Harmonically dancing space-time nodes: quantitatively deriving relativity, mass, and gravitation

The microscopic structure of space and time is investigated. It is proposed that space and time of an inertial observer $\Sigma$ are most conveniently described as a crystal array $\Lambda$, with nodes representing measurement `tickmarks' and connected by independent quantized harmonic oscillators which vibrate more severely the faster $\Sigma$ moves with respect to the object being measured (due to the Uncertainty Principle). The Lorentz transformation of Special Relativity is derived. Further, mass is understood as a localized region $\Delta \Lambda$ having higher vibration temperature than that of the ambient lattice. The effect of relativistic mass increase may then be calculated without appealing to energy-momentum conservation. The origin of gravitation is shown to be simply a transport of energy from the boundary of $\Delta \Lambda$ outwards by lattice phonon conduction, as the system tends towards equilibrium. Application to a single point mass leads readily to the Schwarzschild metric, while a new solution is available for two point masses - a situation where General Relativity is too complicated to work with. The important consequence is that inertial observers who move at relative speeds too close to $c$ are no longer linked by the Lorentz transformation, because the lattice of the `moving' observer has already disintegrated into a liquid state.