The Physical Possibility of Macroscopic Bodies Approaching Zero Rest Mass and the UFO Problem
1976 CUFOS Conference Proceedings
Summary
Winterberg's sole UFO-focused publication, presented at the 1976 CUFOS Conference. It explores whether matter doped with hypothetical negative-mass magnetic monopoles could approach zero rest mass and thereby account for reported UFO kinematics - extreme acceleration, magnetic effects, corona-like glow, and the absence of sonic booms. Although it argues the underlying physics is not strictly forbidden, the paper is notably skeptical: Winterberg judged the probability of extraterrestrial visitation to be 'almost nil' and explicitly favored a Jungian psychopathological model for most reports, calling the absence of recovered artifacts the strongest argument against the extraterrestrial hypothesis. It is frequently cited in propulsion-focused UAP speculation despite its skeptical conclusions.
Abstract
UFO reports by highly reliable witnesses have in common the observation of physical solid objects 1) with none or almost no inertial mass 2) surrounded by an intense corona like discharge 3) possessing strong magnetic fields, 4) producing no sonic boom at the high velocities reported. This suggests a state of matter approaching zero rest mass. If such a state exists then interstellar distances could be traversed in an arbitrarily small proper time and with a vanishingly small amount of energy. It is shown that matter incorporating magnetic monopoles may lead to just such a material state. Since monopole fields fall off much more slowly than dipole fields this could explain the magnetic effects reportedly associated with UFOs. The induced electric field resulting from the rapid motion of the monopole field could explain the glow observed around the UFOs as a corona discharge. The strong magnetic field could also explain the absence of any sonic boom. If the hypothesized state of matter exists, then its use for interstellar space flight by highly advanced civilizations can almost be postulated, but the large accelerations seem to exclude the transportation of low tensile strength biological systems as they are known to us, thus restricting its use to robot like interstellar space probes. However, the failure to recover any artifacts seems to contradict simple logic and remains the strongest argument in favor of a psychopathological hypothesis to explain the UFO phenomenon. Also, the anthropocentric nature of the 'humanoid' reports strongly speaks in favor of a psychopathological explanation.
Citation
F. Winterberg. (1976). 1976 CUFOS Conference Proceedings
Related Papers
The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis for UAP: A Bayesian Analysis
Kevin H. Knuth · 2021
Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles
Kevin H. Knuth et al. · 2019
Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering
Harold E. Puthoff · 2010
Frontiers of Propulsion Science
Marc G. Millis et al. · 2009