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A Conjecture on the Neutrality of Matter

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Abstract

Elaborating on an old conjecture by Blackett, we formulate a new conjecture about the neutrality of matter according to which any physical system possesses an active electric charge proportional to its mass. We discuss limits on the conjecture coming from existing laboratory experiments on the neutrality of matter and from the observation of the global surface electric field of the Earth. In a cosmological setting, we show that a cosmic rotation of the Universe is inevitable if our conjecture is true and if the magnetic fields observed today in large-scale gravitationally bounded objects and cosmic voids have a primordial origin. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the angular momentum of spiral galaxies could be a signature of a rotating Universe.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, we use S.I. units when we report numerical values of physical quantities, and Lorentz-Heaviside units with \(c = \hbar = 1\) for theoretical considerations. The constant \(\varepsilon\) corresponds to \(\sqrt{4\pi } \beta\) in [1] where cgs units are used.

  2. If the pulse phase spectroscopy of 1RXS J1708-400910 is interpreted as proton cyclotron resonant scattering of soft photon from magnetic field, such a magnetar with rotational period of \(11 \hbox {s}\) would have an average surface magnetic field of about \(1.7 \times 10^{15} \hbox {G}\) [9]. Its magnetic moment and angular momentum would be \(\mu \simeq 8.5 \times 10^{29} \hbox {A}\cdot \hbox {m}^2\) and \(J \simeq 6.9 \times 10^{37} \hbox {J}\cdot \hbox {s}\), corresponding to \(\varepsilon \simeq 1.0 \times 10^3\). To our knowledge, this is the highest value of \(\varepsilon\) for astrophysical objects with directly detected magnetic field.

  3. A less stringent constraint on a (homogeneous) cosmic magnetic field of order of \(B_{\mathrm{cosmic}} \lesssim 10^{-9} \hbox {G}\) come from the analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation [24] and large-scale structures [25].

  4. In Eq. (5), we have used the upper limit (2) to obtain a constraint on the parameter \(\varepsilon\). This automatically implies that we are assuming an inflationary origin of cosmic magnetic fields. One can wonder, then, if the creation of cosmic magnetic fields is possible in inflationary theories with no inflaton. Indeed, as we showed in [34], cosmic magnetic fields are an inevitable consequence of inflation whatever is the mechanism responsible for it: strong, large-scale magnetic fields naturally emerge from quantum electromagnetic fluctuation in a (quasi-de Sitter) accelerated phase driven or not by an inflaton.

  5. A solution of the Einstein field equations describing a rotating Universe was first discovered by Godel in 1949 [36]. However, the Godel universe is stationary and thus disagrees with observations. More realistic rotating cosmological models have been studied since then, all being cosmological models of Bianchi type (see, e.g., [37,38,39]). In particular, quantum creation of (Bianchi IX) rotating universes has been studied in [40], an inflationary model (of Bianchi II type) with vorticity have been constructed in [41], and a cosmological model (of Bianchi VIII type) including a rotating dark energy component has bee analysed in [42].

  6. In the “tidal torque model”, galaxies acquire their angular momentum as they form by the tidal torques of neighboring protogalaxies (see, e.g., [54]). A correlation of the form (7) between their masses and angular momenta is also predicted by this model [55].

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    Leonardo Campanelli

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Campanelli, L. A Conjecture on the Neutrality of Matter. Found Phys 51, 56 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-021-00462-9

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