Light is not the fundamental forces.
In this post I will be fully explaining the nature of Arc, Solar and Void Light.
"Into the void, the spark. From the spark, the fire. After the fire, the void." – Nerigal Savant III
Light is not the fundamental forces.
At least not in a discrete one-for-one fashion as most theories suggest. Rather Light and its three forms represent the relationships between matter and energy as a process dictated by Quantum field theory.
"Stop thinking of the world as an outcome. Start thinking of it as a process." – Nerigal Savant III
Note: the following is some pretty deep science. Feel free to skip to “Solar Light Explained” if it doesn’t interest you.
Quantum Field Theory
The fundamental forces arise from that, given that each force represents the exchange of bosons (force particles) between fermionic matter (both leptonic and baryonic) in different stages of excitation.
Most matter that we interact with is made up of Fermionic matter. Fermions make up leptons (electrons and neutrinos) as well as quarks, which in turn make up baryonic matter. Baryonic matter makes up protons and neutrons.
Bosons are the quantum excitations that transfer force between the different particles. So
· Photons - carriers of electromagnetic force between electons observable as light and heat.
· Gluons - carriers of strong nuclear force between the quarks that glue protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
· W and Z bosons - carriers of weak nuclear force between quarks and neutrinos and are responsible for radioactive decay.
· Gravitons - hypothesized to be the carrier of gravitational force between two massive objects.
Quantum field theory (QFT) treats all these particles of matter as “excited states” or quanta of their underlying quantum fields. From quantum field theory we get Quantum Electrodynamics which is “The quantum theory of the emission and absorption of radiation”. So electrons and photons are seen as different perturbations of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum.
We also get the related concept of Quantum Chromodynamics which is the same principle where quarks and gluons are seen as perturbations of the QCD vacuum and explains the strong force as well as exotic hypothetical particles such as axions.
So matter can be considered as simply vacuum fluctuations.
It’s from these fluctuations that the secrets of Solar and Arc light can be understood.
Energy States
In quantum mechanics, all particles confined spatially are believed to take on certain discrete quanta of energy, called energy levels. The best way to understand this is to look at one quantum field in particular, the electromagnetic field which governs the behavior of electrons.
Within an atom you have a nucleus made up of baryonic matter (protons and neutrons) and surrounded by a cloud of electrons, a type of lepton. Hydrogen for instance has a single proton surrounded by a single electron. Heavier elements contain more particles.
Each electron in the atom can be in a different energy state, and this energy state dictates its orbit around the nucleus. So electrons in a higher orbit will be in a higher energy state than electrons in a lower orbit. Also no two electrons can occupy the same orbit, known as the Pauli exclusion principle.
A good way to imagine this is to imagine our solar system as an atom with the sun as the nucleus and each planet as an electron. If our solar system was an atom then mercury would be in a lower energy state than say Neptune.
Spontaneous emission
Now electrons are not bound to these energy states but rather can move between these energy states by the emission and absorption of a particular boson known as a photon. Spontaneous emission is the process in which a molecule, an atom or a subatomic particle) transits from an excited energy state to a lower energy state and emits a quantized amount of energy in the form of a photon.
Photons are the force carrier of the electromagnetic force and we can observe this in the electromagnetic spectrum as light in the visible spectrum, heat or thermal radiation in the infrared and as UV and gamma radiation in the ultra-violet spectrum.
Now photons are important because they represent how electrons can transfer energy. So if an electron receives a photon (or packet of energy) it will get more excited and increase its orbit from the nucleus. If the electron was to cool down and become a little less excited it can do the opposite and release energy in the form of a photon. Once a photon is released it will return to a lower orbit/energy state.
Solar Light Explained
Energy is carried by quanta, tiny messengers of change. In the understanding of these messengers lies the secret of Solar Light.
This forms the mechanism of solar light, namely the control over bosons and the emission of energy. By transferring the energy of the Traveler externally Guardians can influence matter around them by causing excitations in the quantum field. As the quantum fields interact with bosons we emit it increases in energy and by proxy the energy of its particles.
The more excited the particles get, the more entropy is increased in the system and thermodynamic laws take over. Matter subjected to Solar light will gain heat, and then release this energy as photons producing light. This is why we observe Solar light to look like fire and to look like the Sun. The same process happens in the sun with billions upon billions of energetic particles releasing energy in the form of light and heat to sustain life on Earth.
But, an interesting thing about atoms is that there are in fact limits to these energy states. Just as Neptune can only be so far away from the Sun before the Suns gravity can no longer hold it in orbit, so too do electrons have a limit known as the binding energy of the atom.
Binding Energy
If an electron receives too much energy which takes it above the binding energy of the atom, one of two things can happen. It can either release the energy as a photon to return to a lower state or leave the orbit of the atom entirely.
Since orbit states are in discrete quanta (i.e you can be at energy level 1 or energy level 2.. not energy level 1.5) sometimes it’s not possible to just release the energy so the electron has no choice but to say adios. During this process the atom or molecule becomes ionized in a process known as ionization.
This process forms the basis of electrical currents (i.e electricity) as well as the electrostatic forces that define positive and negative charge of molecules. It’s also the process that binds molecules through attraction and repulsion in chemical processes to create complex matter such as cells, DNA and the building block of life. This is the nature of Arc light.
Arc Light Explained
Complex matter is bound together by deep forces - and in the study of this binding lies the secret of Arc Light.
So if Solar light is necessary to sustain life, Arc light is necessary in the creation of life and all complex matter – including our brains and nervous systems – that allow sentient creatures to think and feel. In the destiny universe, Arc light is responsible for the soul. As the flavor text says:
A spark can give life...or take it.
It’s little wonder then that we see Arc light being used often in the context of a soul or spark of life. Arc souls for instance as well as the Arkborn, a sentient race of arc energy that live in massive conduits. Just as electrical signals pass from our brain to our body through our nervous system, Arc Light in the destiny universe is what allows everyone including non-light bearers to think and feel – to have a soul – to be alive. It’s why Ghosts looks for a spark when trying to find their charge. And why Dredgen Yor said to his victim
“You have no Light beyond the spark of your pathetic life. But a spark is something.”
Control over these forms of light seems to be emission versus absorption in an electrodynamic sense; Solar light being the external emission of Light in the form of radiant energy that produces light and heat in matter; Arc being the internal absorption of energy to the point which electrons or other particles are energized above the binding energy of quantum field and released, building up electrostatic charge and then creating electrical arcs between differently charged matter.
Please note that I am just using electromagnetism as an example. But these principles can theoretically be applied to all fundamental forces. There are for instance many different types of binding energy. Ionization energy is just one. There is also atomic binding energy, nuclear binding energy, molecular bond energy, etc.
While binding energy represents the maximum state of the quantum field, there is also a minimum state or ground state. This is the lowest state a particle can occupy. In quantum field theory, the quantum vacuum state is the quantum state with the lowest possible energy. A quantum field in this state is known as a Zero-point field and from this we can understand the secrets of Void Light.
Void Light Explained
Beneath the world of light and matter lies the vacuum, and the vast dark secrets that it contains. In the understanding of this vacuum lies the secret of Void Light.
According to quantum mechanics, a vacuum isn't empty at all. It's actually filled with quantum energy and particles that blink in and out of existence for a fleeting moment - strange signals that are known as quantum fluctuations. Particles and antiparticles fluctuating in and out of existence and that these fluctuations require energy.
Heisenberg's uncertainty “no object can ever have precise values of position and velocity simultaneously” and the Pauli exclusion principle “no two particles can be in the ground state simultaneously” are the reason why vacuum energy in the void exists.
Physics currently lacks a full theoretical model for understanding zero-point energy but it’s theorized that the zero-point radiation of the vacuum to be an order of magnitude greater than nuclear energy, enough energy to boil all the world’s oceans. Physicists believe the vacuum holds "the key to a full understanding of nature, the creation of our universe and exotic matter such as dark matter".
Since General relativity predicts that energy is equivalent to mass, and therefore, if the vacuum energy is "really there", it should exert a gravitational force. Essentially, a non-zero vacuum energy is expected to contribute to the cosmological constant, which affects the expansion of the universe.
Abyssal Extractors
It’s theorized that if one were able to lower the vacuum energy in one region of space, energy can be extracted as the quantum field moves towards equilibrium in the increase of entropy. While certain effects such as the Casimir effect demonstrate that this is experimentally possible, it’s currently not possible to extract this energy in any great quantity. Clearly guardians are able to use their paracausal powers granted by the Traveler to create void light in sufficient quantities. But, it may not be Light powers that we are using.
While Void light isn't the Darkness, the two are very much interrelated. Since void energy is produced in the disequilibrium of the energy states between two regions of the vacuum, and we know that the Darkness is able to reduce entropy in a region of space as evident with Stasis - then it follows that the Light flowing out of the "negative space" generated by the potential difference between the Dark and the Light as it returns to equilibrium - would be Void light. (This is why Void, like Solar and Arc – is still an entropic force as opposed to a negentropic one like Stasis.)
“See the art in what's subtracted” – Negative Space
So in other words this energy may represent the potential difference between what we perceive to be the vacuum (which in reality still contains energy and particles) and the true vacuum or void of space where there truly is nothing. Ikora stated that the Void is negation, and Guardians would become the ultimate negators. The void is also defined as being absent of Light or Darkness.
We as guardian may also be able to create our own vacuums or False vacuum in order to tap into Void Light. One such consequence of this is Bubble nucleation.
False Vacuums and Wards of Dawn
When the false vacuum decays, the lower-energy true vacuum forms through a process known as bubble nucleation. In this process, quantum effects cause a bubble containing the true vacuum to appear. The walls of the bubble have a positive surface tension, as energy is expended as the fields roll over the potential barrier to the true vacuum. This is how Titans create a Ward of Dawn.
Philosophically, if Solar light represents the dynamism of life and the energy and heat that sustains it, and Arc light represents the soul of life, that which binds the body and the mind – Void light can be seen as both death and rebirth – the moment after a fire is extinguished or before a spark is ignited.
A PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING DIES……AND BEGINS ANEW.
"The Thanatonauts say the Void is what you see in that brief moment between death and rebirth. It is the in-between, the pause." —Osiris
I hope this clears things up and provides a more holistic understanding of Light and it’s physical, metaphysical and spiritual relation to light, life and matter. I will be using this as a basis for further theories exploring the science of Destiny.
Please let me know your thoughts.
TL;DR - A common misconception is that Arc, Void and Solar are one to one comparisons to the fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong and weak forces and gravity). What I’m saying is that Arc, Void and Solar represent different stages of each force acting on a quantum field. Solar is the emission of energy in quanta. Arc is the absorption of energy exciting particles above the binding state (freeing the particle). Void is the potential energy of the vacuum state.
Posted Dec 1, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC · edited
This is a great write up, but my understanding was that the different varieties of light were analogous to the fundamental forces, not the forces themselves.
The light, like the dark, is not grounded in anything in the physical world, both existed outside of and before the universe even began.
I think guardians wield the light/dark in the ways we do because that’s the best understanding we have of the universe, but both the Pyramids and the Traveller have used their powers in much different ways and have done things that we have 0 idea of how to do, like the Traveller terraforming the way it did or the way the Darkness can control gravity.
But I Iove your analysis of how we guardians wield the light in the way we do.
I didn’t have time to go into string theory and the extradimensional origin of both the Light and Darkness. But suffice to say the effects we witness from the Light do have some real world applications that go beyond simply “arc is electromagnetism, solar is strong nuclear force, void is gravity” that I commonly see.
Yeah those sentiments always came off as extremely simplistic, and falls flat because we know those energy types can be generated without the light. Weapons have arc/void/solar, they're not empowered by the light, our enemies also use them and most do not wield the light or dark.
Obviously there's an element of the game design clashing with the lore here, but we've had enough examples to know that our wielding of the light mirrors the elements that the golden age had generated.
The paracausal aspect of the way we wield these forces seems to be that we use the light to generate them, not that they are in and of themselves part of the light. We don't need a huge energy generator to create void energy, we can use the light to do it for us.
Spot on. I think of the Light as a paracausal source of energy, essentially being able to borrow energy from parallel dimensions and use it to control or bend the physical world to do our bidding.
Absolutely, and I love this interpretation in the context of the way the final shape is talked about:
From XXIIII of the Books of Sorrow, and if that doesn't describe the way we wield the light I don't know what does!
Wouldn't that suggest that there isn't conservation of information and that some universe is losing energu?
Excellent write up, looking forward to the next one to touch on string theory!
Ahh yes, string theory, the noble art of continually making up new, ever more convoluted dimensions to explain away all the flaws in your theory!
Makes you wonder why it is that Stasis is inherent to the Darkness and not possible to produce for the Light.
Either of [them] mostly Physically Act on themselves through a [Traveler] (for the [Gardener]) or through the [Pyramids] (for the [Winnower]) in the Physical universes of Destiny.