Quantised Inertia

Quantised Inertia (QI) is a theory of inertia first proposed in 2007 by physicist Mike McCulloch, from the University of Plymouth in the UK.

The phenomenon of inertial mass is defined in Newton's First Law: "Objects move in straight lines at constant speed unless pushed on" but it has never been explained. Quantised inertia explains inertial mass of the first time by combining two predictions. The first prediction is from relativity and states that an accelerating object will see a Rindler horizon a certain distance away in the direction opposite to that of its acceleration vector. This is because information is limited to travelling at the speed of light. The second prediction is that an accelerating object will see itself surrounded by a thermal bath of so-called Unruh radiation as the horizon splits virtual particles so that they become real. Quantised Inertia combines these by saying that the horizon damps the Unruh waves on one side of the object rather as sea defences would damp ocean waves and the resulting gradient in the quantum vacuum pushes the object back against it acceleration, explaining inertia.

Further, Quantised Inertia predicts that for objects with very low accelerations, such as stars at the edges of galaxies, the Rindler horizon moves so far back that it is close to the cosmic horizon and so the waves of Unruh radiation are now damped equally all around and the mechanism of inertia collapses. This explains why stars at the edge of galaxies can orbit faster than expected but still remain bound to the galaxy. As a result, Quantised Inertia predicts galaxy rotation perfectly without the need for dark matter or any adjustment.