Misinterpretations of Particle Accelerator Experiments

One of the supposed proofs of general relativity comes from experiments in atom smashers. These devices accelerate clumps of matter to nearly the speed of light before colliding them with other clumps traveling in the opposite direction, just to see what kind of sub-atomic debris comes flying out. Interestingly, the energy released in these collisions is greater than what we would expect just from the velocity of the particles in classical mechanics (E_k = ½·m·v²). Since the only other variable on the right-hand side of the equation is mass, general relativity concludes that some of the accelerating force got converted to mass, such that the energy released in the collision is the energy of more mass. So the resting mass has to be multiplied by the velocity to get the actual mass (E_potential = m·c²). But there is another energy store that needs to be taken into account, before concluding that mass must be variable, because there are two forces that do not show up in any of Newton's equations: the electric force, and the magnetic force. Thus it's possible that the energy sink is electromagnetic, and that this is the extra energy that is getting released in the collision.

 

To explain how, let's start with a metaphor. Consider a supersonic aircraft with adjustable wings, which are perpendicular to the aircraft in subsonic flight, but which get tucked parallel to the aircraft for supersonic flight (such as the US F-14 Tomcat). Now let's suppose that this is accomplished just by making the wings spring-loaded, such that with increased drag on the wings, they tuck themselves in when approaching the speed of sound. This means that in tucked position, some of the thrust has been converted to elastic potential in the springs. If the drag is reduced, that potential is released, and the wings spread out again. So if the plane is instantaneously decelerated (because it hit something), there is of course all of the momentum of its forward motion, but there is also the release of that elastic potential. This would make it look like the plane released more potential than just its resting mass times its forward velocity.

 

Similarly, charged particles at relativistic velocities undergo a z-pinch, in which despite their electrostatic repulsion, the magnetic pressure forces them together. If they could ever achieve the speed of light, the magnetic force would become equal to the electric force,^1:20 and the particles would fuse (even without any spins that create relative motions in a charge stream, encouraging fusion). Of course, actually accelerating particles to the speed of light is tough, because the accelerator is EM fields, which travel at the speed of light. So while energy is still building up in momentum, or being lost in particle spins, the forward velocity is less than the speed of light. But there is another force that needs to be overcome to achieve the speed of light, other than the clump's resting inertial force, and any Lorentz forces due to conflicting magnetic fields, and that's the Coulomb force between the particles. So as we pump energy into those particles, and they get going faster and faster, as they approach the speed of light, we see energy absorption beyond what shows up in forward motion, or in particle spins. Where did the energy go? And then, on collision, all of the input energy is released, beyond just what we'd get from the forward motion. So where did that energy come from? A portion of the energy release on collision will be electrostatic potential re-converted to kinetic energy, because as soon as the particles are decelerated on collision, the z-pinch goes away, and the electrostatic repulsion takes over, accelerating the particles away from each other. In other words, there will be a Coulomb explosion. This might look a whole lot like the conversion of forward motion to radial motion in an explosion. But the energy will exceed that of the forward motion. So we do the (E_k = ½·m·v²) thing, where we know the force of the explosion, and we know the velocity, and we adjust the mass accordingly, and we think that we have proved GR. Oops, we didn't take the Coulomb explosion into account.

 

To actually prove that energy is being converted to mass, scientists have to subtract energy converted to electrostatic potential. Then, if there is still energy left over, it might constitute proof of mass-energy conversions.