Speed of Light

[Guest guest]

Hi Anurag

 

I have managed to get details of the publication that you had mentioned

dealing with speed of light.

(One of the list members - Marina sent this article to the list).

 

The article is interesting. At the moment we cannot make any

comments as the jury is out.

 

If one can send meaningful information at speeds faster than light we break

the

basis of all scientific study. " Law of cause and effect " - hence I am very

sceptical. But real life is stranger than science fiction so lets see : )

 

What I suspect will be found is that 'apparent information' travels this

fast or

'it appears that light travels faster' or 'the quantum entanglement can

occur instantaneously (i.e.. faster than speed of light). But any

meaningful information

going faster than light would mean we can come back in time and stop our own

birth taking place (so then did you exist or you never existed - and in

that case

who went back in time?).

You see the problems if you destroy " cause and effect "

 

: ) jay

 

 

 

jay

 

>From http://www.sunday-

times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/06/04/stifgnusa01007.html

 

June 4 2000 UNITED STATES

 

Eureka! Scientists break speed of light

 

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

 

SCIENTISTS claim they have broken the ultimate speed

barrier: the speed of light.

 

In research carried out in the United States, particle

physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated

to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles

per second.

 

The implications, like the speed, are mind-boggling. On one

interpretation it means that light will arrive at its

destination almost before it has started its journey. In

effect, it is leaping forward in time.

 

Exact details of the findings remain confidential because

they have been submitted to Nature, the international

scientific journal, for review prior to possible

publication.

 

The work was carried out by Dr Lijun Wang, of the NEC

research institute in Princeton, who transmitted a pulse of

light towards a chamber filled with specially treated

caesium gas.

 

Before the pulse had fully entered the chamber it had gone

right through it and travelled a further 60ft across the

laboratory. In effect it existed in two places at once, a

phenomenon that Wang explains by saying it travelled 300

times faster than light.

 

The research is already causing controversy among

physicists. What bothers them is that if light could travel

forward in time it could carry information. This would

breach one of the basic principles in physics - causality,

which says that a cause must come before an effect. It

would also shatter Einstein\'s theory of relativity since it

depends in part on the speed of light being unbreachable.

 

This weekend Wang said he could not give details but

confirmed: \ " Our light pulses did indeed travel faster than

the accepted speed of light. I hope it will give us a much

better understanding of the nature of light and how it

behaves.\ "

 

Dr Raymond Chiao, professor of physics at the University of

California at Berkeley, who is familiar with Wang\'s work,

said he was impressedby the findings. \ " This is a

fascinating experiment,\ " he said.

 

In Italy, another group of physicists has also succeeded in

breaking the light speed barrier. In a newly published

paper, physicists at the Italian National Research Council

described how they propagated microwaves at 25% above

normal light speed. The group speculates that it could be

possible to transmit information faster than light.

 

Dr Guenter Nimtz, of Cologne University, an expert in the

field, agrees. He believes that information can be sent

faster than light and last week gave a paper describing how

it could be done to a conference in Edinburgh. He believes,

however, that this will not breach the principle of

causality because the time taken to interpret the signal

would fritter away all the savings.

 

\ " The most likely application for this is not in time travel

but in speeding up the way signals move through computer

circuits,\ " he said.

 

Wang\'s experiment is the latest and possibly the most

important evidence that the physical world may not operate

according to any of the accepted conventions.

 

In the new world that modern science is beginning to

perceive, sub-atomic particles can apparently exist in two

places at the same time - making no distinction between

space and time.

 

Separate experiments carried out by Chiao illustrate this.

He showed that in certain circumstances photons - the

particles of which light is made - could apparently jump

between two points separated by a barrier in what appears

to be zero time. The process, known as tunnelling, has been

used to make some of the most sensitive electron

microscopes.

 

The implications of Wang\'s experiments will arouse fierce

debate. Many will question whether his work can be

interpreted as proving that light can exceed its normal

speed - suggesting that another mechanism may be at work.

 

Neil Turok, professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge

University, said he awaited the details with interest, but

added: \ " I doubt this will change our view of the

fundamental laws of physics.\ "

 

Wang emphasises that his experiments are relevant only to

light and may not apply to other physical entities. But

scientists are beginning to accept that man may eventually

exploit some of these characteristics for inter-stellar

space travel.