Torsion field

Infobox Pseudoscience
topics=Physics
claims=Spin-spin interaction can be transmitted through space at speeds of at least up to 10⁹ the speed of light via a special kind of field, making possible FTL travel, ESP, homeopathy, levitation, and other paranormal phenomena.
origyear=1987
origprop=A. Akimov, G. Shipov
currentprop=
* A. Akimov
* G. Shipov
* A. A. Shpilman
* J. Sarfatti
* R. N. Boyd

Torsion field, also called axion field, spin field, spinor field, and microlepton field is a pseudoscientific concept loosely based on Einstein-Cartan theory and some unorthodox solutions of Maxwell's equationscite journal|last=Kruglyakov|first=Edward P.|title=Pseudoscience. How Does It Threaten Science and the Public? Report at a RAN Presidium meeting of 27 May 2003|url=http://humanism.al.ru/en/articles.phtml?num=000010|journal= [http://humanism.al.ru/en/magazine.phtml Zdraviy Smysl] |publisher=Saint Petersburg Branch of the Russian Humanist Society] . The torsion field concept was conceived in the Soviet Union by a group of physicists in the 1980s. The group, led by Anatoly Akimov and Gennady Shipov [ [http://www.shipov.com/team-shipov.html Gennady Shipov] homepage] , began the research as the state-sponsored "Center for Nontraditional Technologies", but was disbanded in 1991 when their research was exposed as fraud and embezzlement of state funding, only to reemerge again as a private enterprise; "The International Institute for Theoretical and Applied Physics" and later as a private company UVITOR [ [http://www.shipov.com/company.html UVITOR] website] .

Theories

hipov formalism

Unlike the mechanism attributed to quantum spin effects, the torsion fields involve the use of long-range (Pauli) classical spinners to describe such interactions. Here, focus is not on the Dirac equation to describe fermion spin, but on a classical analogue, the Bargmann-Michel-Telegedi (BMT) equation to account for spin effects. [cite journal|author=Bagrov, V.|title=Possible Manifestations of the Torsion Field|journal=Sov. Phys. J.|pages=208|date=March 1992] BMT follows from a quasi-classical extension of the Dirac equation with an added Pauli term, and has been responsible for accounting for the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, and confirms the effect of radiative self-polarisation, both without the necessity for the standard application of quantum electrodynamics.

Torsion fields also have the important characteristic of being affected by the specific topology/geometry of macroscopic objects and biological fieldscite journal|author=Akimov, A.|coauthors=Tarasenko, V.|title=Models of Polarized States of the Physical Vacuum and Torsion Fields|journal=Sov. Phys. J.|pages=214|date=March 1992] , a feature which has been corroborated by the work of Glen Rein on DNA irradiated by non-Hertzian energy emanating from various geometric patterns [cite journal|author=Rein, G.|title=A Bioassay for Negative Gaussian Fields Associated with Geometric Patterns|journal=Proc. Of the 4th Int. Symp. On New Energy, Denver|pages=225|date=May 1997] .

Torsion fields have been found, by Dr. Buryl Payne, to emanate from living organisms, included humans, cats, dogs, horses, plants, and fruits. They can be detected by a simple device he invented, called the "Biofield Meter", which can be constructed by anyone in an hour from household materials. [15]

Criticism and controversy

A field is simply an assignment of a quantity (vector, tensor, or spinor) to every point of space. The word torsion refers to any variable that describes rotation. Thus, torsion fields exist. For example, an electromagnetic wave with circular polarisation can be described as a "torsion field", although such description is not used in physics. Spinor fields, in particular, Fermionic fields, also exist and are a useful tool in particle physics and quantum field theory. However, advocates of the spin field or torsion field theories claim that spin-spin interaction (itself a well-studied quantum phenomenon) can be transmitted through space just like electromagnetic waves, but does not carry any mass or energy, only information, and does so at speeds up to 10⁹ times the speed of light. At the same time they claim that it is carried by neutrinos (which have both mass and energy), and that it does not interact with matter but, at the same time, can be generated and registered easily. [cite journal|author=Акимов А.Е.|coauthors=Шипов Г.И., Логинов А.В., Ломоносов М.Н., Пугач А.Ф.|title=Торсионные поля Земли и Вселенной|journal=Земля И Вселенная|date=1996|volume=6|pages=9–17 ("in Russian")
("English title:" )cite journal|author=Akimov A.E.|coauthors=Shipov G.I., Loginov A.V., Lomonosov M.N., Pugach A.F.|title=Torsion fields of Earth and Universe|journal=Earth and Universe|date=1996|volume=6|pages=9–17]

The basic postulates of these theories are full of contradictions and scientifically nonsensical statementscite journal|last=Бялко|first=А. В.|title=Торсионные мифы|journal=Природа|issue=9|pages=93–102|volume=1998|url=http://www.skeptik.net/pseudo/torsion1.htm|accessdate=2008-02-11("in Russian")
("English title:" )cite journal|last=Byalko|first=A. V.|title=Torsion Myths|journal=Priroda|issue=9|pages=93–102|volume=1998|url=http://www.skeptik.net/pseudo/torsion1.htm] , but their applications take this a step further. Torsion field theory was hailed as the explanation for homeopathy, telepathy, levitation, clairvoyance, and other paranormal activity and ESP, which also would allow the humankind to harness it, building everything from miracle cure devices (including devices that cure alcohol addictioncite journal|author=Boyd, R. N.|url=http://www.rialian.com/rnboyd/spinfield-effects.htm|title=Reduction of Physiological Effects of Alcohol Abuse By Substitution of a Harmless Alcohol Surrogate Created by Application of a Spin Field|journal=Application to NIH Alcohol Abuse Center] ) to working stargates [ [http://stardrive.org/Jack/algebra.pdf Sarfatti, J., Sirag, S.-P. "Star Gate Anholonomic Topology-Changing Post-Einstein Geometrodynamics" (2000)] ] , UFO propulsion analogs and superweapons. Many such devices, in particular the miracle cure boxes, have been patented [ [http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6548752-description.html System and method for generating a torsion field - US Patent 6548752] ] , manufactured and sold, and some appear to work due to placebo effect, and the torsion field scientists have been working hard to obtain large-scale government and military contracts.

A classic example of such fraudulent application is an experiment conducted in 1994 by the Russian private research group "VENT" (VEnture for Non-traditional Technologies) which claimed to lower the resistivity of copper as much as 80 times after exposing it to a torsion fields generator. The group applied to the government of Russia for funding to open a factory, and promised great savings in energy consumption. The samples of exposed and unexposed copper were independently measured in presence of the Vent representative and their resistivity was not only found to be identical between each other [(2.08+/-0.02)×10^-7 Ωm and (2.05+/-0.02)×10^-7 Ωm] but also worse than the industrial copper (1.7×10^-8 Ωm).

Other examples include the 2002 applications for oil drilling licenses in Russia and UK using "microlepton technologies" [ [http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/15/7/7 Strange events hit rural England] on physicsweb.org] , or the 1987 application to the Ministry of Defence of the USSR requesting funding to develop "highly-reliable detection of an enemy strategic weapon (ICBM, nuclear submarine, aircraft, etc.); the long-range destruction of enemy strategic weapons without contact; covert jamming-resistant communications with objects in space, on Earth, underground, and underwater; mobile equipment on gravitational principles; and psychophysical and biomedical influence on troops and the population" The state allocated 500 million rubles (about $700 million at today's exchange rate) for this fraudulent research. [Kruglyakov E.P., [http://humanism.al.ru/en/articles.phtml?num=000059 "The Demons of Ignorance and Greed"] Interview given by Academician E. P. Kruglyakov to the newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta, February 1, 2006]

On the other end of the spectrum, there are purely mathematical theories, such as Einstein-Cartan theory or gauge theories of gravitation for the Poincaré and the affine groups, that seek to add the torsion of spacetime to the curvature-based description of gravity, predicting a multitude of new physical effects. However the predicted effects are either infinitesimal or directly contradict the experimental evidence. In fact, spacetime curvature and torsion are simply alternative ways of describing the gravitational field that are mutually interchangeable in every way. Any attempt to account for them separately produced inconsistencies. [cite journal|author=Arcos, H. I.|coauthors=Pereira, J. G.|title=Torsion Gravity: A Reappraisal|journal=Int. J. Mod. Phys. D|volume=13|issue=10|pages=2193–2240|date=December 2004|doi=10.1142/S0218271804006462
url=http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0501017v1|accessdate=2007-11-30]

References

[15] Payne, Buryl; "The Spin Force - A Collection of Articles & Experiments". www.buryl.com/spin_book.htm Retrieved on 2008-2-27. 

External links

"support":
* [http://amasci.com/freenrg/tors/ The Torsion Fields entry on amasci.com]
* [http://www.rialian.com/rnboyd/spin-torsion.htm Studies of the Spin Field and the Torsion Field by Robert Neil Boyd]

"debunk":
* [http://humanism.al.ru/en/articles.phtml?num=000010 Kruglyakov, E.P.. "Pseudoscience. How Does It Threaten Science And the Public?" Report made by Academician E.P. Kruglyakov at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences Meeting, May 27, 2003.]
* (Full text available [http://www.skeptik.net/pseudo/rubakov.htm in Russian] )