Status: Preprint (not peer reviewed)
Author: Robert W. Harrison
Plain-English Summary
Space is usually treated as empty. This paper explores a different picture: space behaving like a frictionless, superfluid-like medium, where matter is not a “thing inside space” but a sustained vibration within it.
In that framework, gravity is proposed to emerge from a known physical effect: when two oscillating objects share a medium, pressure waves can produce a net attraction. In acoustics, this is associated with the secondary Bjerknes force—a real phenomenon observed in fluids. The paper argues that an analogous pressure-wave mechanism in a superfluid vacuum can reproduce gravitational attraction.
The central idea is not metaphorical “gravity is like sound,” but a mathematical claim: if matter behaves as oscillatory structure in a shared medium, then the interaction of their pressure fields can produce an inverse-square attraction through spherical wave spreading—mirroring Newtonian gravity at long range.
The paper also connects this approach to existing “analogue gravity” literature, where fluid dynamics and effective curved spacetime descriptions can be formally equivalent in certain regimes. The aim is a single physical picture that ties together gravity and wave dynamics in a common medium.
What This Paper Claims (High Level)
- Gravity can be modelled as an emergent acoustic radiation pressure effect in a superfluid vacuum (secondary Bjerknes-style interaction).
- An inverse-square law arises naturally from spherical wave spreading of the pressure field at distance.
- The framework is positioned as compatible with prior work on analogue gravity (fluid/spacetime equivalences).
Why It Might Matter
If correct, this reframes gravity as a consequence of wave physics in an underlying medium rather than a fundamental “action at a distance.” It would offer a concrete mechanism that can be discussed using known mathematics (fluid dynamics, wave propagation, and pressure forces) and potentially tested through specific predictions.
Links
PDF (this site):
Click to access Gravity_as_Acoustic_Radiation_Pressure_Harrison_2026.pdf
DOI (Zenodo):
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18646470
Keywords / Topics
acoustic radiation pressure, secondary Bjerknes force, superfluid vacuum, analogue gravity, emergent gravity, inverse-square law, pressure waves, wave-based gravity, fluid dynamics, effective metric, vacuum medium
Note: This is a technical preprint made available for discussion and critique. If you have relevant expertise and would like to comment, please reach out.