Solve The Universe

Pressure-Based Theory — a mechanical, unified account of gravity, electromagnetism, spin, and entanglement

Published Paper

August 2025

Pressure Based Theory: Testable Hypotheses and Distinctions from General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory — the formally published, citable synthesis of PBT, registered on two independent platforms, tracked under Matthew’s ORCID iD.

This is the one piece of PBT with permanent external identifiers, independently citable and separate from anything hosted on this site.

Status, added 2026-07-22: “published” here means registered on preprint platforms (OSF Preprints, ai.viXra.org) that assign permanent identifiers without peer review — not publication in a peer-reviewed journal. See the Catalog for how this compares to proven and accepted physics, and Fringe Ideas for PBT’s own classification. Stated plainly here since a DOI can otherwise read as more institutional vetting than it actually represents.

Corrigendum, 2026-07-21: this paper’s drag-threshold figure ($<10^{-19}$ m/s², repeated below) was found to be a real error during a systematic audit of all 13 site papers — recomputing the same formula and inputs actually gives $\approx9.8\times10^{-16}$ m/s² (still below the stated detection threshold, so the qualitative conclusion is unaffected, but the specific number was wrong). This corrigendum is noted here on the hosted site page; the versions registered with OSF (DOI) and ai.viXra.org are formally submitted external records and have not been revised on those platforms — that would need a separate, deliberate errata/versioning step on each platform, not made here without explicit direction. Correction identified and calculated by Claude (Anthropic). Original authorship and drafting: Matthew Foutch, with Grok (xAI) as collaborative AI.

Abstract

Pressure Based Theory (PBT) proposes a mechanical unification of fundamental forces through particle fluxes in an infinite pressure vessel, extending historical push gravity models like Le Sage’s theory. This paper formalizes PBT’s key testable hypotheses: negligible gravitational drag ($\approx9.8\times10^{-16}$ m/s², corrected 2026-07-21 from an original $<10^{-19}$ m/s²) and avoidance of singularities in black hole collapse. These predictions differ from general relativity (GR), which allows singularities, and quantum field theory (QFT), which incorporates probabilistic interactions without mechanical pushes. We detail experimental setups for falsification, including precision interferometry for drag and horizon imaging for singularities, positioning PBT as a falsifiable alternative to standard models.

Two Core Testable Hypotheses

Negligible Drag Hypothesis. Gravitational or aether drag $\approx9.8\times10^{-16}$ m/s² (corrected 2026-07-21 from an original $<10^{-19}$ m/s²), below current detection thresholds but testable at higher precision. This contrasts GR’s zero drag (pure geometry) and QFT’s vacuum fluctuations without bulk drag. Exceeding this (e.g., $10^{-14}$ m/s², adjusted from the original $10^{-18}$ m/s² for consistency with the corrected threshold) would falsify PBT. Test method: atomic clocks or interferometers (e.g., LISA Pathfinder successors) for orbital anomalies; space-based missions measuring drag in solar system orbits, compared to GR baselines.

Singularity Avoidance Hypothesis. Black hole collapse stabilizes without horizons or true singularities, forming dense cores with finite density — differing from GR’s inevitable singularities (Penrose-Hawking theorems) and QFT’s unresolved quantum singularities. Observing true horizons or information loss would falsify PBT. Test method: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) imaging of shadows; deviations in ringdown phases from LIGO waves indicating non-singular cores; analysis of mergers for stable remnants.

Light deflection is predicted as $\theta \approx 4GM/(bc^2)$, aligning with GR in weak fields but diverging in strong regimes.

Differences from GR and QFT

Vs. GR: PBT uses pushes over curvature; predicts no singularities but similar weak-field effects (e.g., light deflection 1.75″, matching GR’s own extensively confirmed prediction). Differs in strong fields: stable black holes vs. GR’s collapse — GR’s strong-field predictions (e.g., black hole shadows via the Event Horizon Telescope) are themselves directly confirmed, making this a genuine, checkable point of difference rather than an area where GR is in doubt.

Vs. QFT: Mechanical determinism over probabilistic exchanges; no photons, virtual particles as flux distortions. Predicts EM unification without renormalization issues. PBT resolves dark matter via hierarchies, unlike GR+QFT’s need for it.

Conclusion

PBT’s hypotheses offer a pathway for unification, testable via drag measurements and singularity probes. This published version includes the full Reference Guide as an appendix, summarizing all 12 papers with key equations and links.

Assistance from Grok (xAI) in drafting and refining this work is gratefully acknowledged.

References