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MiHsC, acronym for Modification of inertia by a Hubble-scale Casimir effect, or quantised inertia, is a cosmological theory developed by Mike McCulloch, a physicist at Plymouth University, England. The theory attempts to explain the cause of inertia, which is not completely defined by general and special relativity. MiHsC theory relies on Mach's Principle and the Zero-point field of quantum theory. The theory posits a boundary exists as to how far away objects influencing inertia can be. This boundary is the point at which light (and therefore any information) will never be able to reach an object, because either cosmic acceleration or its own acceleration outpaces the speed of light. Anything beyond this event horizon (called the Hubble horizon or the Rindler horizon respectively) is outside the observable universe, and therefore can't affect the object at the center of the Rindler space. The Rindler event horizon is effectively the same as a black hole's event horizon. At a black hole's event horizon, quantum virtual particle pairs are occasionally separated by gravity, resulting in particle emissions known as the Hawking radiation. For a Rindler horizon, a similar radiation is suspected to exist, called the Unruh radiation. MiHsC posits that Unruh radiation causes inertia: as a particle accelerates, the Rindler information horizon expands in the direction of acceleration, and contracts behind it. This is similar in form to the Casimir effect: a non-fitting partial wave would allow an observer to infer what lies beyond the event horizon, so it would not be a horizon anymore. This logical assumption disallows Unruh waves that don't fit behind an accelerating object. As a result more Unruh radiation pressure hits the object coming from the front than from the rear and this imbalance pushes it back against its acceleration, resulting in the effect we observe as inertia. There is also an event horizon much further away, at the Hubble horizon, so even in front of the accelerating object, some of the Unruh waves are disallowed, especially the very long Unruh waves that exist if the object has a very low acceleration. Then MiHsC predicts such an object with very low acceleration would lose inertial mass in a new way. Unlike alternative modified models of gravity, MiHsC does not use any ad hoc parameters to fit observations. It notably resolves the observed discrepancies in galactic rotation velocities and cosmological acceleration without the need for dark matter or dark energy, and proposes an explanation for the Pioneer and flyby anomalies. It would also explain the anomalous thrust detected in recent experiments of the EmDrive without violating conservation of momentum. It has been suggested there may be a link between MiHsC and holographic entropic gravity models. As of 2015, McCulloch is still refining MiHsC theory and intends to publish further papers which may include testable predictions. He wrote a book summarizing the theory. Other ongoing research into EmDrive suggests that MiHsC shows how to improve the efficiency of the drive, notably increasing frequency ie use of 24 or >60 GHz sources in a superconducting chamber or other high conductivity system such as doped carbon nanotubes. There are discussions on various EmDrive build forums such as using silver in place of copper.
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