Comparative Ontology of Theories of Space and Time

Abstract

With a few exceptions, physics theories are based in a conception of time and space; our two major theories, general relativity, and quantum field theory, differ in their conceptions. Key issues herein include mathematics, logic, intuition, experiment, and ontology, with emphasis on simultaneity and dimensionality of the world. The treatment is through ontological comparison of two theories, space-time theory (special relativity) and energy-time theory (local absolute space and universal time). These two theories share many of the same equations but have different ontology.

The Ontology of Velocity

“…An observer in the railway car considers his own frame to be at rest and considers the station to be in motion with constant velocity −v. Periods of time during which the railway car accelerates with respect to the station are excluded from spacetime [3], i.e., periods of acceleration in which relativistic mass varies are excluded from special relativity. Mass is set to rest mass in every period in which the frame has constant velocity.…”

Ontology of Relativistic Mass

“…However, since the nature of physical reality should be of significance to physicists, this paper presents an ontological analysis of relativistic mass. This paper is not an analysis of Einstein's special relativity of space-time; my recent paper [4] compares space-time relativity to energy-time theory on a feature-by-feature basis and presents a table of the results.…”