Mar 01, 2006
Magnetars–A Computer's Dream World
A magnetar is an invention
derived from a computer, not something actually seen in the
sky. What astronomers actually see are intense magnetic fields
that pulsate in seconds or even in fractions of a second. And
occasionally, sometimes repeatedly, magnetars emit a burst of
gamma rays. From 50,000 light years away and for a tenth of a
second, the most energetic burst ever detected momentarily
outshone the full moon. So astronomers asked a
computer if it could produce something like this extraordinary
event using a model based only on the
forces of gravity and magnetism.
Freed from the world of observation and
experiment, the computer program hummed and churned, initially
constructing a picture of a highly magnetized and rapidly
spinning "neutron star" or "pulsar" (above).
To explain
the rapid pulsations, the computer extrapolated normal rotation
rates of star-sized bodies down to objects compressed to a few
kilometers diameter. And it was programmed with an additional
unwarranted
speculation. The program assumed that gamma
ray bursts happen when “star quakes” disturb the solid surface
of the neutron star and cause the magnetic field lines to snap
apart and “reconnect” again. Had no one informed the computer of Hannes Alfvén’s admonition–that magnetic reconnection was
"pseudoscience”? (See link below for more on “magnetic
reconnection.”)
Plasma cosmologists, whose training is in electric circuits in
plasma, do not ask their computers the questions asked by
astronomers. Since 99% of the universe is composed of plasma,
could the electrical behavior of plasma in the laboratory
and in nearby space explain the observations of a magnetar?
Plasma cosmologists know that magnetic fields don't stand alone,
but are induced by electric currents. There must be an intense
electric current feeding the magnetar, and this feeder current
must be part of a circuit, since every electric circuit must
close.
The
electric model has no need for “super-fast rotation” of a collapsed
star. Observed pulsations are the effect of resonances arising
within the circuit. The occasional high-energy explosion is the
release of stored
electrical energy in a “double layer.” Double layers are
capacitor-like structures that form wherever
current flows in plasma. They are regions where the magnetohydrodynamic model used by astronomers breaks down
because they have almost no magnetic properties. And since the
exploding double layer draws energy from the entire circuit, the
explosion can be
far more energetic than expected from the energy locally present
in the star. Plasma
cosmologists study double layers regularly in their labs, and they
recognize them in solar flares. They do not see objects in space as
electrically neutral and isolated.
The energetic signature of the observed outbursts
matches the characteristic signature of electric discharge. The
outburst
begins with a sudden peak of energy, and then declines gradually.
(See insert of a Ulysses satellite record of a magnetar's explosive
event). In contrast, the model for “magnetic reconnection” called
for a long, low and steady energy release.
Of
course both explanations may be sound in a purely mathematical
sense. But one is rooted in observation and experiment, while the
other relies almost exclusively on mathematics divorced from
physical principles and is often contradicted by actual
experience. So this approach with the exclusively magnetic model has
consistently failed to predict the actual path of discovery.
The
electric universe explanation rests on
recognition of the
electrical properties of plasma and on the scalability of plasma
phenomena. It implies that electric discharge behavior observed on
Earth and in the solar system has analogies on a macrocosmic scale,
a prediction now confirmed by the pervasive signature of electric
currents in deep space: magnetic fields, pulsations and explosive
flares.
Since gravity is trivially weak in comparison to the electric force,
it can only account for observed high-energy electrical effects
through such mathematical conjectures as “collapsed super-dense
matter” and “magnetic reconnection”. The mathematically conjured physical
conditions have no analogies in anything seen in high-energy
experiments–not even in the most sophisticated laboratories. And
magnetic reconnection defies both logic and the principles of
physics. For this reason, plasma cosmologists find the popular leap
of faith to be extremely dubious.
More about the magnetic
reconnection controversy here:
Magnetic Reconnection
__________________________________________________________________________________
Please visit our new "Thunderblog" page
Through the initiative of managing
editor Dave Smith, we’ve begun the launch of a new
page
called
Thunderblog. Timely
presentations of fact and opinion, with emphasis on
new
discoveries
and the explanatory power of the Electric Universe."
new: online video page
The Electric Sky and The Electric Universe
available now!