The Absolute Maximums of Time and Space Relativity
Time is the property of the universe that allows all things in the universe to change and have motion. Time does not require humans, observers, or even matter to exist. Time only requires the universe to exist. And just because time is relative does not mean time is subjective. Time is a fundamental objective part of reality, and time and distance relativity is probably less weird than you think it is. There is a maximum amount of relative time that can be experienced between any two points in time (no time dilation), which is the same amount of time as “proper time”. There is a maximum relative distance between any two points in space (no length contraction), which is the same amount of distance as “proper distance”. When we say that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, technically we mean 4.5 billion years is the maximum amount of relative time any thing could have experienced since the Earth was formed. When we say that Alpha Centauri is 4.2 light years from Earth, technically we mean that 4.2 light years is the maximum relative distance you could travel in a straight line from Earth to Alpha Centauri. If the maximums did not exist, than all time estimates and all distance estimates would be meaningless beyond your local reality. You could call the maximum flow of relative time a ‘maximum time speed’ and express your local time flow speed as a percentage of the maximum and think of the absolute maximum speed as a universal constant.
M = universal maximum rate of time flow d = local reference frame rate of time dilation as percent of M lt = local reference frame rate of time flow ltp = local reference frame rate of time flow as percent of M lt = M – d*M ltp = 100%-d e.g. ls = seconds of elapsed time at local reference frame rate ms = seconds of elapsed time at universal maximum rate M = 100ls/100ms d=1% lt=99ls/100ms ltp=99%
How would we calculate variable d, the local rate of time dilation as percent of M? There are 3 types of time dilation. (1) Gravitational time dilation, (2) time dilation due to acceleration, and (3) symmetrical time dilation, when 2 objects are moving towards or away from each other at a fixed speed and each measures the other as having a faster/slower time flow rate. We only care about the first 2 types, because they are the 2 types of time dilation associated with differential aging, meaning aging at different time flow rates. Interestingly, gravitational attraction is a form of acceleration. Therefore differential aging seems to be associated with acceleration, but we do not know if this is a direct cause or not. To calculate variable d, we would take the total amount of gravitational time dilation and add the total amount of time dilation due to acceleration. What about motion? There is no way to track absolute motion. Special Relativity avoids the problem by dealing only with relative motion. But acceleration is proof of and the proxy for absolute motion.
d = dg + da dg = local rate of time dilation as percent of M due to gravity da = local rate of time dilation as percent of M due to acceleration
There may be no practical way to precisely calculate variable da. We might need to know the entire history of acceleration, deceleration, and veolocity changes for an object and its components, going all the way back to the time of the big bang, to precisely calculate da. As a shortcut, we could use the CMB frame to get a substitute for a precise value. But there is another way to get a pretty good value. We can simply assume that the value of da for any object will be very close to 0, indicating a time flow rate very close to the maximum, unless we have specific information about its acceleration history indicating otherwise. Humans on earth are traveling at about 900,000 kph in the Milky Way center's frame of reference. At that speed, the time flow rate is 99.99999999999999% of the maximum. You could assign da to be 0 and call it a rounding error.
In most frames of reference, the local time flows are very close to the maximum, but they are never at the maximum. You will be close to the maximum unless you are near a massive gravity source like a black hole or accelerating to a significant fraction of the speed of light. So for most practical purposes, the small differences in relative time speeds do not matter. But matter cannot actually experience the full “maximum” rate of time flow, because even if a mass has no acceleration, and is floating alone in the void between superclusters of galaxies, mass can never be outside the effects of its own gravity. So just as matter can never reach the full speed of light, the time flow rate experienced by any particular matter can never reach the maximum.
Time dilation and length contraction go together. When you have one, you have the other. Their relativity actually only goes one way, towards slower time flow and shorter distance lengths. You could reverse time dilation and reverse length contraction, but you cannot have negative time dilation and negative length contraction because you can never increase time flow and distances beyond the absolute maximums.
The maximum values are independent of and do not depend on your local frame of reference, but your local frame of reference does depend on the maximum values. If the maximum values between 2 points of time or distance were doubled, then time and distance values would be doubled in all local frames of reference. Thus you could think of the absolute maximums as the underlying reality of time and distance lengths, because they are special to the universe since they affect all local values of time and distance. When you understand things that way, you can see that what relativity does is shrink the amounts of time and distance, as experienced by you, to be shorter than their “real” underlying maximum values. Relativity cannot enlarge times and distances to be bigger than their “real” underlying maximum values. Thus, we can tell you how long ago the Earth was formed and how far it is to Alpha Centauri with full confidence that these are the real, objective values and not just the values of our local frame of reference that would be meaningless to everyone outside our frame of reference.