The report declared that "Physicists have trapped a proton and an antiproton
and proved that they have the same mass, down to the tenth decimal place. The
precision of the measurement is a tour de force in physical
measurement."
Apparently, what the researchers, Dr. Gerald Gabrielse and
Dr. Anton Khabbaz of Harvard University, did, using facilities in Geneva in
Europe, was to trap a single antiproton in a radial electric field and a
longitudinal magnetic field so that the antiproton would orbit around an axis
and then they added a 'negative hydrogen ion'. This is a normal hydrogen atom, a
proton plus an electron, with an additional electron attached. Both particles
would then travel in an orbit around that axis subjected to the same electric
and magnetic fields.
One, the negative hydrogen ion, would have more
mass than the other, amounting to that of two electrons, which means that it
would orbit around the axis at a slightly slower rate.
By measuring how
fast the two particles raced around the 'trap' in virtually identical circles at
90 million times a second, they were able to conclude, after allowing for the
electron masses, that the proton had the same mass as the antiproton, an
important fact, given that some physical theories require the two masses to be
different.
What I wonder is whether the precision of that measurement
allows one to reach a conclusion concerning one of the very basic unresolved
questions in science, which is, given that the proton and antiproton do have the
same mass, whether the energy of Coulomb interaction as between that proton and
its two satellite electrons contribute to the mass of the hydrogen
ion.
If the precision of that measurement of the relative masses of the
proton and antiproton really does indicate precise equality to within the tenth
place of decimals, as is reported, then it certainly must provide the answer to
the question just raised. The Coulomb interaction energy of the proton-electron
interaction in the hydrogen atom would affect the measurement at the eight
decimal place, if it contributes to the mass of the hydrogen atom.
This
is an extremely important question in physics and it bears heavily on the
validity of Einstein's theory. The reason is that Einstein declared that all
energy has mass, whereas there are those in science, including myself and Leon
Brillouin, the author of 'Relativity Reexamined', as published by
Academic Press, New York in 1970, who think that the Einstein proposition poses
questions that need an answer, one being the issue of whether Coulomb
interaction energy exhibits the mass property. You see, that energy is not
seated in either of the interacting bodies. It exists in their interaction
across space. It exists somewhere between them in the aether and, though logic
implies that it must move in a translational sense with both bodies, it does not
follow that it necessarily will contribute to the effective mass of the
combination of the two bodies in an orbital motion.
My belief, as based
on the derivation of the E=Mc2 formula 1976b
by a method quite independent of the Einstein philosophy, is that only energy
vested in the self-action of electric charge can exhibit mass. Hence my interest
in knowing the answer to this question, given that the answer must be there in
the results of the reported experiment.