be instant candidates to be binding quarks.

Why Do Up and Down Quarks Predominate?

The author currently has no confident explanation of why, once an imbalance of up and down appeared, that imbalance would continue to be selected over anti-up and anti-down. (2012-12-09 2350:)
  • A possible channel for dominance could be that if an anti-proton or anti-neutron presented a negative charge surface the way protons and neutrons present a positive charged surface, they would be attracted to the locally dominant protons and neutrons and, being outnumbered, might lose their outer surface fields provided by the residual strong force. Without this protection, the anti-fermion might be more subject to decay from loose quarks, pions, and z's.
  • An alternative is that if a proton or neutron meets an anti-proton or anti-neutron in the presence of protons and neutrons, the initial reaction fragments could be "rebuilt" with the help of the surrounding protons and neutrons.
Cosmology may or may not offer hints of when up/down preference was established. Universal up/down predominance would suggest that up/down prevalence needed to be established before left-handed preference or at least not later.

Speculations on the prevalence of up/down/electrons as the six loop fermions that make up the universe or our region are in the Addendum

Color Change and Flavor Change in the mnp Model

Color Change is the tendency of quarks to try to swap units of charge and fail, and the connection between quarks is at least partially the strings that result as these sixths are partially loaned.

It takes time to pass part of a charge structure loop, and the loops may well elongate if the quarks are pulled apart. The stretched loops will get increasingly strong as they straighten. This binding by loan is a dynamic process, which seems to match well the description of quark interaction.

Color and RGB themselves seem to be concepts not needed in the mnp Model.

Flavor change is completed charge structure exchange, finishing while color change can be seen as incomplete charge structure exchange. Changing a quark to another type, as when a down in a neutron changes to an up. Whether the new proton is as stable as one with both ups having the same coil direction is an open question. The author would suggest not.

Experimentally, it seems that neutron decay leads to a proton and an electron rather than an electron and a meson, so the author has more explaining to do. Certainly charge structure loops are available for recruitment. If loops are required, then neutrons could successfully traverse deep space at high speeds since they will not be recruiting loops in transit.

Quantum Chromo Dynamics may have additional nuggets of experimental truth, so the author is not proposing to remove it from the curriculum.

Weak Force in the mnp Model

The Weak Force is seen as allied with the Strong Force in the mnp Model, but comes in two variants. The decay of d', the variant of down that has the two p filaments separated by one n filament if we can ever see it, may give a hint of the speed of unrestricted rearrangement of filament loops in the strand or in multiple strands. The decay of Strange requires some small outside impetus, but is also just a rearrangement of the filaments in the strand.

For Weak reactions in general, when two strands join, they will tend to sort the strands to be together by type unless they are symmetrical. A muon is symmetrical, so it lasts a while. Strange too. So when up and down with opposite coil directions come together, the prior arrangement of n and p filaments will determine the pace of mixing. Apparently filaments/loops don't break normally in any of the reactions known to physics including entry into black holes, though this issue is still to be decided. Two six loop fermions joining require coil direction of opposite directions. If the result is a single larger unit, one of those joining effectively "turns inside out" to complete the join. If the result is a trading of charge loops, only individual charge loops "change coil direction," which should take very little coaxing.

If two quarks are connected, the pair's lifetime would be in three parts: how long does it take to start the connection (time to contact), how long for the entire strand pair to be rearranged (maybe the length of the loop/c), and how long to separate (probably quickly, since the separation is probably occurring as the rearrangement proceeds).

Strong Force in the mnp Model

The Strong Force is the attempt by neighboring six loop fermions (or larger) to trade filament/charge loop coils, which is interrupted by other forces. This has been described in "Why Are Protons Durable" above. Most protons are a trio for the duration of the universe.

Residual Strong Force in the mnp Model

How do nucleons present a "sphere" to each other with presumably adiabatic properties of "push on the sphere, move the quarks inside"? The mnp Model has no clear picture. Speculations are in the Addendum.

Having currents of m-figments, with Axis in for protons and neutrons and out for anti-protons and anti-neutrons, flowing from near the quarks to some fuzzy boundary surface, is currently a contender. Having coils of the charge loop material slightly loose and "visiting" a logical surface while spending most of the loop travel time and length within the quark is another contender. Neither contestant looks like a winner at present.

Iso-spin in the mnp Model

Iso-spin is a formalism that combines charge, baryon-ness, and strange into a single "basis" that is conserved by some forces and has helped categorize forces. It does fold in the ability of strange to decay to down without changing charge. While interesting, the mnp Model finds the catalogue of what is conserved by what force far more useful. Calculating "cross sections" will require revisiting this issue if enumerating possibilities and probabilities does not suffice or if the predictive power or descriptive shorthand remains useful with mnp's Model of Weak and Strong. IEP 132.

Gauge Bosons in the mnp Model

Gauge bosons are the force carriers for strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions in the Standard Model. If seen in the wild directly, the mnp Model would ask about spin, charge, mass, lifetime and interpret them as particles or anyons or composites. They are not needed in the mnp Model now that Weak and Strong are added to the "explained" column with gravity and electromagnetic forces. Residual strong force still needs a satisfactory explanation. The whole mnp Model still needs to answer the EMH criterion, vis "Do you have any numbers yet?"

Counter-Intuitive Benefits of the Higgs Class Experiments

The ferment and particle creation at CERN makes it a wonderful time to be an experimentalist. For the mnp Model, having more particles to map is interesting. What may be most interesting of all is not the particles created, but the feel for how long it takes for complete chaos to sort itself into "normal" stuff. The CERN experiments have the advantage of already having left handed protons and left handed up quarks, so will tend to get/receive/see stuff that matches. Whether the presence of gravity, organized magnetic fields, and charge loop structures make present conditions different from the early universe in subtle ways is not clear. Also not a problem, just an experimental condition for the LHC efforts.

Understanding the catalogue will be fun. Looking at the "re-form" times may be a better guide to the recruiting in the early universe, though now gravitons are going both ways. In the early universe "before the gravitons returned" recruiting and building may have been little influenced by gravity.

Conclusion

Weak and Strong return to being contact forces, as Fermi suggested.

"Weak" is the completion of a process, "Strong" is the start of the same process that cannot run to completion but leads to binding. Both depend on contact or very close proximity that becomes contact. Weak does not need a big boson, just coil directions that are compatible and enough charge material to drop out a positron or an electron. And enough energy to put the six loop fermions in proximity if they are not already close. Since quarks may have the lepton's ability to "turn inside out" and hence reverse coil direction, "enough energy" could include what it takes to invert a quark.

"Residual Strong" may be markedly different from Strong and Weak.

Whew

And this isn't done yet. On hearing that I had made progress on the important topic of the Weak and Strong Forces, my son had the perfect reply. "Good! Do you have any numbers yet?"

Current efforts in the mnp Model have been to understand and describe the phenomena that need to be predicted. Chasing after theoretical effects and bolting on corrections for phenomena discovered or recognized later hold no appeal for the author. The experience of String Theory, of the SU(5) Grand Unifications, and the theories "ruled out" by Bell's Theorem provide enough examples. The author has often hoped for "the serenity to accept the things that have been measured, the courage to question the things merely theorized, and the wisdom to know the difference." He'll need it.

All that being said, number two son is right. It's time for numbers. The Model is ready.

The plan will be to balance numbers for some of the physical processes and see if that balance works for other processes. The hope is to avoid infinite rebalancing, that a durable resonance can be found.

Postscript, Only For The Strong

While much of this material will seem wildly deterministic and mechanical to modern physicists, the author suggests that the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics and indeed the predictive nature of particle interactions will probably be supported by the mnp Model. Certainly, the mnp Model will need to follow experimental results and eventually predict others. If z's are rare and unpredictable, if charge structure loops exist independently and enter into field effects with the bare figments but sometimes form simple structures "spontaneously," the probabilistic predictions and measurements associated with modern branches of physics will be sustained.

The author wishes to make common cause with string theorists, quantum loop theorists, and the preon theorists if any are left. The major question is "What phenomena do we need to model, and how do we understand those phenomena?"

For example,
  • What theoretical work has been done to identify the aspects of special relativity that really need to be explained. And what can be omitted as representing modern preference? Another example, what do we need to understand about neutron decay?
  • What is the last word on nuclear packing, ordering, and stability?
  • What are the experimental results that lead to our knowledge of dark matter?
  • What are the experimental results that lead many to conclude the universe is accelerating its rate of expansion?
A model that attempts to match all current interpretations is lost. A model that misinterprets experiment is in trouble. It is doing too much work and leading itself away from effective explanation.

Philosophy of Physics also has or should have a fair amount to say about how to judge theories, how to judge and interpret experiments, and how to arrange the thought processes needed to do physics. "On the Interpretation of Experiment and the Development and Classification of Theory," anyone?

If you don't have the right answers, it's best to have the right questions.

Addenda

Speculations on Proton Durability:

The author suggests that a most durable form might exist, and that form would be preferred over time. In the most durable protons, the coil direction of the two up quarks matches so that they do not combine when their surface coils approach each other. This leads to bonding between the down quark and each of the up quarks. The up quarks contend for the only two adjacent p loops in the down quark, maximizing their interference with each other and minimizing the opportunities to successfully "steal" a p loop from the down quark.

Experimentally, on the order of 10-17 seconds is required for quark pairs to decay when the results have balanced charge. When pairs create a charged result, the sorting of filaments in the paired strand may take more time so that on the order of 10-8 seconds is required to complete charge change if the result has charge. The stability of up quark to down quark connections may benefit from the sorting of loops required in the paired strand of up and down.

Speculations on Neutron Durability:

The author might speculate that some neutrons, with matching coil direction in the two downs, are very durable. If the coil direction of the two down quarks differs, the physical proximity of the negative charge structure loops should lead to earlier formation of an electron as a coiled strand of six negative charge structure loops, though this should be inhibited by the third quark.

Experimental Question: If we can collect a lot of protons from neutron decay, is their half-life measurable?

Wild Speculations: If unstable neutrons (and unstable protons?) can be created, we may have a very expensive but very compact way to store energy. Hopefully NOT with so much energy the storage acts more like an explosive. We will NOT call the process cold fusion.

Speculations on Six Filament Strands

Philosophers may see beauty in the six filament strand, since it leads to a limited number of quarks and a limited number of combinations of coil direction and charge and a limited number of stable building blocks for the universe. Five or four strand filaments would have wide ranging effects the author hasn't time to explore. Two coil direction options and two fractional charge options leading to stable nucleons may be grist for not just numerology but serious particle theory and exploration of options and alternates.

Speculations on Nucleons and +-1/3 and +-2/3 Charge

Hand waving alert. Achieving a fractional charge with three quarks requires that one or two of them be a z as described above or that a quark-anti quark pair be present but not both. Maybe the mnp Model is saved by the elusiveness of the neutral "quark z." Otherwise, this is a good question, requiring enumerating the possibilities and the stabilities. Three downs make a muon or a tau which is a strand of 18. Three anti-downs an anti-muon or anti-tau. Both of these are single 18 filament strands and act like single particles (leptons). Three ups (charge +2) have so much positive charge material that a positron might be expected to drop out immediately. Enumeration will include "which of the three quarks has the differing coil direction." We might call that the bonding quark. So with one bonding quark of one coil direction (5 choices) combined with two quarks of the other coil direction (5*6/2 combinations) we get 75 different possibilities, a manageable big number. We could eliminate any alternates that contain the neutral z, assuming that while it could participate in the Strong Force, as a practical matter it is unlikely to be present when triplets form by charge attraction followed by attachment or a third quark. Without z, we have (4*4*5/2) 40 possibilities to investigate. Twenty if charge symmetry is invoked.

If a z is needed to facilitate neutron decay and it is what becomes the electron by trading three loops, energy may be released by the z as it becomes much smaller. Or if the z, being electrically neutral, does not engage any m-figments as glue, then no or negligible energy will be released as the z shrinks to an electron. Side note: if the z does not engage the figments that make up the electrical field, it will throw off/create no Bremsstrahlung radiation as it travels at relativistic speeds, just as neutrinos throw off none.

Speculations on the Residual Strong Force

Having a charge structure at that surface may be an attractive idea and works for electrons and positrons, but the surface of nucleons does not twist into shells with other angular momenta - as far as I've heard. Hence the defined surface of nucleons and the binding between nucleons lacks the charge structure that forms electron and positron shells and that supports the electrical effects on each side of those shells.

Why protons and neutrons have a surface when their charge structure is a much smaller region inside is emphatically not clear. In one model, the author sees the residual strong force as a result of the electro-magnetic fields created by the quarks in nucleons. Unpublished diagrams 2012-12-05:1200 of "Residual strong force" show m's forming flat ribbons by Travel and Axis Alignment as in fhotons, bending to flow at angles to other flat ribbons but sharing the Axis Alignment with axis pointed in along the "surface". These dynamic ribbons would form the "surface" of the nucleon, forming vertical convection loops that overlap. The convection currents may flow through each other but cohere into a surface if Axis Alignment is strong enough even when Travel Alignment (which is stronger) not? This suggests relatively smooth approximate surface, a little fuzzy but NOT knobby. The proton/neutron surface may be the limit of cohesion of the m-figments, similar to the limit at which gravity goes down by 1/r^2 (Referred to by the MOND acronym in the mnp Model writings. The convection currents may have some similarities to the "return of the gravitons" in the early universe. The author has seen speculations on the similarities of the MOND radius, the density of the universe, and the density of nucleons and other particles, and the strengths of gravitational forces at the boundaries of each.

Recruiting m-figments to act as the surface for a proton or neutron is slightly ugly in the mnp Model because travel at relativistic speeds requires either 1) that the charge structure being continually recruiting "glue," 2) that the "glue" be recruited when the charge structure slows, or 3) that the "glue" travel with the charge structure. Option 2 suggests that some of the "Effective Mass" be shed or sluffed off at relativistic velocity. Option 3 would operate only if Travel Alignment were to keep the "glue" traveling with the charge structure, with graceful resumption of motion relative to the charge structure on slowing.

An alternative explanation that does not yet have the author's approval is based on partially extended filaments pulled out by strand attraction but then released as part of the strong influence of the other bound quark. The coils that bind an up and a down quark are p filaments, so protons would be throwing short portions of their p filaments (bound at both ends to a quarks) around the inside of the nucleon? In a neutron, if the up quark is the binding quark, then p filaments will be present. If a down quark is the binding quark, the two down quarks may throw around shorter lengths of n filament?? This might indicate that two classes of neutrons and two classes to protons exist and that they behave a little differently in the nucleus. Having coils of the charge loop material slightly loose and "visiting" a logical surface while spending most of the loop travel time and length within the quark has a philosophical attraction of being a "Residual Strong Force" and of behaving consistently at relativistic velocities.

Why does the Residual Strong Force not operate elsewhere at different scales? An electron shell is already beyond the limit so the electrical field radiates evenly. An electron is too small to affect m-figments in the way that quarks or quark combinations can.

Neutrons and protons are seen to "form a bound state" in experiment. Understanding those experiments, the dimensions involved, the proximity of the quarks involved, whether the bound states apply to more than one neutron with a proton, the speeds and durations of the experiments, and the conditions that do not show binding, will be useful in understanding and describing the residual strong force.

Again, the length of this discussion indicates that the "Residual Strong Force" is not well understood in the mnp Model.

Conjecture: Nucleons in a bigger nucleus are a little bigger.

Question: Does a nucleus NEED to be swept by an s shell electron every once in a while to mix the figments that form the fields in the nucleus?

Speculations on Up Down Dominance

The prevalence of +2/3 and -1/3 charge quarks and electrons is believed to be universal rather than regional. The strongest argument states that if the up/down/electron prevalence were only by region, astronomers would see boundaries where more than usual interaction takes place and more energy is generated.

The author wonders how much interaction would be measurable when the few particles in deep space are traveling at almost the speed of light from or toward the most attractive mass. Since "anti-matter" is just material of similar structure with opposite charge structure loops in the mnp Model, the author suggests that anti-quarks and quarks do not necessarily obliterate each other but can react strongly, weakly, or electromagnetically to form byproducts that will eventually conform to the up/down/electron/z/amorphous charge loop pattern of the universe or our portion of it. Most interactions would be when the traveling nucleon encounters suns and planets. Anti-neutrons or anti-protons hitting the upper atmosphere pack a similar wallop to neutrons and protons. Whether anti-protons and anti-neutrons hitting a mineral surface such as the moon would create different effects than protons and neutrons has probably already been answered.

To back current conclusions about the universality of up/down preference, the explanation for up/down predominance would need to put the imbalance and subsequent recruiting VERY early in the development of the universe or at an era where mixing was stronger than expansion.

Unsatisfying images can be offered in hopes of stimulating further ideas. (2012-12-08)
  • If the initial expansion of the universe had all n-figments on one side, all p-figments on the other side rushing outward, with m-figments between also rushing outward, the return and mixing would occur across a boundary that might allow a preference to establish itself in the formation of quarks. If that region of mixing were relatively small, if the return was fairly focused, that mixing could occur for the entire universe of particles, followed by expansion.

    The mnp Model sees the quantization of charge structure loops as being formed only by positrons and electrons, since any other fermion would lead to a different loop length. Whether electrons and positrons could be formed and the destroyed in an expanding universe before quarks were formed from the quantized loops is not clear to the author.

    An even wilder image, of an initial expansion to "create" space followed by a somewhat focused contraction followed by the recent expansion, may solve a few puzzles. Positrons and electrons could be formed on the return of figments toward a moderately focused area, then torn apart as the positrons and electrons got even closer, then six loop fermions formed as described above in a condensing or compact but expanding area with up/down/electron predominance being established/recruited then, followed by the expansion and gathering of galaxies we see today. The numbers will eventually need to show

  • If neutrons and anti-neutrons and z's existed and were mixing and still dense enough to form more quarks and fermions while allowing z's and the neutrons to form charged nucleons and six loop leptons, a slight imbalance might be magnified. If protons form bound states only with neutrons and not anti-neutrons then another avenue of preference may open.

  • If an electron could catalyze the decay of an anti-proton or an anti-neutron and maintain its own structure, then the "first" decayed neutron (or anti-neutron) would have an advantage.
    electron       anti-proton        anti-neutron
    
     n n   meets   p n     n p   or   n p     n p
    n   n         n   n   n   n      n   p   n   n
     n n           n n n n n n        p p p n n n
                      p   p              p   n
                       p p                p p
    
    The quark diagrams are not spacially accurate, since the "twelve strand" cross section for each pairing is separated onto opposite sides of the binding quark. Further, for the anti-proton and proton, the binding quark usually has the same twelve stand image, of attaching the two in the binding quark to the majority of the up or anti-up quark:
     p n         n p
    n   n       p   p
     n n         p p
     n n         p p
    p   p       n   n
     p p         n n
    
    Note that each of the up or anti-up quarks is contending for BOTH of the matching loops in the binding quark, probably maximizing their interference and the durability of the trio.

  • Least attractive is finding some difference between n-figments and p-figments or p loops and n loops or the number of p loops and n loops.
Longer answers suggest more options and less certainty.

Development of the mnp Model has proceeded over the last sixteen months. Early "Ring" Models presented ring direction, coil direction, sixths of the elementary charge as fundamental to quarks, field recruitment, neutrinos, and other concepts but did not satisfy the author as describing matter well enough. In October, 2012 it became clear that Loops rather than Rings were the conceptual shift needed to effectively explain inertia, movement, and particles. The mnpModel has grown quickly since then. The author suggests it is now a complete enough concept. The next step is &qu0ot;proof of concept" and numbers.

Apologies

The experimental work to measure particles is invaluable and the theoretical work to understand that body of knowledge is useful. The barriers for a well trained physicist to
  • considering particles as having structure (or sub-structure if you insist),
  • considering that interactions may happen by proximity and recruited fields,
  • and considering that mediators are not needed
are all formidable. The author is aware that considering a structural model such as the mnp Model requires suspension of disbelief and suppressing patterns of thought acquired at great effort.

Yet the author suggests that an approach based on coil direction and sixths of an elementary charge "mixed in a way we cannot see" could make current particle theory and QCD interesting. If the strong force arises due to incomplete exchange of quantized sixths and the weak force from complete exchange, bringing calculation to a simplified Quantum Chromo Dynamics might be possible. QCD might be less colorful, but the knowledge of experimental reality contained in QCD is invaluable. The image of up/down recruitment and quark triplet formation presented here can be separated from the loops of the mnp Model and used by the Standard Model. Even the three possible versions of down seen by the mnp Model, d d' and d'' also known as strange, could be described as different arrangements of the quantized sixths that appear to be uniformly spread in the quark. Different arrangements lead to different masses "in ways we can't yet explain."

The coiled loops forming a strand of six is just one image of the way matter could form its stable and not so stable combinations.
down    down'   down'' 
 p p     p n     p n
n   n   n   p   n   n
 n n     n n     n p

Edits

2013-05-14 - The phrase "coil direction" is used when referring to the orientation of coils on a spheroid, to avoid confusion with the quantum mechanics concept of spin and to allow subsequent blogs to discuss the relation of the two concepts. A long paragraph on "Filaments, Loops, Strands, Coils, and Spin" added near the beginning to emphasize the distinction.

Thanks, readers. I hope it's been fun.