>>14427464>what the fuck is the Aether?It is a compressible inviscid fluid that fills all space. The magnetic vector potential of electrodynamics is its velocity field. Electromagnetic effects are perturbations of the aether.
We can presume that it is composed of atoms, but there is no experimental evidence for what its constitution might be, as we're still in the stage of denying its evident existence.
If that is the case, then the aether is the natural consequence of the Newtonian mechanics of innumerable particles and their elastic collisions, as studied through fluid dynamics.
The relation between elementary particles (electrons and protons) and the aether is still unclear, but studies on vorticity in superfluids (which also are ideal fluids) and hydrodynamic analogies of electromagnetism and electric charges may help us understand the internal structure of these particles in relation to the aether.
>Does the aether exist?Outside theoretical hair-splitting, yes, it does.
The fact that the 'vacuum' is not featureless and empty, but filled to the brim with activity, is indirect evidence for the aether, and a direct disproof of 'the vacuum'.
Experiments that show the physical existence of the magnetic vector potential, such as the Aharonov-Bohm effect, are more direct evidence for a physical aether.
The question is not any more metaphysical than asking whether 'air' exists, lest we suggest that before the discovery of the chemical composition of air, we should have believed that 'wind' exists, and air a convenient idea to describe it.
Considering theoretical hair-splitting, the aether hasn't been disproven nor refuted either.
Objections to the evidence for it are of the form "the effect can be explained through other means", although the other means generally ask of us to reify more mathematics into 'empty space'.
>Can everything really just be broken down to waves and particles?That's the stance physics takes regardless of what they think of the aether.
