Speed of light finally broken?

Jim Crafton

"Travelling faster than light also, in theory, turns back time. According to conventional physics, an astronaut moving beyond light speed would arrive at his destination before leaving." :wtf: :doh: Does anyone know if this is *really* what current theories about this state? Or was this just the typical misrepresentation of science by a journo unable to comprehend beyond the 6th grade?

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James R Twine

Bah - old news... :)

Scientific American wrote:

First, we have discovered that photons which tunnel through a quantum barrier can apparently travel faster than light (see "Measurement of the Single-Photon Tunneling Time" by A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat, and R. Y. Chiao, Physical Review Letters, Vol. 71, page 708; 1993).

See: Here: S.A. Q&A[^] Peace!

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Josh Smith

Jim Crafton wrote:

Does anyone know if this is *really* what current theories about this state?

No, that's all wrong. Einstein clearly stated if you travel faster than the speed of light you see unicorns prancing through acres of green pastures, singing merrily, and you enter into a trans-dimensional gender-bender which renders you pregnant and obsessed with power tools simultaneously.

:josh: My WPF Blog[^] Without a strive for perfection I would be terribly bored.

Jim Crafton

Wow, that's a fascinating interpretation. Could you describe any of the math behind that?

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Josh Smith

Jim Crafton wrote:

Could you describe any of the math behind that?

Yes.

:josh: My WPF Blog[^] Without a strive for perfection I would be terribly bored.

Miszou

I think it means that from an observers point of view, the astronaut would arrive at his destination ahead of the photons from the origin, effectively showing the astronaut in two places at once. It's rather poorly worded, but sort of makes sense if you think about it from the point of view of a 3rd party observer, and the astronaut is moving toward you.

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Rajesh R Subramanian

ToddHileHoffer wrote:

Speed of light finally broken?

Chuck Norris did it forty times, twelve years ago.

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Chris Maunder

It can't turn back time but it will violate causality.

cheers, Chris Maunder

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El Corazon

Josh Smith wrote:

Yes.

feeling a bit "puckish" today? ;)

_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

MatrixCoder

I see Warp Engines over the horizon! And here's an interesting thought on Time Travel.

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Josh Smith

El Corazon wrote:

feeling a bit "puckish" today?

Yes. ;P

:josh: My WPF Blog[^] Without a strive for perfection I would be terribly bored.

Chris Maunder

"in which particles summon up the energy to cross an apparently uncrossable barrier. " Oh man. Someone shoot that journalist. Or point him to this.[^]. There's no energy increase. That's why it's called "tunnelling". If they had summoned up the energy it would be "Quantum climbing-up-the-energy-barrier-and-getting-over-to-the-other-side. Which is no where near as catchy. Seems to me they have to be very careful here: they are relying on Qauntum effects and measuring things very closely whih can cause all sorts of things to happen to the photons waveform. Maybe it's not violation of Special Relativity but merely a problem with interpretation.

cheers, Chris Maunder

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El Corazon

Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are not you he?

_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

Roger Wright

Good enough for me - I've always wanted to violate someone's causality. Now how do I hitch a ride on a photon?:-D

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El Corazon

Roger Wright wrote:

Now how do I hitch a ride on a photon?

first you must diet until you reach negligable mass... then....

_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

Josh Smith

El Corazon wrote:

And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;

Yeah, that's me. ;)

:josh: My WPF Blog[^] Without a strive for perfection I would be terribly bored.

Chris Losinger

i'm guessing it was just a sloppy choice of metaphor.

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Roger Wright

:laugh::laugh::laugh: I'm nearly there, much to my coworkers' annoyance. They're all eating microwaved diet meals; I'm feasting on a heap of greasy chips smothered in cheese and guacamole.:-D

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Anton Afanasyev

Jim Crafton wrote:

Or was this just the typical misrepresentation of science by a journo unable to comprehend beyond the 6th grade?

That more like the truth. I still dont get how they can teach that "it turns back time". All that happens is that you start seeing things that happened some time ago, is all. You dont actually "turn back time", you just see the lighting that happened some time ago. Though even that is not _really_ possible, since light goes out in all direction from Earth, and since you cant just make an object(of a relatively large size) move at the speed of light immediately, the object will start moving at that speed somewhere in space, beyond Earth, where it just wont be able to see "object" as it does on Earth - they would be distorted due to light travelling in all directions. Not sure if what I said made sense, since its only my interpretation based on what I know/understand, but essentially it doesnt turn back time, you just start seeing objects as they appeared some time ago.

:badger:

Nathan Holt at EMOM

Jim Crafton wrote:

"Travelling faster than light also, in theory, turns back time. According to conventional physics, an astronaut moving beyond light speed would arrive at his destination before leaving." Does anyone know if this is *really* what current theories about this state? Or was this just the typical misrepresentation of science by a journo unable to comprehend beyond the 6th grade?

It's an over simplification. The special theory of reletivity describes how things traveling at different speeds have time going in different directions. If someone traveled faster than light to alpha centauri, he could easily arrive after he left from our view point, but someone traveling at near light speed in the right direction would see him arrive before he left. It is true that any means to travel faster than light can be used to travel back in time. Nathan Holt