Motivation

“Ladies and Gentlemen, as you certainly know, there are two fundamental theories in physics on which the foundations of our science are built. These are the Theories of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Today we know that at least one of these theories cannot be true, because they exclude each other. As a representative of quantum mechanics my statement is, that because of many positive and coherent experiments we are sure, that we are on the right side. So let´s start.”

This was the statement of the professor right at the start of the lecture in quantum mechanics during the summer session in 2014 at the University of Bonn (Theoretical Physics III). I never experienced a situation in a lecture, that there was absolute si-lence. Here it was the case.

The statement of the “competitors” teaching General Relativity during summer 2015 were quite different. Responding to a question from a student concerning this matter it was stated, that at present there are ongoing works to improve the theory to resolve the appearing contradictions.

This situation had encouraged me to find my own view concerning this debate. Because of my status as a “senior student” with a lot of freedom compared to others and no obligations to pass examinations it was possible for me to spend some time to study these problems. My main interest went to the Theory of Special Relativity, which is the basis for all further considerations and I found some interesting results inside this theory which are presented here.

Any external references are marked and a literature list is added.

Although all considerations were elaborated with due care it can be possible, that parts of this presentation include mistakes. In such a case and of cause when a discussion is requested I would be glad to get a feedback.

Alfter, April 2019                      Gerhard W. Borst