A Schwarzschild radial coordinate R is presented for the Friedmann dust-filled cosmology models. It is shown that a worldline of constant Schwarzschild radial coordinate in the dust-filled universe is instantaneously null at Rn=2GM/c2, where M is the Schwarzschild mass inside the sphere R=Rn. It is also shown that Mp=3τc3/4G, where Mp is the proper mass inside R=Rn and τ is the age of the universe. The Rn=2GM/c2 result in Friedmann dust-filled cosmology is made physically significant by abandoning the cosmological principle and adjoining segments of Friedmann dust to segments of Schwarzschild vacuum. In the resulting cosmology model, the observable universe may lie inside a black or white hole.

To answer Wheeler's question "Why the quantum?" via quantum information theory according to Bub, one must explain both why the world is quantum rather than classical and why the world is quantum rather than superquantum, i.e., "Why the Tsirelson bound?" We show that the quantum correlations and quantum states corresponding to the Bell basis states, which uniquely produce the Tsirelson bound for the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt quantity, can be derived from conservation per no preferred reference frame (NPRF). A reference frame in this context is defined by a measurement configuration, just as with the light postulate of special relativity. We therefore argue that the Tsirelson bound is ultimately based on NPRF just as the postulates of special relativity. This constraint-based/principle answer to Bub's question addresses Fuchs' desideratum that we "take the structure of quantum theory and change it from this very overt mathematical speak ... into something like [special relativity]." Thus, the answer to Bub's question per Fuchs' desideratum is, "the Tsirelson bound obtains due to conservation per NPRF."

Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. There is no consensus among researchers on how to approach unifying general relativity and quantum field theory (quantum gravity), explaining so-called dark energy and dark matter (cosmology), or the interpretation and implications of quantum mechanics and relativity. In addition, both fields are deeply puzzled about various facets of time including, above all, time as experienced. This book argues that this impasse is the result of the “dynamical universe paradigm,” the idea that reality fundamentally comprises physical entities that evolve in time from some initial state according to dynamical laws. Thus, in the dynamical universe, the initial conditions plus the dynamical laws explain everything else going exclusively forward in time. In cosmology, for example, the initial conditions reside in the Big Bang and the dynamical law is supplied by general relativity. Accordingly, the present state of the universe is explained exclusively by its past. A completely new paradigm (called Relational Blockworld) is offered here whereby the past, present, and future co-determine each other via “adynamical global constraints,” such as the least action principle. Accordingly, the future is just as important for explaining the present as the past is. Most of the book is devoted to showing how Relational Blockworld resolves many of the current conundrums of both theoretical physics and foundations of physics, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the block universe.

The Relational Blockworld (RBW) interpretation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics (NRQM) is introduced. Accordingly, the spacetime of NRQM is a relational, nonseparable blockworld whereby spatial distance is only defined between interacting transtemporal objects. RBW is shown to provide a novel statistical interpretation of the wavefunction that deflates the measurement problem, as well as a geometric account of quantum entanglement and non-separability that satisfies locality per special relativity and is free of interpretative mystery. We present RBW's acausal and adynamical resolution of the so-called "quantum liar paradox," an experimental set-up alleged to be problematic for a spacetime conception of reality, and conclude by speculating on RBW's implications for quantum gravity.PACS: 03.65.Ta; 03.65.Ud

The gravitational field outside of a nonrotating black hole is described using the Schwarzschild metric. The geodesic equations of the Schwarzschild metric are derived and those describing null and circular timelike orbits are discussed. Some numerical solutions of the null geodesic equations are shown. These depict photon trajectories which circle the black hole one or two times and then terminate at their emission points. Thus a sequence of ring-shaped mirror images is produced. An equation which gives the angle between the photon’s trajectory and the radial direction at the emitter is derived and applied to the numerical solutions. These results serve to illustrate how an observer ‘‘passes through’’ his or her mirror image at r=3 MG/c2, as he or she moves toward a Schwarzschild black hole.