Continuum Theory (CT) apparently offers a competent and even more fruitful replacement for Special Relativity/General Relativity (SR/GR) and these basic inconsistencies. CT is based on (A) implementing Maxwell's aether as a massless all-pervasive quasi-superfluid elastic continuum of (negative) electric charge and (B) seeing mass-bearing fundamental particles as finite-sized vortical constructs of aether in motion, (e.g. Maxwell, Larmor, etc), so their diffraction is no surprise. For oppositely-charged particles, one sort contains more aether and the other less, so particle-pair creation is ?easy'. This defines mean aether density as 1030coulombs/cm3 at the very least, so it provides a near-irrotational reference frame for our observations of ?absolute' direction with suitable devices.
CT recognizes the aether as reference frame for translational behaviour of otherwise-separate bodies. This legitimizes the vector addition of velocities, yielding a resultant >c,thereby escaping SR's need for the Lorentz transformations. Under (B) the particle mass is measured by the aether-sucking capability of its vortex, positive-only gravitation being because the force gradient makes sucking themselves together the statistically prevalent expectation. This activity maintains a radial aether density gradient - the ?Gravity-Electric (G-E) Field' - around and within any gravitationally retained assemblage, so Newton's description of gravitation is an incomplete one. The effect on c of that charge density gradient yields gravitational lensing. Phenomenologically, aether motions inside and outside particles offer to do each of the jobs currently assigned to bosons.
We show that G-E Field action on sufficiently charged ions and plasma is, and has been, astronomically ubiquitous. This strictly radial outward force has the property, shared with radiation pressure, of increasing the angular momentum of material driven outward at constant tangential velocity. Spiral galaxies no longer require cold dark matter (CDM) to explain this pattern. The force has comprehensive relevance to the high specific angular momenta achieved in solar planet formation, to their prograde spins and to exoplanet observations. Other probable cases include the solar wind, prodigious mass loss rates of high-mass stars (supervening radiation pressure, which would inhibit building them) and the acceleration of ~1019 eV cosmic rays from neutron star surfaces, where the G-E field may attain 1012V/m.
The MM experiment was no basis for discounting the aether if it has a particle-tied nature, as in CT. But rejection enabled Einstein to evade that it might be in random motion, causing transmission effects. But a particle-tied character renders such motion inescapable. I show that random motion of aether charge gives rise to four distance-cumulative, wavelength-independent transmission effects upon TEM-waves, plus the generation of a low level of TEM-wave emission (the CMB). Redshift, one of the effects, has been observed experimentally and is demonstrably manifest as the cosmic redshift and as intrinsic redshifts generated in intragalactic plasmas and stellar atmospheres, including solar. This removes Big-Bang expansion and any need for CDM to control it. Dark Energy is not required either; the demand for it arises solely from applying the relativistic doppler formula to a linear redshift, which is inappropriate if the redshift is not a velocity. Random electromagnetic excitation at small scales by all-pervasive aether motion offers a potential basis for activity of the Weak Nuclear Force, for quantum electrodynamical behaviour and the ZPF.
Finally, and briefly, the c-dependent mode of gravitational inter-communication in CT leads directly to Paul Gerber's (1898) formal resolution of perihelion advance, adopted, unacknowledged, by Einstein for GR. This lays a path to a Mach's Principle origin of inertia and suggests that inertial force is c-limited also, yielding a new and fruitful QSO model with lots of intrinsic redshift, including those of the Ly forest (of absorption lines). The aether motion which constitutes a mass-bearing particle needs space in which to exist, which limits the mass-capacity of a black hole. When this is exceeded, e.g. by shrinkage, mass annihilation and a gamma ray burst (GRB) is likely, with potential for light-element synthesis. The CT cosmology which emerges is of an infinite Electric Universe with progressive auto-creation of mass-bearing particles from the random motions of the aether, its original energy resource. Gravitational interactions enhance energy levels and the rate of auto-creation, explaining the creation of clustered galaxies. Such ongoing creation inverts the Big-Bang view that low metallicity material is very old and illuminates its prevalence in dwarf galaxies and spiral galaxy haloes. Deprived of such material infall, galaxies in the centres of clusters evolve into plasma-poor Ellipticals. Five further experimental tests of CT are suggested.
