Phenomena That Do Travel Faster Than The Speed of Light.
So I want to know your thoughts on the following articles :
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06...ter-than-light
AND
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0821225731.htm
Do you believe based on these articles that it is highly possible for us to travel faster than the speed of light without bending the fabric of space time (11th dimention warp drive and what not.)
I am curious on your theories and thoughts.
To be blunt, this article's garbage. It's variously misleading or flat out wrong, and was a disappointment to see on UT.Originally Posted by PMette
The phenomenon itself, from descriptions elsewhere, appears to be a near-field phenomenon resulting from overlapping signals from multiple sources. Basically, it's no different from a laser spot on a wall moving faster than c...there's nothing actually moving faster than c, and information is still delayed due to the finite speed of light. You can make the laser spot move from point A to point B faster than light from A can reach B, but the information must still travel at c from the laser producing the spot. A can not do anything to influence the spot seen by B, so it is useless for communicating information between them.
This is similar. It's a question of phase velocity versus group velocity. Think about outward-rippling waves from two sources overlapping and interfering. The points of constructive interference can move faster than the ripples themselves. Their motion was determined when the waves were made, though, and despite their speed they can't reach a distant point before those waves do.
This one's simpler, and while the article still confuses things, it at least mentions there's no conflict with relativity. From the description, they're talking about one of two things...making light travel faster than it normally would *in the fiber*, still at a velocity lower than c, or again playing games with phase and group velocity. The latter is relevant for pulse shaping and efficiently transmitting pulses through fiber, but it doesn't imply transmitting information faster than light.
No.
No I don't, from what I read I didn't see anything that suggested that this idea can cause information to travel faster than light.
There's a phenomena called 'spooky action at a distance' in quantum mechanics that allows some things to move instantly form one point to another, but no information is carried, the sent item can only be 'read' after the normal slower than light information has made the trip.
According to what I remember of inflation theory (a little) it's possible to have widely seperated points in space receding away from each other faster than light, but theres a subtle but very important distinction between points receding from each other and something actually moving. Part of that is that no information can ever be passed between two points that are receding from each other faster than light- so effectively they cease to exist for each other and lightspeed is never seen to be exceeded for anyone watching from any given point.
In any case that is warping the fabric of space time. So even with space warps as we know they exist it can't be done. FTL space warps need a totally speculative form of matter with negative energy to function.
Far from being very likely we can travel FTL it seems that the laws of physics barely have any chinks you can sneak as much as photon through- and it doesn't get you anywhere even when you do!
"Many [of those] people are not getting four when adding two and two; many of them aren't even getting five or twenty-two."
Gillianren
My blog; Ancient Solar System; I'm aiming to entertain and provide information on where we, our world, and a lot of whats in the sky came from!
" We must try to convince everyone to play nice and preserve this planet. But that had better not be our only plan. "
Also, faster than light communication would violate causality; information would arrive before it is sent. I don't think thats acceptable under GR.
entanglement has to do with the states of two (or more) particles being simultaneous despite great distance, however it has been shown that no FTL information can be gained.There's a phenomena called 'spooky action at a distance' in quantum mechanics that allows some things to move instantly form one point to another, but no information is carried, the sent item can only be 'read' after the normal slower than light information has made the trip.
Thanks for the clarification!
"Many [of those] people are not getting four when adding two and two; many of them aren't even getting five or twenty-two."
Gillianren
My blog; Ancient Solar System; I'm aiming to entertain and provide information on where we, our world, and a lot of whats in the sky came from!
" We must try to convince everyone to play nice and preserve this planet. But that had better not be our only plan. "
Anyone know if the retro-causality (or pseudo retro-causal) effect seen in Wheeler's "delayed choice" is the same effect observed with entanglement?
This question has always facinated me because they appear to be very similar phenomenom. Of course they could just appear so and its reading too much into it, but ive never actually seen the question addressed scientifically.
Any references anyone has would be much appreciated.
Perhaps once you violate causality (or GR), by definition you would be unlocking a new near infinite number of universes that proceed from a parrallel multidimensional location and diverge on their own paths of evolution. In each new universe, the past is amended to accomodate the altered information.
I don't believe this but I'm throwing it out there anyhow.
To go even further off the deep end, what if causality is constantly being violated and we live not in one universe, but rather we live in a point to point aglomeration of infinite universes - each one being the one that happens to support the GR logical argument of causality, selected from an infinite number of universal possibilities.
Ok im done
bold emphasis added
Do you have any references? I knew about quantum entanglement, but I hadn't heard that this had been shown.
Tom Pounds, NW of Albuquerque
If that is so, I feel extremely sorry for all those poor alternate-universe Clints that took the wrong turn
where I just barely managed to steer clear of major trouble
If GR is incorrect then you may let your imagination run wild, anything could be possible.
Anything travelling at C experiences no time passed and no distance travelled, faster than this would mean negative distance and / or negative time passed (backward time travel). This just doesn't make any physical sense compared to the reality we experience and observe.
People fail to realise that FTL information exchange, can = time travel, which can = causality violation, e.g grandfather paradox. There is no getting around it without using impossible imaginative scenarios.
My personal opinion would be that, you could have an infinite amount of parallel universes but each one would adhere to its own laws of physics, any information exchange (if possible) would be at C but appear seamless and causality would not be violated.
ooops..... wrong forum!!!
You can make the laser spot move from point A to point B faster than light from A can reach
I don´t think that´s what you wanted to say. There´s actually NOTHING moving from A to B. There is no moving spot, it´s simply an illusion. All photons move from the laser to the wall. Not a single photon moves from A to B.
If everyone had even a basic grasp of scientific principles, this planet would be a better place (Phil Plait)
Die Lücke, die wir hinterlassen, ersetzt uns vollkommen [The gap we will leave behind will take our place entirely] (Carl Heinz Schroth)
1 + ei*pi = 0
It's as valid to say the portion of the surface being bombarded with and scattering photons moves faster than light as it is to say that phase velocity in a light pulse can exceed c. The point is that it isn't a physical entity traveling faster than light, and it is completely incapable of carrying any information faster than light...in the case of the laser spot, the information content doesn't even come from the initial position, but from the originating laser.
The best A could do is reflect or otherwise send light towards B to interfere with the laser...which of course will be delayed by the speed of light, so the laser will have to stay on B until that signal arrives, and information will still only be sent at light speed.
I´m not sure I understand what you want to say, but 100% agreement with this:
The point is that it isn't a physical entity traveling faster than light, and it is completely incapable of carrying any information faster than light...in the case of the laser spot, the information content doesn't even come from the initial position, but from the originating laser.
If everyone had even a basic grasp of scientific principles, this planet would be a better place (Phil Plait)
Die Lücke, die wir hinterlassen, ersetzt uns vollkommen [The gap we will leave behind will take our place entirely] (Carl Heinz Schroth)
1 + ei*pi = 0
Nice book on marquee lights and superlumenal patterns and such: http://www.amazon.com/Faster-Than-Li...3&sr=8-1-spell
It is Official
Star Trek is dead.
From 'The Register' Pesky interstellar hydrogen does for Star Trek
If we could create a stable wormhole and then transport one of the wormhole entrances a far distance away at relativistic speeds we might see some interesting things happen if we were able to step through or at least send particles (information) through.
We probably won't know if its possible until we have a unified theory (which we may never have).
So to build on that, imagine the thought experiment that Kip Thorne at Caltech proposed, manipulate a subatomic wormhole into a larger size by adding energy, use superconducting spheres to stabilize it, and then send one of the entrances off to Vega at .99995c. On the ship it would only take three months to reach Vega, Earth time would be about 25 years but the two points would (theoretically) maintain the same time and spatial relationship meaning that after 3 months on Earth the wormhole would be ready too.
This was Kip Thorne's response to Carl Sagan's request for a plot device for his book Contact.
Hmmm... I just read this and an image just popped into my mind:
A scientist is standing in front of the wormhole, trying to poke a stick through it, and up pops a sign saying something like:
"Destination wormhole opening reference frame is temporaly unsyncronized with local time, usage at this time is not advisable, estimated distance if attempted traversion: 24.74 years.
Suggestions:
-Pack a big lunch"
Though in the real universe, I wouldn't be surprised if he would just come out inside the ship, sometimes early in the mission instead of at the end of it.
----
Game over, you lose, we hope you enjoyed playing the exciting game of Thermodynamics...
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