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| Wo Materie ist, dort ist Geometrie. | Where there is matter, there is geometry. |
Introduction to the complete scientific works of Myron EvansBy Kerry Pendergast (pendergastkerry@gmail.com) and John Surbat. A.I.A.S. Updated: August 7, 2023
The early research of Myron Evans involved the manner in which electromagnetic fields and photons interact with atoms and molecules in molecular liquids, gases and solids. Myron used far infrared spectroscopy as his main experimental tool, and analytical mathematics to aid in interpretation of spectra. As his research progressed, he started using computer simulation in his work, and then pioneered Monte Carlo simulations with Konrad Singer and the EMLG team, for use in interpreting the stochastic processes taking place at the molecular level. In so doing, he played a very important role in the establishment of this type of computer simulation as the third pillar of modern physics. Myron went even further by developing field applied simulation and computer animation, later, while at IBM. These techniques, when applied to the Inverse Faraday effect, revealed that the photon has a magnetic field in the direction of propagation, and also a 3D structure. This led Myron to realize that non-Euclidean geometry could be used to unify gravity, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. This article identifies the milestone papers and categorizes them according to the main themes of this journey.
Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, far infrared spectroscopy, computer animation, 3D photon structure, inverse Faraday effect, unified field theory.
Myron Evans produced a vast amount of published research of the highest quality between 1973 and 2019. This guide is intended to provide a better understanding of the entirety of his scientific work, by organizing it by theme (with detailed references), and we will start our journey with the following introduction.
Alwyn van der Merwe advised Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and ultimately Queen Elizabeth in 2004, that he believed "Myron was a man way ahead of his time and without peers amongst his contemporaries in volume of creative output and boldness of vision in Man's understanding of the true laws of Nature". Indeed, Myron produced on the order of twenty thousand pages and a thousand published papers of new science during his working life, and as his work evolved it took him into related areas, so that the journals he published in grew in their range and diversity of subject area. Similarly, the scientists he published with changed over time to reflect the evolving paths in Myron's scientific journey. Myron created and guided teams of scientists who were at the leading edges of their fields, and performed the advanced research that culminated in the unification of gravitation, electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, through Cartan geometry.
Myron's first paper was published with Professor Mansel Davies in Aberystwyth, in 1973, in Faraday Transactions II of the Chemical Society. Even while pursuing his Ph.D., Myron was visiting and collaborating with Professors in Nancy and Nice in France, the British Telecommunications Research Centre in Dollis Hill, and the team at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
Graduate students pursuing a Ph.D. almost always stay close to home base, and struggle with the tasks before them. However, Myron's genius had already been recognized by his supervisor, Mansel Davies, who chose to send him to leading-edge research centers to interact with chemical physicists. These were highly influential scientists with whom Mansel collaborated, so it was a significant testament that he trusted Myron to show Aberystwyth in a good light.
Myron then moved to Oxford to work with Professor Sir John Rowlinson's team and published with him, and continued building up a large European team that would ultimately become the European Molecular Liquids Group (EMLG).
Back in Aberystwyth, several years later, Myron was building up his own large postdoctoral team and forging deeper links with Bill Coffey's team at Trinity College, Dublin. His work soon developed to require the use of the world's fastest supercomputers, so Myron crossed the pond to work with IBM's teams in Kingston, New York and Cornell, and thus for several years Myron's research was also published by IBM. He then relocated to Zurich for a year to work with Dean Wagniere's team at the University of Zurich. After working in several universities in Canada and the USA as full professor, Myron returned home to direct his AIAS from the house in which he was born.
After only ten years into his career, Myron had already been invited to edit special journal editions by Ilya Prigognine and Stuart Rice, and later by Alwyn van der Merwe. Myron published in many Royal Society of Chemistry journals, optical and physics journals and authored many books and monographs. He frequently edited special editions of Advances in Chemical Physics, and he edited the book series, "The Enigmatic Photon", with Professor Jean Pierre Vigier, who had been Prince Louis de Broglie's long-term assistant in Paris.
Myron's work took him from far infra-red spectroscopy, to molecular dynamics, to computer simulation and animation, to non-linear optics and non-Euclidean geometry, to making new discoveries about the nature of electromagnetism and the photon, and ultimately to the unification of all of the forces of Nature through his Einstein Cartan Evans theory.
To allow the reader to find an easier path through this work and also explore it effectively, these papers are described below and grouped into the main themes of Myron's research.
Fellowships won in open competition:
Appointments:
This section summarizes the various reviews and monographs that were the culmination of Myron Evans' work up to the early nineties.The reference links will take you to the appropriate reference point on the Omnia Opera (Collected Works) page of the AIAS website, aias.us. Many of the referenced works are available in PDF format and are linked from the Collected Works page.
On that page, the Ph.D. Thesis, D.Sc. Thesis, reviews and books are as follows: refs. (6), (16), (44), (75), (99), (101), (108), (109), (141 - 143), (161), (176 - 179), (225), (236), (246), (289), (352), (374), (378), (379), (398), (401), (402), (420 - 422), (431), (433), (434), (445), (446), (449 - 452), (460 - 462), (464 - 469), (471), (472), (499-556), (567), (572), (573), (579 - 585), (590 - 596), (602 - 604), (674), (675) and (694).
Evans has authored, co-authored, edited and series edited about sixty-five review articles and monographs, collections of reviews, and a Ph.D. Thesis (1974) and D.Sc. Thesis (1977). The latter was awarded for original and distinguished contributions to knowledge, and is the highest British and Commonwealth degree. He was awarded it at the age of 27, the youngest recorded age for this degree.
The major achievements in Evans' work over thirty-five years are summarized in these reviews and monographs. His Ph.D. Thesis and D.Sc. Thesis are both available at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, but cannot be loaned out. There are probably two other copies in the Hugh Owen Library of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, unless they were lost in the turmoil of the EDCL closure, and these, if they still exist, can be loaned out. Mansel Davies has said that he thought Evans' Ph.D. (ref. (6)) was one of the two best he had ever supervised, and Evans' D.Sc. (ref. (44)) is unique since it was awarded when he was only 27.
Evans' first review was with Sir John Rowlinson at Oxford (ref. (16)) when he was a Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College Oxford. He edited a number of special topical issues for Prigogine and Rice in "Advances in Chemical Physics", and also contributed several long reviews there. When he was awarded his first book contract by Wiley-Interscience, on Rice's recommendation, in 1980, he invited Gareth Evans, Bill Coffey and Paolo Grigolini to be co-authors. This is ref. (108), published in 1982.
Other book contracts followed from Wiley Interscience, World Scientific, Kluwer, Taylor and Francis, and Abramis Academic. Evans published a number of reviews in Elsevier journals, and edited several journal special issues. He has also published five volumes of "Generally Covariant Unified Field Theory" with Abramis Academic.
The following list of research themes is provided to assist with navigation through the Overview as well as the detailed Sections 1-14.
The brief descriptions immediately below outline the major themes in Myron's work. Each theme is described in more detail that can be found by clicking on the section links. Each theme references various publications that Myron produced or co-authored. To view the descriptions of any publication, click on the section link and then any reference number in that section.
The reference links will take you to the appropriate reference point on the Omnia Opera (Collected Works) page of the AIAS website, aias.us. Most of the referenced works are available in PDF format and are linked from the Collected Works page.
Myron Evans began to publish scientific papers when he was a Ph.D. student of Mansel Davies at the then University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. These early papers were on the study of molecular motion using the far infra-red region. This theme and development are described in Section One and consist of experimental studies and theory at UCW Aberystwyth, the National Physical Laboratory, and with Claude Brot and Jean-Louis Rivail in France. The work with Brot's group in Nice introduced him to time correlation functions, which were thereafter extensively used in his work.
In Section Two, a new theme is introduced, computer simulation, which he first started to use at Oxford in 1975 with Sir John Rowlinson's group. The early simulations were based on code developed by Dominic Tildesley and others at Oxford, and then by his group at Aberystwyth using the University of Manchester Regional Computer Centre CDC 7600 computer.
Section Three describes a line of work developed in cooperation with Bill Coffey at Trinity College, Dublin, on the use of Mori theory and the itinerant oscillator evaluated with the far infra-red and computer simulation.
For the work described in Sections One to Three Myron Evans was awarded several Fellowships in open British, European and international competitions, and two major recognitions, the Harrison Memorial Prize and Meldola Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This work is also summarized in his D.Sc. Thesis and Ph.D. Thesis (both are available at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth).
Section Four describes the development of work with Paolo Grigolini's group in Pisa on the general theory of relaxation and memory function processes. The general theory was evaluated with computer simulation. The latter was developed in cooperation with Konrad Singer's group at the Royal Holloway College in the late seventies, and this is described in Section Five.
The code developed by Singer and others allowed the systematic computer simulation of small molecules, notably chiral or optically active molecules, culminating in the discovery of a basic theorem of rotation-translation interaction, in the early eighties.
Section Six describes systematic experimental and theoretical studies of super-cooled liquids and glasses, culminating in the discovery of the far infra-red gamma process with Colin Reid in the early eighties.
Section Seven describes the Delta Project of the European Molecular Liquids Group, a Project that Evans planned as first European Scientific Coordinator. It was a systematic investigation of molecular liquids using all available techniques: experimental, theoretical and computational. In this project, simulation code was made freely available at the SERC Daresbury Laboratory of the British Government.
Section Eight describes a new theme developed in the early eighties, that of field applied computer simulation. The first papers were on simulating a static electric field to produce theoretically known Langevin functions to test the simulation method. Later, this theme was developed in many directions at UW Bangor, UW Swansea, IBM Kingston, Cornell, the University of Zurich and UNCC, notably for non-linear optics.
Section Nine describes some work with Grigolini's group in the mid-eighties, notably on the testing of the Pisa group theory (known as "The Pisa Algorithm") against computer simulation and field applied computer simulation.
Section Ten introduces new themes of field applied computer simulation in areas such as non-linear optics, developed in the late eighties in Enrico Clementi's group at IBM Kingston, New York State, where Evans was a visiting professor.
Section Eleven introduces an important theme in Evans' later work that is based on the inverse Faraday effect, which is the ability of a circularly polarized electromagnetic field to magnetize any material. This theme involved theory, simulation and animation, notably an award-winning animation that was made in the early nineties with Chris Pelkie at the Cornell Theory Center.
Section Twelve describes the development of optical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) theory at the Cornell Theory Center in the late eighties and early nineties, and work at the University of Zurich on non-linear optics with George Wagniere's group. This work used both theory (with Stanislaw Wozniak) and field applied computer simulation.
Section Thirteen summarizes the inference of the fundamental spin field of electromagnetic radiation at Cornell in 1992, and its development throughout the nineties with gauge theory. This development led to a form of electrodynamics, O(3) or non-Abelian electrodynamics, in which the spin field was systematically incorporated.
Finally, Section Fourteen describes the early development, starting in the Spring of 2003, of a unified field theory that is known as Einstein Cartan Evans (ECE) field theory because it develops and essentially completes the work of Einstein and Cartan on the unification of fields within general relativity.
This theme is developed in refs. (1 - 40) , (42 - 44), (46 - 49), (51), (53), (55 - 57), (64 - 66), (69), (74), (75), (81 - 83), (85), (88), (97), (101) (The Meldola Lecture), (104), (106), (108), (112 - 114), (122), (129), (130), (134), (162), (164), (169), (170), (185), (186), (188 - 190), (193), (195), (201), (207 - 212), (215), (220), (221), (226), (227), (233 - 237), (247), (294), (300 - 302), and in the various reviews and books summarized in a previous section, above.
References (1 - 40) cover papers, notably in Faraday II, Spectrochimica Acta, Chemical Physics Letters, Molecular Physics, and Advances in Molecular Relaxation and Interaction Processes, together with Evans' Ph.D. Thesis (ref. (6)) and D.Sc. Thesis (ref. (44)). There are also some early reviews by Myron, notably with Sir John Rowlinson (ref. (16)), and with Gareth Evans and A. R. Davies in "Advances in Chemical Physics" (ref. (75)). This theme covers his experimental work as a Ph.D. student and SRC post-doctoral and Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College Oxford, and later as the British Ramsay Memorial Fellow and SERC Advanced Fellow.
The experimental work produced novel far infra-red spectra of liquids, compressed gases, liquid crystals, rotator phases, crystals and solutions. The spectra were of two main types, dipolar absorption and collision induced multipole absorption. These were interpreted theoretically in the frequency domain at first with theoretical models such as the itinerant oscillator and theories of collision induced absorption, such as quadruple, octopole and hexadecapole induced absorption. With Brot's group in Nice, Evans developed the use of the time correlation function, obtained by Laplace transform. He proceeded, thereafter, to Laplace transform experimental far infra-red spectra into time correlation functions that are directly comparable with those obtained from theory. In these early years, computer simulation was not yet available, but when it did become available (Sections 2, 5 and 8, for example) correlation functions were also available from the same source. As can be seen, this theme continues until reference (302) and also into the various books and reviews summarized in a previous section (above), so is a major part of his work.
The main achievements of this era included the evolution of understanding of molecular motion as studied in the far infra-red, which was investigated experimentally with the then new technique of Fourier transform interferometry, which had been developed at the NPL. The understanding was forged with the use of the time correlation function, which allowed models to be easily compared with the Laplace transform of the far infra-red spectrum using Algol code on an Elliot Brothers 4130 computer. The far infra-red spectrum itself was obtained by Fourier transformation of an interferogram, which was digitized onto paper tape. Using these methods, spectra of the various states of matter already mentioned were analyzed theoretically. The time correlation function method was extended to collision induced absorption. Myron Evans' main theoretical contribution of this era was the development of the memory function method in which the friction coefficient of the Langevin equation was developed as an integral. The Laplace transform thereby became a continued fraction, which he truncated, or restricted to three variables. This was known as three variable Mori theory. Spectra were then numerically fitted with a non-linear three variable Numerical Algorithms Group (N.A.G.) algorithm. He frequently worked N.A.G. algorithms into his Algol code.
This method produced excellent descriptions of the far infra-red for all kinds of materials, and Evans was awarded the Harrison Memorial Prize and Meldola Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry for this work, and also for the development of computer simulation methods for the far infra-red.
This work is described in refs. (52), (54), (59), (60), and (91 - 93).
It was based on some of the first computer simulation code ever developed (by Dominic Tildesley and others at Southampton and Oxford). Tildesley, who became the Chief Scientist of Unilever, and RSC President from 2014 to 2016, was a D.Phil student of Sir John Rowlinson when Myron Evans was there as SRC Fellow from 1974 to 1976. Evans was also elected Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College Oxford in 1975. This early code was developed for diatomics and Evans adapted it to compute correlation functions, at Aberystwyth. It was written in single precision CDC 7600 FORTRAN (the Control Data Corporation's 7600 was Britain's most powerful supercomputer at that time). There are not many papers in this section because this diatomic code was soon replaced by a multi-atomic code written by the Konrad Singer Group at Royal Holloway College (see Section 5), and was made available at the SERC Daresbury Laboratory of the British Government as part of the EMLG Delta project, which Evans planned and supervised up to 1983. He worked on this algorithm after bringing it to Aberystwyth from Oxford on a pack of cards and loading it onto the CDC 7600 by remote link to the Aberystwyth Computer Unit. The results used to take up to three months to obtain (from one run) because they had to be submitted on what was known as "zero priority", since they consumed so much computer time, but they can now be obtained in a fraction of the time on a desktop computer with a FORTRAN compiler.
The main achievements in this section included the first development of computer simulation at Aberystwyth, and the development of methods to compute the time correlation function from the simulation code. Evans was helped in this (and in Section 5) by post-doctoral assistant Mauro Ferrario at Aberystwyth and later by Keith Refson at IBM Kingston. The code was also animated at IBM Kingston and the Cornell Theory Center. These animations show the molecular motions from which the correlation functions were computed. The formative achievement of this era was again helped by Evans' stay as a graduate student with Claude Brot's group, where he learned that the relevant correlation function for the far infra-red is the rotational velocity correlation function. Brot also used an early computer simulation method and was one of its first pioneers. The Fourier transform of the far infra-red power absorption coefficient is the correlation function of the time derivative of the dipole moment. The dielectric loss is the Fourier transform of the correlation function of the dipole moment itself. A range of correlation functions can be computed, such as linear and angular velocity, torque and force, orientation and rotational velocity. This method became a mainstay of Evans' main computer simulation work (Sections 5 and 8). In this section they were computed using the early diatomic code from Oxford.
This work is described in refs. (41), (45), (50), (58), (61 - 63), (105), (107), and in the various reviews and books summarized in a previous section, above.
Myron Evans' cooperation with Bill Coffey began when Bill phoned him at the EDCL, and later when Mansel Davies asked Myron to deputize for him in a plenary lecture at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS), founded on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, in Dublin in 1940. The first DIAS Director was Erwin Schrodinger. At the DIAS conference, Coffey and Evans found that the three variable Mori theory had the same mathematical structure as a theoretical model developed by Calderwood and Coffey that was called the planar itinerant oscillator. Their cooperation proceeded to the evaluation of the theory with data from the far infra-red, obtained by Gareth Evans and later Colin Reid, and from computer simulation. This theme led to the monograph, "Molecular Dynamics" (ref. (108)) published in 1982 by Wiley-Interscience in New York City. The early theoretical models were improved gradually by the Coffey group at Trinity College Dublin (see the list of books and reviews summarized in a previous section, above). They were now able to describe the far infra-red accurately, whereas the first models were not. It was found, for example, that the planar itinerant oscillator produced a sharp peak in the far infra-red when the complete range of data was considered (dielectric and far infra-red combined). The complete alpha, beta and gamma spectrum, which Evans inferred in the early eighties, still poses a challenge to computer simulation and theory alike because it covers molecular dynamics from a time scale of picoseconds (far infra-red or terahertz) to years (sub Hertzian). This is still out of range of computers, even now.
The main achievements of this part of his work include the interpretation of the three variable memory function theory with the planar itinerant oscillator, and the beginning of an approach to the subject in which all available methods were used on one problem, notably the far infra-red and dielectric frequency ranges, theory and computer simulation. This method eventually became the Delta Project for Europe, in which he also advised the U.S. NSF. The Delta Project was not implemented in full due to unfortunate events at Aberystwyth, but the plans remain available and viable. They must be updated, but the structure is the same. In ref. (62) for example, incoherent neutron scattering is considered with dielectric relaxation. The Delta Project considered data that was collected under defined conditions from all sources, for example: dielectric relaxation, far infra-red, infra-red, Raman, and Rayleigh band-shapes, neutron scattering, and so forth. Myron Evans realized that the whole range of experimental data, theory and simulation was necessary for a more complete understanding than that obtainable from just one model, or one experimental method. The computer simulation method was realized to be a powerful method with which to attempt to reproduce the whole range of data, so code was written for the Delta project by the Singer Group in the University of London, and was made available through the British Government. Until then, various groups had worked in an uncoordinated way in various areas of specialization, often being unaware of each other's work.
This early work with the Grigolini group is recorded in refs. (78 - 80), (90), (94 - 96), (98), (103), (128), and (149), and in the monograph ref. (108).
Their collaboration started when Grigolini wrote to Evans, who then invited Grigolini to Aberystwyth. Grigolini was developing a general theory of relaxation and thermodynamics based on memory functions, the same approach that Evans used in Section 1. Evans obtained a large grant as a SERC Advanced Fellow at Aberystwyth, and Grigolini asked him to appoint Mauro Ferrario as one of his post-doctorals, the other being Colin Reid. Gareth Evans was appointed University of Wales Fellow upon the recommendation of Mansel Davies and Myron. By that time, Myron Evans was beginning to develop the field applied computer simulation method to evaluate the theoretical work. Ferrario was allocated to developing code for correlation functions and to helping with theoretical work. This he did very well, being both very gifted and helpful in personality. This approach enabled the application of the three-cornered approach to problems: experimental, theoretical and computational. For example, in ref. (90) it was found that the molecular dynamics process is non-Markovian and non-Gaussian in general, and in (96) a new continued fraction method was developed. This later became "The Pisa Algorithm". This early work developed into a sustained cooperation between Grigolini and Evans, culminating in ref. (176).
It achieved one of the highest recorded journal impact indices of the Institute for Scientific Information.
This section deals with papers, reviews and books on this subject, refs. (84), (100), (102), (108), (109), (119 - 121), (123 - 127), (131 - 133), (138 - 144), (146 - 148), (151 - 161), (166), (167), (171), (173), (176 - 180), (182), (184), (188), (191), (192), (194), (196 - 200), (203 - 206), (223), (224), (228), (246), (281), (292), (293), (309), (328), (334), (352), (378) and two animations at IBM Kingston and the Cornell Theory Center.
The basic code for this kind of multi-atomic molecular dynamics computer simulation was developed during the Delta Project by the SERC Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) of the British Government, and was written mainly by Konrad Singer and his group. The code was made available at the SERC Daresbury Laboratory. Ferrario and Evans modified and extended the basic code to produce a range of correlation functions. The first publication (ref. (84)) on these functions then compared Mori theory with computer simulation, and the first application to triatomics was reported in ref. (119). Thereafter, this code replaced the early diatomic code described in Section 2, and was used for many purposes. The first applications to far infra-red data were reported in refs. (120) and (121), and application to the fundamental problem of interacting rotation and translation was made in refs. (124) onwards. The code was then systematically applied to symmetric and asymmetric tops, and later to spherical tops. Refs. (146) and (147) report the fundamental theorem of translation to rotation correlation discovered with this method, respectively, in J. Chem. Soc., Chem Comm. (Chemistry) and Phys. Rev. Lett. (Physics). The motion was evaluated with cross correlation functions in the molecule fixed frame. These disappeared in the laboratory frame and changed sign between enantiomers. This motion was later animated by Chris Pelkie and Myron Evans at Cornell in the early nineties, using the same code. The interaction of rotation and translation was computed with cross correlation functions in the moving frame of a chiral molecule, bromochlorofluoromethane, which has right and left handed mirror image molecules. A cross correlation function, such as that between linear and angular velocity, was found to change sign between enantiomers and vanished in the racemic mixture. This showed the ability of computer simulation to give fundamental new knowledge not available in other ways.
In ECE theory (Section 14), the translation and rotation become relativistic and are represented by the Cartan curvature and torsion, respectively. In this case, the interaction is governed by the first Bianchi identity of Cartan. A gravitational and electromagnetic field thus interact through the first Bianchi identity (Section 14).
This simulation work was reviewed several times (see the section that summarizes reviews and books, above), notably in ref. (352), which contains several hundred references. The code was applied to liquids, gases and glasses, and a range of correlation functions was computed for different vectors such as linear and angular velocity, angular momentum, orientation, rotational velocity, force and torque. Correlations were evaluated at first order and at higher order. Particular attention was paid to the molecules chosen for systematic evaluation in the Delta Project.
The main achievements of this theme of Myron Evans' work included the first systematic application of computer simulation to experimental data, such as those in the far infra-red, and the use of computer simulation to evaluate theoretical models of diffusion process such as Mori theory, the itinerant oscillator and the Pisa Algorithm. Whenever possible, the simulation results were used to back up the data from the EMLG Delta Project. The interaction of molecular rotation with translation was systematically evaluated using cross correlation functions in the molecule fixed frame. It was discovered that this cross correlation disappeared in the laboratory frame and also depended on the handedness of a molecule (ref. (147), Phys. Rev. Lett.).
This work was with Newtonian dynamics, but this theme carries through right into Section 14, which deals with the generally covariant ECE theory. The interaction of rotation and translation in that context is governed by the Cartan structure equations and Bianchi identities. ECE theory can also be completely computerized using contemporary high-level symbolic languages such as Maple.
The simulation code was rewritten at IBM Kingston New York in double precision FORTRAN, and applied to several novel problems there in the Clementi environment that developed one of the first parallel processors (LCAP). It was first animated in 1987 and showed, for the first time, the actual motion of the molecules as computed by the code. The examples in this first animation included hexafluorobenzene and a triyne.
This theme of Myron Evans' work developed with students and later post-doctorals Gareth Evans and Colin Reid at Aberystwyth, in refs. (67), (68), (70 - 73), (86), (87), (89), and (108 - 111).
The far infra-red gamma process was first reported in ref. (67), and linked to the much lower frequency alpha and beta processes in super-cooled liquids and glasses. It was realized, therefore, that the complete spectrum extends from sub Hertzian to terahertz frequencies, twelve decades of frequency, an immense range. Mansel Davies had built up a laboratory with this experimental capability at the Edward Davies Chemical Laboratories of the then University College of Wales Aberystwyth, and all of this capability was utilized by Colin Reid experimentally. A specially designed and built liquid nitrogen cooled cell was used to form the super-cooled and glassy states. Colin Reid and Gareth Evans also systematically studied the far infra-red spectra of molecular liquids, glasses, liquids crystals and crystals, and this work is summarized in ref (108), the monograph "Molecular Dynamics" (867 pages). Unfortunately this work was cut short by administrative problems at Aberystwyth, so the last paper, ref. (111), was published in 1982.
The major achievements of this theme of work include the inference of the far infra-red gamma process of super-cooled liquids and glasses, and the discovery that the molecular dynamics of a super-cooled liquid and glass can be observed to evolve from picosecond time scales to those of years. To put this into perspective, recall that the visible range, for example, is less than one decade of frequency. The far infra-red is just over one decade (10 to 300 wave-numbers). Colin Reid's experimental work was methodical, ingenious and accurate, and he also developed his own theory (see for example ref. (108)). Gareth Evans produced high quality far infra-red spectra until his work was cut short in the late eighties, again by acute administrative failure at Aberystwyth.
This is published in ref. (99) and in Chapter 12 of ref. (108).
The Delta project is a plan for systematic investigation of three types of molecular liquid by all means available and under coordinated conditions. The overall aim was to obtain a complete picture of molecular dynamics, and not one that is fragmented into particular specialities. The complete picture includes all available experimental techniques, computer simulation, and appropriate theoretical methods.
Myron Evans writes about the project: "I began to realize that this project was needed when I was a SERC Advanced Fellow in the late seventies. It was brought into being as the Delta Project of the European Molecular Liquids Group formed at the National Physical Laboratory in about 1980. George Chantry was the first Chairman of the Group, I took the role of first European Coordinator. In so doing I consulted many European scientific agencies and Government Departments. At one point I discussed it with Tam Dalyell, then a Minister. My aim then was to establish an EMLG Laboratory at Aberystwyth. This could easily have been achieved with the minimum of cooperation from the College. Unfortunately, this was not forthcoming. Nevertheless, I pressed ahead as best as I could and some results are published in ref. (161), for example."
An important realization of the Delta Project was that a coordinated and systematic study of molecular liquids was needed at a fundamental level, because data were fragmentary and often conflicting, making a theoretical and simulation analysis difficult. Key data such as virial coefficients (needed for atom-atom potentials) were missing completely. Inter-molecular potentials were therefore poorly known, and ab initio methods were not often used to build up atom-atom potentials. Ahmed Hasanein and Myron Evans initiated this type of ab initio work, and Evans concentrated on one of the key molecules, dichloromethane. This type of fundamental research is important for a true knowledge of the molecular liquid state of matter. Unfortunately, the fragmentary knowledge before the Delta Project is much the same today, about twenty-five years later, because of the administrative preference in those years for applied research. The plans of the Delta project were carefully drawn up by Evans as Coordinator, and (after minor updating) they can be implemented today.
Evans developed the technique of field applied molecular dynamics computer simulation at Aberystwyth in the early eighties, and this became a central theme in refs. (115) - 118), (135 - 137), (145), (161), (163), (165), (168), (175), (176 - 181), (187), (202), (213), (222), (225), (270), (278), (279), (282 - 285), (287), (288), (291 - 293), (295 - 299), (303 - 308), (310 - 315), (322), (324 - 327), (329), (337), (341), (345), (348 - 350), (352), (356), (361a - 362), (368), (370) and (371).
The first papers were published in J. Chem. Phys., and described the simulated effect of an external electric field using the torque generated between the field and the electric dipole moment. The torque was then integrated numerically and the effect on the molecular dynamics was evaluated with Langevin functions at various orders. It was found that the simulation code reproduced theoretically known Langevin functions for all applied field strengths. In the laboratory, only a small region of the Langevin function is accessible experimentally, even with intense pulsed electric fields in non-linear dielectric spectroscopy. After demonstrating the validity of the code, it became possible to apply the field applied computer simulation method systematically to chemical physics. Some of this work is recorded in the above references. The range of application included static and oscillatory electric fields, magnetic fields, electromagnetic fields, and shearing fields in mechanical flow with David Heyes. These types of external fields were applied to different molecular ensembles to simulate, for example, rise and fall transients, Langevin-Kielich functions, laboratory frame and moving frame auto and cross correlation functions of various orders, and a range of non-linear optical effects with Enrico Clementi, George Lie and others at IBM, and with Georges Wagniere and Stanislaw Wozniak at the University of Zurich. At Cornell University, the code was used to simulate the inverse Faraday effect and was animated with the help of Chris Pelkie, refs. (359) and (360). This animation, featuring the conjugate product, is available on YouTube, and is linked to Myron Evans. These simulations and animations indicated a range of effects that could be compared with theory, and when available, experimental data. For example, it was found that an external field induces cross correlation functions of many different kinds in the laboratory frame, cross correlation functions that do not exist in the absence of the field.
The main achievements of this theme in Myron Evans' work include the development of a generally applicable field applied computer simulation technique, and its application to a range of problems in non-linear dielectric and far infra-red spectroscopy, non-linear optics and non-linear hydrodynamics. The effects of various types of fields could be simulated in areas where the application of either theory or experiment was difficult. A notable feature is the animation by Chris Pelkie and Myron Evans of the inverse Faraday effect, which greatly helps to visualize and clarify the nature of the ECE spin field (Sections 13 and 14).
The spin field is one of the observables which show that electrodynamics is generally covariant (a theory of general relativity) and not a theory of special relativity as suggested by Maxwell and Heaviside. The spin field B(3) (inferred from field applied computer simulation and theoretical work at Zurich and Cornell) in turn led to the development of a more complete gauge theory of electrodynamics (Section 13) and a generally covariant unified field theory (Section 14).
The mid-eighties work with the Grigolini group in Pisa is recorded in refs. (149), (176), (177), (183) and (202).
This work is notable for the publication of references (176) and (177), and two special topical issues of "Advances in Chemical Physics", which Evans was asked to edit by Prigogine and Rice. These were Volume 62, "Memory Function Approaches to Stochastic Problems in Condensed Matter", in which he invited Grigolini and Pastori-Parravicini to be co-editors, and Volume 63, "Dynamical Processes in Condensed Matter".
Both volumes made an unprecedented impact as measured by the Institute of Scientific Information's journal impact index (citations per page of a journal). For this work, Grigolini was invited to become a professor at the University of North Texas, and he now shares his time between North Texas and Pisa. Pastori-Parravicini, Ferrario and Marchesoni became full professors in Italy.
The main achievements of this theme include the development of a method whereby the general theory of relaxation developed by the Pisa group could be tested in detail against field applied computer simulation (Section 8), for example, in rise and fall transients and correlation functions, including cross correlation functions. The computer simulation in three dimensions is more powerful than the theory for molecular liquids (and this remains the case today), but the general theory can obviously be applied more widely than the simulation. This is illustrated in Volume 62 by the Pisa group. Thus it is always advantageous, as in the Delta Project (Section 7), to use both techniques to evaluate a range of experimental data.
The publications that are relevant to this theme are refs. (213), (214), (216 - 219), (222), (229 - 232), (238 - 244), (248) - (268), (271 - 277), (280), (286), (289), (290), and reviewed in ref. (352). Additional reviews are refs. (75), (108), (161), (176), (177), (352), (378), (379), (402), and (579 - 581).
In 1986, Evans was invited by Enrico Clementi to become a visiting professor at IBM Kingston, New York State, where he was pioneering the array processor system known as LCAP (linear combination of array processors). Later, he was invited from Cornell to a year at the University of Zurich by Georges Wagniere, who was studying the inverse Faraday effect and inverse magneto-chiral birefringence. These invitations led to an important transition in the work of Evans from classical computer simulation to gauge theory, and ultimately to the first and only generally covariant unified field theory (Section 14).
The relevant references were reviewed in ref. (352), in the prestigious journal "Advances in Chemical Physics" Prigogine and Rice (Eds.). Ilya Prigogine was a Nobel Laureate and Stuart Rice was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1999 by President Clinton. Myron Evans was invited to produce several special topical issues and long reviews for this journal. These are refs. (75), (108), (161), (176), (177), (352), (378), (379), (402), and (579 - 581). At IBM Kingston, Evans joined the large Clementi group and worked with Clementi himself, George Lie, and notably with Keith Refson. The latter helped him to produce more efficient code for the computation of correlation functions. This code was better suited to the IBM 3090-6S supercomputers at IBM Kingston, Cornell, and ETH in Zurich. Later Evans was the first to try it at Cornell on the IBM RISC 6000 work station, which proved to be as fast as the 3090-6S. The code may now be run on any desktop provide it has a FORTRAN compiler. Computer animations of the code were also made at IBM.
The Clementi group was experimenting with some of the first animations ever applied to molecular dynamics computer simulation. The earlier CDC 7600 code was modified to double precision IBM code and applied to a range of problems. Evans was able to work with larger molecules because computer time was unrestricted. Some of his code consumed days of supercomputer time and the animations also consumed this amount of time. Later, with the Wagniere group, the 3090-6S supercomputer at ETH Zurich (Einstein's alma mater) was used, by remote link, to simulate several different types of non-linear optical effects, notably the inverse Faraday effect.
The main achievements of this era include the development of field applied computer simulation for use with non-linear optics, and also with shearing in hydrodynamics. These were again studied with a range of correlation functions, transients, Langevin-Kielich functions and also with animation. The latter is useful to show that the code is working properly, because the molecular motions can actually be seen. Statistical averaging techniques are then applied to produce the correlation functions, and so on. For the correlation function, running time averaging is needed, and for transients, ensemble averaging. Pair distribution functions were also computed directly. The most notable advance was the first computer simulation of the inverse Faraday effect, in which the ECE spin field is observed. The effect of the spin field can be seen directly in the Evans / Pelkie animation, in which the molecular vectors can be seen to be spinning.
The references include (269), (300), (306), (311), (313), (316), (317), (331 - 333), (339a) and (339b), (340), (346), (351), (353 - 355), and refs. (372) and (373), the first papers on the spin field. Some of these references are also present in Section 12, which deals with optical NMR and related effects.
This short section focuses on a few formative papers that led to the 1992 inference at Cornell of the ECE spin field (Sections 13 and 14). This is a fundamental and observable feature of electromagnetism at all frequencies, and shows that electromagnetism is a theory of general relativity as required by Einstein's principles.
The spin field is due to the spin connection, which in turn is due to the fact that the electromagnetic field is spinning space-time. That, in turn, allows a generally covariant unified field theory to be developed (Section 14).
The references of this section record the beginning of Myron Evans' interest in the conjugate product of non-linear optics, which he first came across in a paper by Wagniere. The main achievement of this formative theme was the inference, from non-linear optics, of the ECE spin field in 1992, and this era also records a transition from classical computer simulation to gauge theory and general relativity. This section and Section 12 are the transition points.
This work is recorded in refs. (316 - 323), (331 - 333), (335), (338 - 347), (351 - 355), (357 - 360), (363 - 367), (369), (398) and (399).
During his stays at IBM Kingston, Cornell and the University of Zurich, Evans began to develop work that led to the inference of optical NMR and related techniques. He was led to this inference by considerations of symmetry and the optical conjugate product of non-linear optics. This kind of optical NMR was therefore non-linear, but there are other types of optical NMR that use a circularly polarized laser to align spins only and still use a permanent magnet. An example is that of the Kennedy group at the NRL. The type of optical NMR that Evans considered does not need a permanent magnet. The conjugate product is the non-linear property that was used first by Piekara and Kielich in the fifties, and then by Pershan at Harvard in 1963 to predict the existence of the inverse Faraday effect. The latter is a magnetization, so it produces a phenomenon akin to Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) or NMR. Later, in 1995, Evans inferred this to be Radiatively Induced Fermion Resonance (RFR) (published in 1996, in ref. (446)). The distinguished Kielich group in Poznan also inferred many other types of classical and quantum non-linear optical phenomena (see refs. (378) and (579) for collected reviews of the work of the Kielich group). Among these is the optical Zeeman effect, which is a type of RFR (ref. (446)) that observes shifts and splits in spectra. This is another phenomenon that is due to the ECE spin field. The references in this theme of Evans' work cover this type of optically induced magnetization and related effects using theory, simulation and animation. The work of the Kielich group continues at the Kielich Institute of Poznan University.
The main achievements of this theme in Evans' work include several inferences in non-linear magneto-optics, and the development of code to simulate non-linear magneto-optics. The work was carried out at Cornell and Zurich. Following the inference of the ECE spin field in refs. (372) and (373), he decided to concentrate on the development of its many implications in theoretical and applied science after winning, in open competition, a Chair in Applied Optics at UNCC.
This is important precursor work to Einstein Cartan Evans (ECE) theory, and starts with refs. (372) to (377) in 1992, with the inference of the B(3) spin field from the inverse Faraday effect at Cornell shortly after Evans returned from Zurich. Then the gauge theory of electrodynamics is developed in refs. (380 - 401), (403 - 419), (423 - 430), (432), (435 - 444), (446 - 448), and (453 - 597), with the exception of series edited books on other subjects in this part of the list.
The first major achievement of this theme of work is the inference of the B(3) spin field from the inverse Faraday effect in refs. (372) and (373). This was followed by approximately eleven years of intensive development of an O(3) invariant gauge theory of electrodynamics that is called O(3) electrodynamics or non-Abelian electrodynamics.
The Maxwell Heaviside theory is U(1) invariant and does not include the spin field self consistently. For this reason, it cannot be unified with gravitation in a generally covariant manner as required. Evans actually inferred the B(3) spin field in about November 1991, when he was working on simulations of the inverse Faraday effect. It is clear that the magnetization observed in the inverse Faraday effect is caused by a hitherto unknown type of magnetic field, and that this field must be radiated. It must also be defined by the conjugate product and therefore must be a phenomenon of non-linear optics. It has been shown that the B(3) spin field can be incorporated into an O(3) symmetry gauge theory of electrodynamics, and that its influence on quantum electrodynamics is very small. Therefore, the B(3) spin field does not lead to any catastrophic loss of precision or renormalization in quantum electrodynamics, and has many advantages, as shown in great detail in these publications. Maxwell Heaviside theory is recovered in limits, but with the loss of ability to describe the inverse Faraday effect from first principles. Many aspects of O(3) gauge invariant electrodynamics were developed and rigorously tested against data. The way in which the B(3) spin field interacts with matter was understood in all detail. For one electron, the spin field produces radiatively induced fermion resonance, the resonance implied by the existence of the inverse Faraday effect.
However, even with these advantages, O(3) invariant electrodynamics is still a theory of special relativity, and a theory of general relativity is needed before generally covariant field unification can begin. The development of such a theory was initiated in ref. (598) in the Spring of 2003.
This theory is described in refs (598) onwards, and in the complete UFT series on the AIAS website, aias.us.
Generally covariant unified field theory is based on well-known Cartan geometry, sometimes called Riemann Cartan geometry. It is called Einstein Cartan Evans (ECE) field theory because it was inferred from Cartan geometry as described in a book by Sean Carroll, "Spacetime and Geometry, an Introduction to General Relativity" (Addison Wesley, New York, 2004), Chapter 3. It became immediately evident to Myron Evans that the spin field must be described by the second term of the first Cartan structure equation. The latter defines the Cartan torsion in terms of the tetrad and spin connection. At that point (about February 2003) Evans did not know that Cartan had suggested to Einstein that the electromagnetic tensor is indeed this torsion form.
Evans thereafter inferred the basic ansatz of ECE theory, that the electromagnetic form is the torsion form within a scalar factor. The first Cartan structure equation thus became the equation that defines the electromagnetic field in terms of the potential field, the latter being the tetrad form within the same scalar factor. In 2003 and 2004 several major advances were made: a wave equation was deduced from the tetrad postulate, and from this the Dirac equation was deduced in the limit when the fermion field becomes independent of all other fields. This wave equation satisfactorily unifies quantum mechanics and general relativity. Evan's work improved our view of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle by showing that it only agrees with data in certain limiting cases. In general, however, ECE theory refutes this principle and returns physics to the common sense view favoured by Newton and Einstein. In 2003 - 2005, the field equations of electrodynamics were deduced in a form that unifies them with gravitation and all other fields. All of the major equations of physics were deduced as limits of ECE theory, which is causal and objective.
In 2007, it was shown that the vacuum of quantum electrodynamics can be described more consistently by ECE theory. In cosmology, torsion was included with massive consequences for the cosmological Standard Model, which was shown to suffer from a lot of inconsistencies. Many other directions of thought have also been pursued from 2003 onwards, as shown in publications starting with (598), and in the complete UFT series on the AIAS website, aias.us.
The following are the ten most important papers in the Omnia Opera, as selected by Myron Evans.
Paper (5): M. W. Evans Rotational Velocity Correlation Functions for Assessing Molecular Models for Gas and Liquid Phase Studies, Faraday II, 70(9), 1620 (1974). This paper records the introduction, at Aberystwyth, of the rotational velocity correlation function for the analysis of far infra-red data of all kinds. It enabled a triple comparison between data, theory and simulation, which is a major theme of Myron Evans' work.
Paper (20): M. W. Evans and G. J. Evans, Use of the Memory Function to Simulate the Debye and Poley Absorption in Liquids, Faraday II, 72(7), 1169 (1976). This paper records the introduction, at Aberystwyth, of the memory function method to the far infra-red, a method in which the friction coefficient of the Langevin equation (Markovian process) is extended to a memory function hierarchy (non-Markovian process). The Langevin equation itself gives the Debye plateau in the far infra-red, and is unphysical because the rotational velocity correlation function is undefined in the Debye relaxation process.
Paper (39): M. W. Evans, Correlation and Memory Function Analyses of Molecular Motion in Fluids, in Mansel Davies, (ed.), Dielectric and Related Molecular Processes, 3, 1-44 (The Royal Society of Chemistry, 1977). This forty-four page paper, written at Aberystwyth, was invited by Mansel Davies, and summarizes the work for which Myron Evans was awarded the Harrison Memorial Prize and Meldola Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, upon recommendation of the National Physical Laboratory of the British Government.
Paper (67): C. J. Reid and M. W. Evans, Zero - THz Absorption Profiles in Glassy Solutions, High Frequency Gamma Process and its Characterization, Faraday II, 75(9), 1218 (1979). This paper, written at Aberystwyth, introduced the gamma process of the far infra-red, which Myron Evans realized were linked to the much lower frequency alpha and beta processes already known. Thus, the complete spectrum stretches over an immense twelve decades of frequency, and its description is still a challenge to molecular dynamics computer simulation and theory.
Papers (115-117, 137, 137): M. W. Evans, Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Induced Anisotropy, Parts 1 - 5, J. Chem. Phys., 76, 5473, 5480 (1982); 77, 4632 (1982); 78, 925, 5403 (1983). These five parts, written at Aberystwyth, introduced the technique of field applied computer simulation, which Myron Evans later developed extensively. The first external field to be applied was a static electric field, and it was found that the simulation produced the correct theoretical Langevin functions at all orders. The simulation could therefore be used to produce a variety of results that could not be produced by experiment or theory alone. Various other fields were used later, notably a circularly polarized electromagnetic field, in the Evans / Pelkie animation from Cornell of the inverse Faraday effect.
Paper (147): M. W. Evans, New Phenomenon of the Molecular Liquid State: Interaction of Molecular Rotation and Translation, Phys. Rev. Lett., 50(5), 371 (1983). This paper records the discovery, at Aberystwyth, of the mechanism in the molecule fixed frame through which molecular rotation and molecular translation influence each other. This had not been found using theory or experiment, but only by computer simulation. This mechanism is important in general relativity (in a much broader context) because it governs the interaction of gravitation (translation) with any kind of spinning or rotating field (electromagnetic, weak, strong, fermionic, and so on).
M. W. Evans, Paper (347): Molecular Dynamics Computer Simulation of Magnetization by an Electromagnetic Field, Phys. Lett. A, 157, 383 (1991). This paper records the first computer simulation, by Myron Evans at Cornell University, of the inverse Faraday effect, which is the magnetization of any type of matter by a circularly polarized electromagnetic field of any frequency.
M. W. Evans, Papers (372) and (373): The Elementary Static Magnetic Field of the Photon, Physica B, 182, 227, 237 (1992). This paper records the inference, at Cornell, of the fundamental spin field of electromagnetic radiation of any frequency. It is observed in the inverse Faraday effect, and signals the fact that the electromagnetic field is the Cartan torsion of ECE field theory. Mansel Davies (a Nobel Prize advisor in chemistry) thought in 1992 that Myron Evans should have been awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry for this discovery. Nevertheless, the award of a Civil List Pension by Parliament is of great historical significance, because only one Civil List Pension has been awarded to a chemist since Michael Faraday.
Paper (599): M. W. Evans, A Generally Covariant Wave Equation for Grand Unified Field Theory, Found. Phys. Lett., 16, 513 (2003). This paper, written at Craigcefnparc, records the discovery of the wave equation that unifies wave (or quantum) mechanics and general relativity, in an objective manner. This had been a major aim of both Albert Einstein and Elie Cartan for many years.
Paper (663), M. W. Evans, The Spinning and Curving of Spacetime: the Electromagnetic and Gravitational Fields in the Evans Unified Field Theory, Found. Phys. Lett., 18, 431 (2005). This paper, written at Craigcefnparc, records the development of the field equations of electrodynamics within ECE theory, a major advance from the Standard Model in which the electromagnetic field is still the nineteenth century entity of Maxwell, Heaviside, Lorentz and Poincare. In ECE theory, the electromagnetic field is a field of general relativity, unified with all other fields geometrically.
Myron Evans was awarded a Civil List Pension in the Spring of 2005, by Queen Elizabeth II and Parliament, for distinguished contributions to Britain and the Commonwealth in science, and we trust that the many notes in this article give an idea of the totality of his work over thirty-five years.
We would like to thank Horst Eckardt for reading this work and helping with valuable suggestions.