Treatise on the ‘m’ particle theory of the One Power as described in WH and its impact upon our world


Ever since Winter’s Heart hit the shelves and I got to read a copy I have been amazed, truly amazed. How does Mr. Jordan do it, sure the story was good, better than The Path Of daggers certainly and it tied up so many of those intriguing little plot threads that we members of wotmania and the whole Wheel of Time community have been theorising over for the past two or more years. That was not the whole of it though, to add to the wonderfully sumptuous plot line and brilliant, nay superlative, characterisation Mr. Jordan finally gave us what we have all been waiting for. He gave us a comprehensive and well thought out theory of the physics of the One Power, this in relation to the malkier, or ‘m,’ particles.

Not only is the theory internally consistent it also matches our own physical laws, so well in fact that I believe his theory can be adopted to solve some of the greatest problems still left in the physics community. The greatest consequence of this postulation, which makes Einstein look like he came from America’s ‘Deep South’ due to its sheer humbling simplicity, is of course that with the correct quantum manipulation of our mitochondrial DNA we should be able to engineer the first true human channellers, the first Aes Sedai if you will, in less than fifty years.

This revolution in human genetics will lead to a new way of life for the human race and will cause many of today’s industries to become obsolete. The use of the One Power will be far more efficient and environmentally sound than any technological solution that can be developed for many of the problems currently afflicting the world. This fact alone will, when combined with our current scientific understanding, create an almost utopian possibility for the rebuilding of society. A golden age will have finally arrived for humanity, as long as we choose to make that first step and create the world’s first Aes Sedai, a step which I urge you to support.

Now most of you will probably not have taken such an interest in Mr. Jordan’s ‘m’ particle theory of the One Power as I have, although I honestly cannot fathom the reason for this, so I shall give you an overview of the basics of the theory now. I shall then go into more detail and finally show how this theory incorporates all of currently understood physics and leads to the genetic manipulation of the human race and the birth of the first individuals with the ability to channel.

The most basic tenant of the theory is the postulation of a here to unknown particle class called malkier particles, or ‘m’ particles. These are a separate section of elementary particles like the quarks and leptons of current physics. There are five flavours of these particles, known commonly by their Wheel of Time names, Spirit, Wind, Water, Earth and Fire or more standardly sp, wi, wa, ea and fi particles. Along with this there are two varieties of each particle type, the Saidin variety and the Saidar variety, Sn and Sr. These have been compared to particles and their anti-particles in standard physics, such as electrons and positrons, but this comparison is inaccurate at best. When a particle interacts with its anti-particle they annihilate in a flash of energy equal to the rest energy of the two particles. Such mutual destruction does not take place between Sn and Sr particle types. Instead these two particle classes can interact with each other perfectly well, but the use of one precludes the use of the other in biological entities. There are some exceptions to this of course, the main one being the ability to link where someone using Sr particles can control Sn particles as well, or visa versa, this is only a violation if you do not look closely of course. Examining the situation properly shows that the Sr user is not actually accessing the Sn particles directly, this is not allowed, they are being shunted to her control by the Sn user who is the one accessing them so that the situation is valid under ‘m’ particle theory.

Now it is postulated by Mr. Jordan, and here I agree, that it is these particles which make up the ‘threads’ used by channellers when working with the one power. The threads are the macroscopic structures unconsciously formed by channellers when working the One Power so that they can tailor the interactions of the ‘m’ particles to produce the desired affect. Smaller threads are used to provide more detailed control over small systems whereas extremely large threads can be used to manipulate much larger systems such as the weather, but with far lower precision. Of course with training, and to a certain extent natural talent in the manipulations, more precision can be brought to bear on these larger systems and more delicate tasks can be performed on the small systems, such is the case with Healing.

In more detail these threads are composed of the type of particle that the channeller draws upon to create the thread, i.e. a thread of Fire is produced by the channeller drawing upon fi particles, either an Sn or Sr variety depending on the sex of the channeller. It is this sexual preference of the two particle types which leads to the link between channelling and genetics and foreshadows the opportunity to genetically enhance the human species to produce channelling abilities. I shall go into more detail of this consequence later in this paper. Of course as all informed readers of this article will be fully aware it is perfectly possible to create two completely different effects using only threads of, for example, Fire and Water. This act is performed by the channelling individual by ‘weaving’ the threads together in different ways, the different ‘weaves’ then produce different effects. This is just a macroscopic expression of the subatomic interaction occurring within the threads. Weaving the threads in different ways is actually a highly accurate method for controlling the reactions between the ‘m’ particles in the threads. Controlling these reactions at a particle by particle level is of course not possible, although channellers do come close when working with the most delicate of threads, but it is enough to control the general trends and speeds of the reactions to produce most effects seen.

It is now necessary to explain how these particles interact with our world and produce the effects seen, such as solidifying air or producing flames without fuel. Our universe, by Mr. Jordan’s theory, is immersed in a ‘sea’ of these ‘m’ particles which usually do not interact with one another or normal matter or energy, or the anti-varieties of such. Channelling individuals have a very unusual genetic mutation which affects small regions of their cerebral cortex, modifying their brains so that they contain microscopic structures, now known as Channellons, which allow them to mentally manipulate the universe on a quantum level, although in a very limited way. This mutation allows them to ‘grab hold’ if you will, of the ‘m’ particles all around them and subtly alter their quantum state, allowing them to interact with normal matter and energy as well as themselves.

It is currently unclear exactly how these Channellons allow this to occur but it is beyond dispute that this is the case within the bounds of Mr. Jordan’s highly accurate theory. Nonetheless with the next generation of Quantum Neural Topographic Imagers (QNTI’s), which will enter service in the next 5 years, we will have the ability to scan and image the human brain at the level required to determine such enigmas. With these devices we shall be able to rigorously and accurately test and categorise the components and structures of the brains of any humans but most especially the channellers we will hopefully, as has been previously stated, engineer in the near future.

One question that arises here is why do the two different varieties of ‘m’ particle key to the two different sexes. The answer is simple, the two varieties, Sn and Sr, have equal and opposite quantum spins, this is what distinguishes the types. This is combined with the previously unmentioned fact that the Channellons have two sub-categories, Y-Channellons and X-Channellons, which correspond subtly to the subject having, or not having, the male Y chromosome. If the Y chromosome is present and the individual is to be a channeller then the Channelons will be the Y variety. The two different varieties of Channellons then key to the Sn and Sr varieties of ‘m’ particles respectively, thus allowing only one type to be channelled by an individual entirely dependent on the sex of said individual. This dependence on the Y chromosome is what allows me to predict the engineering of channellers in the near future by our genetic scientists.

As stated I will now explain how these particles interact with the standard components of our universe to produce the effects observed in channelling. These ‘m’ particles can effect normal matter and energy at the quantum level and thus control individual atoms and, at a smaller scale, quarks and leptons and mediator particles such as photons. Thus when manipulated by a skilful channeller they can produce an almost infinite number of effects based on the particle type (sp, wi, wa, ea and fi), number of particles and allowed reaction rate (this is subconsciously controlled by the channeller). Due to their opposite quantum spins the Sn and Sr types react in slightly different ways which is why male and female channellers do essentially the same things using often radically different methods.

What you have just read is an explanation of Mr. Jordan’s theory as it stands with a few additional speculations from myself. Now I shall explain my interpretation of this theory with respect to the Standard Model of particle physics and give more details of the creation of the human races first channellers, an event I look forward to with baited breath.

The Standard Model contains three basic elementary particle types, quarks and leptons and the mediators of the different forces. There are six quarks and six leptons plus corresponding anti-particles for each and the mediating particles are W? and Z0 for the weak force, gluons for the strong force, photons for the electromagnetic force and the gravitons for the gravitational force. This model works extremely well for a large amount of physics and describes the strong and electroweak (electromagnetic + weak) interactions to a high level of precision. For the gravitational interaction we have General Relativity to draw upon. This leads to one of the greatest problems within modern physics, the concept of quantum gravity, as we currently cannot reconcile General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics. What I am proposing is that the new ‘m’ particle theory can be used to solve this problem thus bringing about a giant leap in our understanding of the universe, and all thanks to Mr. Jordan’s wonderful Winters Heart opus.

What I propose is that the sea of previously unknown, and un-theorised, ‘m’ particles form a sea of quantum energy throughout the universe, possibly even accounting for a large proportion of the missing ‘dark matter’ of the universe. This sea of particles mediate the gravitons, allowing them to tunnel through the fabric of spacetime so that their action is virtually instantaneous. This means that they do not break the cosmic speed limit of light speed but that they act instantaneously, as though they were in reality an effect of the geometry of spacetime as indicated by General Relativity.

Mr. Jordan’s theory states that the ‘m’ particles do not interact with the rest of the universe so how do they perform this mediation of the gravitons as I hypothesis? The explanation for this is simple which is one of the reasons I am such a great supporter of this theory. The ‘m’ particles themselves do not interact with the gravitons, it is the effect of their presence on the background quantum energy levels of the universe which acts on the gravitons. Such a large quantity of unobtainable (until the birth of the first channellers) energy which cannot be dispersed has a profound effect on the universe, but an unobservable one. It raises the energy level of the vacuum to an unstable state and it is quantum fluctuations arising from this situation which drag in the gravitons and cause the tunnelling effect. This effects only gravitons because they are the only particles with the correct quantum properties to be able to notice this effect.

The only unresolved point at this stage is why does this seemingly random effect produce the well ordered entity that is gravity. It seems that the ‘m’ particles are more concentrated around objects with mass than in the vacuum of space thus the effect of their presence on the vacuum energy level around massive objects is more pronounced. This in turn causes the effect on gravitons to be more pronounced so that they behave in a way which lets them correspond to the predictions of General Relativity but in a quantum way.

Finally I shall now describe the basics of the theory behind the creation of human channellers. As this is a physics paper rather than a genetics paper I shall leave the details to an expert in that field rather than going into them myself.

It has already been discussed how channelling individuals access and manipulate ‘m’ particles through microscopic structures in their brains known as Channellons and that there are two types of Channellon, the X and Y versions, dependent on the presence of the Y chromosome in the individual. This obvious genetic dependence of channelling leads to the possibility of genetically engineering the human species to produce channellers as I have already speculated. The Y chromosome is an important factor in this engineering as is the determination of the structure and exact function of Channellons. This knowledge of structure and function should be available to us in approximately two years time when Mr. Jordan produces the next volume in his Wheel of Time series as he has promised to include it amongst the furious plotting and intrigue his audience expects. Once this is known we shall be able to determine, by the use of QNTI’s which will be available approximately three years later, how to induce the formation of Channellons in the human neural structure. Once the additions to the human genetic code for this advance are discovered and related to the Y chromosome dependence of channelling all the pieces will be in place. The genetic engineering of a new human species, homo channellous, will proceed and bring about humanities first true golden age. Space flight will become a reality and pollution and the destruction of the earth’s resources will become a thing of the past. We shall create a society to humble even the greatest moments of the Age of Legends, we shall be reborn!

References :

Jordan, R., Winters Heart, Tor, 2000.
Malkier, WH Interviews, wotmania MB, 2000.
Hall, G., Serious Boredom, My Twisted Imagination, 2000.
Other, A. N., Random References, Big Book of Boredom, 2000.