Dark Energy Series

We begin with the assumption that psychic abilities or extrasensory perception (ESP) exists, at least in some people. There is sufficient anecdotal evidence of various experiences that seem to be explained best by this assumption to make it a plausible part of a science fiction tale.

Psychic abilities have not been scientifically confirmed and (at least) two areas of science must be addressed to generate reasonable explanations. One area is physics: what physical forces are involved and how do they operate? For example, must some new particle – say the psychon – be proposed, perhaps a new boson? The second area is biology: how does the biology of a human being interact with the physics? For example, does it require a previously undiscovered organ? Some potential psychic abilities present challenges in energetics. For example, levitation implies the application of energy to raise a body against the force of gravity. Does the energy come from the body of the person doing the levitation, as is the case in climbing stairs? Or does the person tap into some other source of energy? We restrict our tale of psychic abilities to those that don’t require major energy sources to avoid such questions.

Each of these organizations can supply information about what has been discovered about psychic powers through scientific research.

Biology

Our hearing is limited in range and in discriminatory sensitivity. It is mediated by “hair cells” in the inner ear that each respond to a particular frequency. In general, we can distinguish different pitches (sound frequencies); however, we do classify notes an octave apart (one has double the frequency of the other) as the “same,” despite hearing the pitch difference. The average person’s range is spanned by about 10 octaves (20 to 20,000 Hz [cycles per second]), so we hear music in octave cycles. Elephants and some whales can hear lower pitched sounds and many animals can hear much higher pitched sounds.

Light also has frequencies. [Wavelength is the inverse of frequency times the speed of light. Human vision ranges from about 400 to about 700 nanometers (nm): 4 x 10^-7 meters to 7 x 10^-7 meters. This is 7.5 x 10¹⁴ Hz to 4.3 x 10¹⁴ Hz. Thus, human vision covers a little less than an octave of the visual frequencies.] Our color vision is mediated by three types of cone cells in the eye, each of which responds to a range of wavelengths. Complex processing in the brain yields our visualization of the visual spectrum. Various animals have different numbers of types of cones. For example, hummingbirds have a fourth cone type that covers the ultraviolet spectrum (Hotz, 2020).

Smell is mediated by olfactory receptors, which chemically bind to odorants. The number of different receptors, together with the fact that odorants can bind to more than one receptor, permits discrimination among millions of different scents. The total number of receptors relates to sensitivity. For example, dogs have about 300 million receptors, while humans have about 6 million, making dogs much better at detecting scents(Hotz, 2020).

Other senses exist that humans don’t have, such as the magnetic field sensing of sea turtles (derived from a light-detecting protein), the electric field sensing of bumblebees, the infrared sensing of pit vipers, and the accessory olfactory system in most mammals (not humans) and reptiles in the vomeronasal organ(Hotz, 2020) (Wikipedia, 2020).

Starting with telepathy, we will not assume some new particle that must be detected or manipulated in the human body. Molecular sensing could certainly be a candidate, because the processing of these molecules is extremely complex, yielding the possibility of large information transfers; however, the speed of molecular transfers does not match the needs of telepathy. We see that sensing of magnetic and electric fields and of the electromagnetic spectrum are established with biological mechanisms. The existence of bioluminescence (fireflies, deep-sea fish, etc.) establishes the biological ability to emit in the electromagnetic spectrum and the electric eel establishes the ability to create electric fields.

The question of origins and prevalence arises. Do we postulate a (relatively) new mutation of humans that permits telepathy or do we postulate an old ability that is generally suppressed in the genome? We will choose the latter. Research on the human genome and epigenome supplies a rich field for the possibility of suppressed genes and the means to activate them by manipulating the epigenome (Sinclair & LaPlante, 2019). We will assume the ability arose in pre-humans, but proved less useful than speech. As a matter of conserving cellular energy, the genes involved were generally suppressed – though not universally, with some human lines carrying more active genes than others.

We don’t have an emotional sense, as such. However, our emotions are connected to our senses. For instance, the feeling of disgust is rooted in our sense of smell. When we smell something bad, we feel disgust. On the other hand, when we feel disgust for something, the pathways in our brain related to the sense of smell are activated(Stafford, Fleischman, Le Her, & Hummel, 2018). Other emotions are similarly connected to our senses, sometimes in extremely complex ways(Bradbury, 2017).

In this story, we propose that emotions are not directly communicated telepathically. However, when a person experiences emotions, these emotions trigger sensory pathways associated with the emotions. If the person transmits sensory feelings, they include both the direct feelings, for instance, of lips against lips, and the emotionally-triggered associated sensory feelings. The recipient receives both sets of sensory inputs. The direct lip feelings merely intensify the feeling of kissing. However, the emotionally-triggered feelings are interpreted as the recipients’ own feelings and are registered as indicators of feeling the associated emotions, intensifying the recipient’s own emotions. This emotional response is what produces the intense effect of a passionate kiss. When each party is sending his or her feelings, the positive feedback of the emotional response becomes enormously powerful.

Mathematics

In familiar 3-D space, a point is determined by three coordinate values, x, y, and z, as shown .

Introducing a Very, Very Small Dimension

Suppose a String Theory is correct and we there exist around 11 dimensions. Suppose one, called capital omega (Ω) is microscopic, really small. the figure below shows a point with its 3-D plus Ω coordinates (omitting the Y and Z dimensions in the figure).

Further, suppose the Ω-dimension is closed into a loop, as shown . (For a common example of a closed-loop dimension, see the discussion of the Mercator Projection Maps in the Mathematics section, below.) In this illustration, a particle travelling along the X axis can change its omega value, but not by much. If the total omega dimension is smaller than a molecule, then a molecule can only vibrate a little in the omega dimension along its path. We would not observe this, we would just see the molecule moving along the X axis.

When visualizing just one ordinary dimension (X) and omega, we see a very long, thin tube (figure below). A point traveling along any line in the X-Y plane will have its own long, very thin tube, no matter its direction. In fact, any path, straight or curved will have its own tube. This is also true when you consider any path in 3-D space – it will have its own tube.

Note that to visualize these tubes, we have added an extra dimension (besides omega) to indicate the identification of what would have been the end-points of the short omega dimension. The identification does not require the extra dimension. It only aids the visualization. This identification was used in some of the first computer games in which a rocket ship would travel to the edge of the screen and reappear on the opposite edge, travelling at the same angle as it left the screen.

Imagine an airplane flying level at 35,000 feet over a flat plane with clouds at 70,000 feet. It is clear for thousands of miles to the front, rear and sides. The airplane ascends until it hits 70,000 feet, at which point it reappears at 35,000 feet traveling forward at the same speed as before and rising at the same rate.

Now substitute a photon for the airplane, X and Y directions for forward and to the sides and omega for up and down. 35,000 feet represents our normal 3-D space and 52,500 feet represents the “top” in our tube pictures. The airplane wings are either the magnetic or electric field sinusoidal curves. The normal trajectory of a low-energy photon remains at the 35,000-foot level (zero Ω coordinate). Thus, the photon travels ‘up’ from 35,000 feet to 52,500 feet; however, when it continues in that direction it is now traveling ‘down’ in the other half of the loop. When it has travelled a total of 35,000 feet in that direction, it has completed circling the loop and arrived back at the 35,000-foot level.

Small compact dimensions such as we have described are not novel constructs in String theories. We now propose an additional constraint on Ω. The portion of the tube that intersects our traditional 3-D space has our standard distance metric. We could have the same metric for any line in the X direction on the tube so that the top line in the illustration has the same length as the bottom line. However, this is not required.

In the figure below, the middle line shows a given distance in our 3-D space, say 1 meter. The larger distance in the join shows that 1 meter extends further on the top and bottom of the diagram than in the middle – our 3-D space, with the shaded area showing the rate of change of distances. (Any curve can be used; straight lines are easier to draw). We have made the change yield a three to one ratio, so that the meter in the middle extends from point (1,0) to point (2,0), where the first coordinate is the X coordinate and the second coordinate is the Ω coordinate. On the top, the coordinates for the meter’s ends are (0,1) and (3,1). On the bottom, they are (0,-1) and (3,-1). The distance from an Ω coordinate of -1 to +1 is shown as πd, which we use to represent the very, very small extent of the Ω-dimension. (This corresponds to the 35,000-foot length of the airplane-photon loop above.)

Now, in the figure below, we identify the bottom line in igure above with its top line, rolling the diagram into a tube, where the joined top and bottom lines appear as the “top” of the tube. Note that the “diameter” of the tube is d and we can only see one of the two trapezoids of in this figure. The result is that a pair of points with the same X coordinates but different omega coordinates will be closer together at the “top” than at the “bottom.”

Another way of visualizing this is to consider a lengthwise cross-section of the tube, embedded in Euclidean 2-space as two circles, representing a curled tube, as in .span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> The radius of the normal space part of the tube must be equal to 3 times the radius of the “top” part of the tube. (The figure actually only has a factor of 2.) However, the gap between the two must equal the diameter d of the tube – very, very small. Since the circumference of the larger circle represents a distance in normal space, these constraints make it impossible to represent this cross-section as nice circles for large distances.

Hence, the larger “circle” must be crinkled to show larger distances. Larger ratios exacerbate the problem.& .

The tube in the figure below shows the crinkled normal space. The crinkled arrow shows a photon’s distance traveled in normal space. The other arrow starts out crinkled and becomes straighter as it travels further from normal space in the Ω-dimension, indicating a smaller distance traveled. (For a common example of a crinkled dimension, see the discussion of the Mercator Projection Maps in the Mathematics section, below.)

Mercator Projection Maps

The figure below is a Mercator projection map of the Earth’s surface. Notice that the left edge of the map is identified with the right edge. Thus, the main portion of Asia is shown as the large gray continent in the upper right portion of the figure. However, the “tail” of Asia appears on the upper left portion of the figure, to the left of the North American continent. This identification converts the horizontal dimension of the figure into a loop and the map into a cylinder. (Compare this to the looped Ω-dimension above.)

A second feature of the Mercator projection is the enlargement of lateral distances at high latitudes. For example, the coastline of Antarctica is shown as equal to the circumference of the Earth at the equator. The actual length of the Antarctic Circle (which would be a line just above the coastline) is about 9,900 miles and the length of the equator is about 24,900 miles, a factor of 2.5 times larger. If we were to pinch the top and bottom to account for this (and pinch the upper half and lower half smoothly, leaving the equator as it is), we would convert our cylinder into a part of a sphere – a globe with the North Pole and South Pole cut off. Alternatively, we could introduce lateral crinkles into the center part of the map to indicate that there is more distance there than at the top and bottom. (Compare this to the crinkled X dimension of the figure above.)

Loxodromers (Rhumb Lines)

A loxodrome (or rhumb line) is a line crossing all meridians at a constant angle. The Mercator projection maps of grade-school infamy have a very important property: lines of constant bearing are straight lines. That means if you take a compass bearing and travel along that bearing, you will trace a straight line on a Mercator map. Alternatively, if you draw a straight course on a Mercator map, you only have to maintain a constant compass bearing to stay on that course. However, to convert the course angle shown on the map to a compass bearing (angle), you have to know the local declination, that is the angle between the true north pole and the magnetic north pole. This is because the bearings on the map are based on the clockwise angle from true north, while the bearings read on a compass are based on the clockwise angle from magnetic north.

shows a Mercator projection map of the world and two bearings (shown as arrows) from known points (the beginning points of the arrows). To calculate the latitude and longitude of the intersection point is a simple matter of trigonometry and algebra, once the magnetic bearings are corrected to be bearings from true north. Note that while “distances” (from the known points to the intersection) could be calculated, the “distances” would be in terms of degrees of latitude and longitude, which have varying values in kilometers or miles. However, the calculated latitude and longitude of the intersection point will be correct because the Mercator projection is conformal, preserving angles.

As a practical matter, the smart phone compass app will give the latitude and longitude of each known point to the second. The problem lies in determining the correct bearing. The smart phone app will give a bearing in degrees; however, there will be an aiming error. This means that the intersection location will have an error determined by the separation of the known points and the distance to the intersection. Determining the exact unknown point within a few meters would require taking bearings from multiple pairs of points, each new set being successively closer to the unknown point.

Physics

Gravity

Curved space creates gravity. The figure below illustrates the curved space caused by a massive object, creating a gravity well. The curvature shown indicates that there is “more space” the closer the approach to the mass. This extra space cannot be shown as flat in a 2-D picture; hence the figure shows a dimple in a third dimension. The dimple could point up rather than down in an equally valid representation; however, it points down to fit our feeling that gravity is “down.”

The crinkles inthe figure before the map also represent “extra space.” Thus, there is a gravitational force acting on particles in the tube toward normal space.

Speed of Gamma Rays

The speed of light has been measured very precisely; however, the speed of x-rays and gamma rays have only been measured at certain energy levels and with less precision. If the energy level determines how “high” up into the Ω-dimension the photon can travel, then the expectation would be for an increase in speed of EM radiation (such as light) with increasing frequency (which corresponds to increasing energy). The geometry of the Ω-dimension would yield a distinctly non-linear relationship. Thus, conventional x-ray and gamma ray photons would be observed as having the same velocity as light, within the limits of experimental error. Only the extremely energetic gamma ray photons of the story, traveling farther away from normal space in the Ω-dimension would exhibit noticeable velocities greater than that of light.

Extension of Condensed Matter into the Ω-dimension

Our normal expectation of space-time is that any object has an extent in each of the three dimensions and the time dimension. Stated another way, each object is four-dimensional. The Ω-dimension should be no different. However, the extent in the Ω-dimension of any condensed matter object (such as humanly observable objects) should be nearly, but not quite, zero, since the extent of the Ω-dimension itself is so small. Here we assume density is one factor that contributes to larger extension into the Ω-dimension. We will assume some (very small) fluctuation in a condensed matter particle’s distance away from normal space, due to thermal vibrations.

Densely packed diamonds (each with high density) are regarded as one of the best materials to use in detecting high energy gamma rays. We postulate that certain diamonds extend sufficiently far into the Ω-dimension to be useful in reacting to our story’s extremely energetic gamma ray photons.

Penetration of Gamma Rays

Gamma rays are highly penetrative. They can be attenuated by shielding, with differing materials requiring differing thicknesses. For example, the following materials require the given thickness to produce roughly equivalent shielding:

In our story, we assume that higher energy photons travel at a greater distance in the Ω-dimension from normal space. This means they will intersect less condensed matter extending in their paths, producing greater penetration.

Dark Energy

Dark energy has been proposed as a constituent of the universe to explain the apparent acceleration of the expansion of the universe. In this model of the universe, dark energy (which has never been directly observes) is 68% of the total matter-energy.

In our story, we are assuming a vast sea of faster-than-light ultra-high energy gamma rays that pervades the universe. These gamma rays travel in the “upper” part of the Ω-dimension; however, they do react with normal matter, but only weakly through matter’s small extent in the Ω-dimension. Their major interaction is with the topology of the Ω-dimension, pushing against the “lower” part, causing the expansion of the universe.

Detector Details

The detector described in the book only detects modulated gamma rays (waves). Gamma rays are located at the high end of the frequency spectrum of electromagnetic (EM) radiation, of which visible light and radio waves are small parts. All EM radiation has a basic form of an oscillating electric field with an orthogonal oscillating magnetic field. For simplicity, shows this as a single sine wave.

AM (amplitude modulated) radio consists of a basic frequency EM wave with its amplitude (height in the figure) modulated by a sound wave – for example, a voice – as illustrated in . AM frequencies are chosen from a range of 550 to 1720 kHz (thousand cycles per second). Human hearing ranges from about 20 to 20,000 Hz (cycles per second). At an AM frequency of 1000 kHz, a medium pitched sound of 1000 Hz is about a thousand times slower than the signal to be modulated.

The same principle is used in modulating gamma waves; however, the frequencies are much larger. Ultra-high frequency gamma waves have frequencies above 2.8 times 10²⁸ Hz. In the story, these are modulated with near visible light waves, which range from about 4 to 8 times 10¹⁴ Hz. If the basic gamma ray frequency is chosen to be 4 times 1030³⁰ Hz and the modulating light wave is 4 times 10¹⁴ Hz, then the frequency multiple is 10¹⁶, rather than 1000 (10³) factor for AM radio.

In AM radio reception, the modulated signal is converted to sound waves. In the gamma ray detector, only the existence of modulation is detected. In both cases, the signal strength is a function of the antenna, or receiving element, particularly involving the direction of the antenna with respect to the direction of the signal. When the antenna is properly aligned, the signal is received at maximum strength. At a 90-degree orientation to the best alignment, the signal strength is at a minimum, generally zero reception. For the gamma ray detector, the antenna consists of a diamond cluster, bathed in light of particular frequencies, with that light modified by the diamond cluster and picked up by a light detector.

illustrates the basic functioning of the detector. The LEDs bathe the diamond cluster in near-visible light. Modulated ultra-high energy gamma rays cause the light bathing the diamonds to resonate with the gamma rays’ modulation, which is picked up by the photoreceptors. In the send mode, the LEDs produce modulated light, which modulates passing ultra-high energy gamma rays. The chart shows available LEDs, with their wavelengths in nanometers and frequencies in terahertz.

Biological Connection to Physics

In general, high energy photons damage living things. We avoid this problem by considering super-high energy photons, higher-energy than the gamma rays we can detect. Photons that we can detect all have insufficient energy to travel much above the level of normal space because of the enormous gravity field created by very high values of m (the “crinkle” factor in the math section and hence travel at, or very slightly above, the speed of light. Super-high energy photons travel well “above” (in the Ω-dimension) normal space, travel faster than light, and are not detectable through normal means. This also means that their extreme ionization capability has no effect on the human body. However, this ionization capability makes modulation possible.

We postulate an organ within the brain that responds to modulation of these super-photons and can induce modulation. In mystical traditions, this organ has been called the “third eye.” It is associated with the pineal gland. Some species of fish, amphibians and reptiles have an actual photoreceptive third eye, associated with the pineal gland. “It is absent in mammals, but was present in their closest extinct relatives, the therapsids (Wikipedia, 2020).” We will assume that the genes are retained in humans, but normally suppressed. New techniques in operating on the genome and epigenome will allow the re-activation of these genes among those in whom they are suppressed.

We are postulating that this organ grows small, single crystal diamonds through organic processes similar to the creation of proteins. In the telepathy reception mode, these diamonds react to modulated super-high energy photons by producing modulated photons in the visible light range. These are, in turn, detected and resolved in the organ and converted by the brain’s processing pathways into various sensory-type signals. In the telepathy sending mode, the brain’s sensory signals are converted by a light emitting portion of the organ, through the diamonds, into modulations of ambient super-high energy photons. The detector was designed to mimic this biological design.

In our story, the genes that enable the reception of telepathy are more frequently activated than are the remainder of the genes that enable both sending and receiving telepathic messages. Those with the fully activated gene set create a constant, personalized “I am here” disturbance that allows a sender to know the direction to send a message (by selecting gamma rays going in that direction for modulation), rather than broadcasting it. This “I am here” signal is not consciously recognizable as is a ‘verbal’ telepathy message. When sending a message, the sender transmits a “getting ready to send” signal in the general direction of the intended recipient, who then sends a precise “ready to receive” signal back, establishing the direct bearing for the sender to use. These two connection-establishing signals are also not consciously recognizable. These three unconsciously received signals are detectable only with the amber LED, while the conscious messages require the spectrum from amber though blue for best detection.

Cited Works

Bradbury, T. (2017, October 25). Emotions: The Sixth Sense. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from Mission.org: https://medium.com/the-mission/emotions-the-sixth-sense-64fd316961ab#:~:text=They%20allow%20us%20to%20sense,only%20activated%20by%20human%20emotion.&text=De%20Gelder's%20alternate%20pathways%20%E2%80%94%20brain,The%20pathways%20Dr.

Hotz, R. L. (2020, July 13). Different Wavelengths: Science Fids Hummingbirds See Ultraviolet Light Invisible to Humans. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/different-wavelengths-science-finds-hummingbirds-see-ultraviolet-light-invisible-to-humans-11594688179

Sinclair, D. A., & LaPlante, M. D. (2019). Lifespan: Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To. New York: Atria Books.

Stafford, L. D., Fleischman, D. S., Le Her, N., & Hummel, T. (2018, February 16). Exploring the Emotion of Disgust: Differences in Smelling and Feeling. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from www.mdpi.com: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/6/1/9/pdf

Wikipedia. (2020, July 28). Olfaction. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfaction

Wikipedia. (2020, June 17). Parietal eye. Retrieved August 3, 2020, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_eye

Page Last Updated: Friday, 16 December 2022 20:31 EDT, © 2022

Addendum:

This novel is science fiction. That means it is a story with some connection to science, particularly speculative science.

Parapsychology: