There exist several sources which agree that there can be no transverse waves in the vacuum. These sources agree that the vacuum is only capable of supporting longitudinal waves. Proponents of this view have existed for more than 70 years, among them, Nikola Tesla.

Nikola Tesla wrote: " I showed that the universal medium is a gaseous body in which only longitudinal pulses can be propagated, involving alternating compressions and expansions similar to those produced by sound waves in the air. Thus, a wireless transmitter does not propagate Hertz waves, which are a myth, but sound waves in the ether, behaving in every respect like those in the air, except that, owing to the great elastic force and extremely small density of the medium, their speed is that of light."

(Source: "Pioneer Radio Engineer Gives Views on Power", published in the New York Herald Tribune, Sept. 11, 1932, [2, p.94 ]. )

What this is about is the proposition that the physical vacuum must be exclusively some sort of crystalline media. Clearly, if the vacuum, as is well known, supports longitudinal E/M waves, the conditions of the vacuum must perforce also exist in some fluidic, or superfluidic, or some otherwise plastic condition.

In the vacuum, longitudinal waves are energy density waves. That is to say that there is some periodic energy variation created locally in space which results in some variation of the volumetric density of this energy. In other words, space itself may be a product or result of some process and the local energy density of space would be dependent on the parameters of this process. Longitudinal energy density waves in the vacuum, should then create some locally observable change in space or in the structure of some material object located in the region of the wave. This has been demonstrated experimentally.

N. A. Kozyrev's experiments [Kozyrev N.A., Selected works, 1991, Leningrad, Leningrad University] investigated the waves that are produced by any non-reversible process, for example, by dissipation processes or by deformations of elastic matter. These waves were detected by several methods: The electrical components of these waves were detected by electrometer. Mechanical effects were detected by a rotational weight system.

The waves found resulting from these nonlinear irreversable processes produced changes in structure and in the electrical conductivity of the masses investigated. (Apparently such effects can be found in the vicinity in any kind of deforming matter.) It was shown that such waves can be detected by any manner of balanced electronics circuit, where some element of the circuit is placed in the vicinity of the originating (irreversable nonlinear) source of these waves.

Energy density waves (EDW) differ from normal E/M. In the longitudinal wave, energy density is modulated in the direction from the generating source to infinity. The velocity of energy density waves is still a matter of inquiry, but if the space (the aether) is considered as at least occasionally having the properties of some manner of solid state matter, it appears highly likely that the velocity of propagation of energy density waves will be found to be some super-luminal or instantaneous velocity.

As an analogy to the situation, let us consider what happens when we push on a table. At that instant that force is applied to the table, all points of the table are moving and the propagation velocity of our applied force through the table can be viewed as instantaneous.

Using a similar view regarding the properties of space, Kozyrev performed a series of experiments designed to detect both the present and past positions of certain stars. Kozyrev got information about current star positions by means the normal means of electromagnetic waves spreading with limited velocity of light. The actual present positions of these same stars were detected by the trajectories of energy density wave detection apparatus. It was apparent though these experiments, that energy density wave systems emanating from those observed stars had an apparently instantaneous information velocity with no apparent loss of power density over the distance traveled by the EDWs.

In a series of EDW experiments done by A. M. Mishin, ["The Ether Model as Result of the New Empirical Conception", Proceedings of International Conference on New Ideas in Natural Sciences, p.95.] experimental apparatus was constructed, including an EDW detector which was an auto-oscillating electromechanical system. This detector included some kind of biological element, which was apparently used to obtain electrical signals which would result from changes in the state of the biological plasma surrounding the biological detection element. According to Mishin, the system detected turbulent disturbances of the aether (its temperature), anisotropic properties of the aether (direction and polarization) and the aether fluxes (aether winds).

Mishin concluded that the aether exists in several different states and that the particular state depends on the parameters of the turbulent disturbance (or its temperature). He gave 5 different aether conditions he called aether-1 through aether-5. He referenced aether-1 as a solid state, aether-2 as a dense superfluid liquid, aether-3 was connected with molecular motion as in a gaseous body, aether-4 was similar to the plasma state, and his aether-5 corresponded to galactic processes.

Given all the forgoing, it seems that Tesla's understanding of the aether as fluidic may be accurate for certain species of the various energy-levels of processes in the vacuum.

Kozyrev's "instantaneous interactions by means of active properties of time" are possible in a solid state aether.

Needless to say, I agree with Mishin's experimental data, based on my own observations. In addition, I have suggested to Henry Stapp that, with regard to his "quantum matter", that there may exist a similar sequence of quantum state changes, ranging from plasma to solid. This is a direct correlation with the Russian data. [Source: R.N. Boyd, unpublished notes.]