Magnetic Ontology

Abstract
Standard electrodynamics and particle physics treat electric charge as a fundamental scalar entity, with magnetic fields regarded as secondary effects arising from currents. However, this dualistic “source–field” picture encounters conceptual fragmentation and ad hoc parameterization at microscopic scales. In this paper, building upon Natural Quantum Theory (NQT), we propose a more radical unified perspective: Pure Magnetic Ontology. This framework asserts that the physical ontology of the universe consists solely of a continuous magnetic flux fluid (or the magnetic component of a unified field), and that what we call “electric charge” is not an independent entity but an inevitable consequence of topologically locked microscopic magnetic flux structures. This view not only naturally explains why all charged fermions possess intrinsic magnetic moments, but also allows Maxwell’s equations to be recast as evolution equations for magnetic flux topology—thereby achieving deep unification between electricity and magnetism, and between fields and particles.

I. The Alien Charge

In classical electrodynamics and the Standard Model, electric charge plays the role of an “alien” intruder.

• Dualistic separation: Fields (continuous and diffuse) are sharply distinguished from sources (discrete and point-like).

• Artificial attribution: When describing an electron, we first posit a fermionic field and then “assign” it a charge $e$ , a mass $m$ , and a spin $s$ . These properties resemble labels stuck onto a particle’s forehead, lacking any intrinsic geometric connection.

• Secondary status of magnetism: The standard view holds that “electricity generates magnetism”—magnetic fields are merely relativistic side effects of moving charges. Yet this fails to intuitively explain why certain electrically neutral particles (e.g., the neutron) possess large intrinsic magnetic moments.

If the ultimate goal of physics is unity and simplicity, we must ask: Must electric charge truly be a fundamental, independent entity?

II. Core Tenets of Pure Magnetic Ontology

Magnetic ontology posits that the fundamental physical reality is purely magnetic—specifically, a continuum of magnetic flux. Electric charge emerges as a topological derivative of this flux.

2.1 Core Hypothesis: Charge as a Topological Knot

In this picture, there are no independent “static charges.” What we observe as electrons or protons are, in essence, microscopic, highly twisted, and topologically locked magnetic flux solitons.

• Structure: Within a tiny region, magnetic field lines form nontrivial knotted or vortex configurations.

• Effect: Due to topological stability, this flux knot cannot be smoothly untied. It exerts persistent stress or polarization on the surrounding vacuum. In the far field, this manifests as a spherically symmetric divergent field—the very “electrostatic field” we measure.

• Quantization: The discreteness of charge ( $e,-e$ ) is no longer postulated; it arises naturally from integer-valued topological invariants (e.g., winding numbers, Chern numbers).

2.2 Physical Mechanism: From Flux Dynamics to Apparent Charge

Maxwell’s displacement current term, ${ϵ}_0\frac{\partial \mathbf{E}}{\partial t}$ , suggests that changing electric fields act like currents. Pure magnetic ontology reverses and radicalizes this logic:

It is not that changing E produces B, but that the dynamics of magnetic flux manifests as E.

What we call a “static charge” is simply a magnetic flux configuration capable of sustaining $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}\ne 0$ . This configuration remains in a dynamically self-sustained “locked” state due to internal nonlinear self-interactions and topological constraints.

III. Key Empirical Evidence: The Universality of Magnetic Moments

Why should we believe that “magnetism is ontological, while electricity is phenomenological”? Experimental facts provide compelling support.

3.1 Evidence I: All Charged Fermions Have Magnetic Moments

If charge were merely an independent scalar label (like painting a ball red), there should logically exist particles that are “charged but non-magnetic” (a stationary red ball has no magnetism). Yet every known fundamental charged fermion—electron, quarks, etc.—possesses an intrinsic magnetic moment.

In the pure magnetic picture, this is a topological necessity:

• Charge = a vortex/knot in magnetic flux.

• A vortex requires internal circulation to maintain its topological integrity.

• Circulation implies a magnetic dipole moment.

Thus, the magnetic moment is not an appendage to charge—it is the dynamical skeleton that sustains the charge as a topological entity.

3.2 Evidence II: The Neutron’s Magnetic Moment (Magnetism Without Net Charge)

The neutron carries no net electric charge, yet it has a significant magnetic moment. While the Standard Model explains this via internal quark structure, at the ontological level it reveals something deeper:

• Magnetic flux structures are primary: They can be arranged into configurations that produce no net divergent field (zero charge) but retain internal circulation (nonzero magnetic moment).

• Conclusion: Magnetism can exist independently of net charge (as in the neutron), but fundamental fermionic charge can never exist without an underlying magnetic structure. This establishes magnetic flux circulation as a more fundamental physical reality than charge itself.

IV. Reconstructing Maxwell’s Equations: Eliminating External Sources

Adopting pure magnetic ontology does not discard Maxwell’s equations—it reinterprets their physical meaning by eliminating external sources.

4.1 Topologizing Gauss’s Law

• Original: $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}=\rho /{ϵ}_0$

• Reconstructed: $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{F}(\dot{\mathbf{A}},\mathbf{B})=\mathcal{T}(\mathbf{A},\mathbf{B})$

Here, $\rho$ is no longer an externally imposed charge density, but a topological density inherent to the field configuration itself. Charge is not a source of the field—it is a special state of the field.

4.2 Unified Dynamics

• Coulomb force: Arises from interactions between magnetic flux knots. Like topologies (same-sign charges) repel due to magnetic-fluid stress; opposite topologies attract.

• Lorentz force: The hydrodynamic force experienced by a flux knot moving through the background magnetic fluid.

• Mass: Comes from the self-bound energy of the flux knot, $m=\frac{1}{c^2}\int (B^2+\cdots )dV$ , requiring no Higgs mechanism.

V. Conclusion: A Return to Simplicity and Unity

The Standard Model presents a complex, aesthetically unsatisfying picture: particles and fields are separate, charge is an independent label, and interactions are stitched together by coupling constants.

Pure magnetic ontology offers a path to radical simplicity:

• Monistic ontology: The universe contains only magnetic flux fluid.

• Topological origin:
  – Charge = a knot in magnetic flux,
  – Mass = an energy packet of confined flux,
  – Spin = angular momentum of circulating flux.

• Geometric unification: Electromagnetic interaction is not mediated by virtual particle exchange, but by the topological evolution and recombination of magnetic flux structures.

This perspective elevates Maxwell’s equations from a tool for describing charge motion to a fundamental ontological law governing magnetic flux topology. It suggests that the ultimate answer may have always been hidden in the geometry and topology of magnetic field lines—

Charge is nothing but a knot tied in the fabric of magnetism.