The Essence and Nature of the Speed of Light: A Fundamental Constant Emerging from Vacuum Structure

The speed of light, long regarded as a fundamental and immutable constant of nature, is reexamined in this work through the lens of a novel framework that treats the vacuum not as empty space but as a structured superfluid medium—referred to as the Omniom. Drawing from classical hydrodynamics, quantum field theory, and general relativity, this article proposes that both the speed of light (c) and the light constant derived from Maxwell’s equations are emergent properties, not fundamental absolutes. The propagation of light is shown to depend on the vacuum’s mechanical properties—specifically, its elasticity, density, and viscosity. The constant c=1/ ε 0 μ 0 arises from the vacuum’s electromagnetic response, where electric permittivity (ε0) represents bulk elasticity and magnetic permeability (μ0) corresponds to shear viscosity. By introducing a vortex-based vacuum model, the study further demonstrates that variations in vacuum density near massive objects lead to local reductions in the speed of light, thus providing a mechanistic explanation for gravitational time dilation. This unified model resolves apparent paradoxes between classical and quantum interpretations and offers a deeper understanding of the true nature and origin of light propagation, paving the way for a revised foundation in theoretical physics.