by Jack Lee
On two disparate levels science says that it is possible to exceed the speed of light. The first inkling this was true came with the big bang theory.
Background: In 1929 Astronomer Edwin Hubble published a scientific paper that proved celestial bodies are moving away from each other. This means the universe as we know it is expanding and oddly the objects closest to the center of the universe are moving more slowly away than objects that are further out. This acceleration continues in an exponential fashion the further out we look.
Hubble’s Law
1. Because galaxies are moving away so quickly, their light waves are stretched out, making them appear redder. He noticed that dimmer objects, thus objects farther away, had a larger redshift. (Picture raisins spreading farther and farther apart in a rising loaf of bread.)
2. Hubble showed that the high redshifts (discovered by Vesto M. Slipher) of distant galaxies showed that the galaxies are speeding away at possibly thousands of miles per second.
3. Hubble showed that the farther away a galaxy was from us, the greater its redshift – the more its light was spread out and thus the faster it was moving.
Hubble’s Law (see left) states that redshifts increase in proportion to their distance from us in a very simple relationship. Hubble invented a constant, known as Hubble’s Constant, that is equal to the velocity of a receding galaxy divided by the distance to it. Unfortunately, this number is extremely difficult to measure, and is one of the goals of modern astronomy.
At the edge of our universe whole galaxies are moving away from us at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) and there is now strong and compelling evidence to say that there are objects beyond this visible edge that are moving away at an even faster rate. But, because they are exceeding the speed of light, we may never be able to see them. So much for the theory that matter will disintergrate past the speed of light, a slick 670 616 629 miles per hour.
This is taken from a scientific article titled, Expanding Universe Bends the Rules of Special Relativity by Jasper Palfree “The most well-known rule of Special Relativity states that nothing can travel through space faster than the speed of light. This rule has been verified by physicists time and time again and is now taken to be a scientific fact. There is, however, a loophole in that rule which emerges from the words “through space”. Space itself can stretch, warp and do many strange things without violating this rule. If the space between two galaxies stretches then to each galaxy the other will appear to be moving away at some speed. However, this is not motion in the usual sense of the word.”
The second area where the light speed barrier appears to have been broken is found in the new field of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics means there is more to be seen than meets the eye, much more.
At the atomic level we have discovered some amazing things about entangled non-location photons [1]. When we move entangled photons apart we notice there is still a connection because information is exchanged or “complementarity” occurs. The experiement to view this connection involves using a laser to activate photons, then passing them along a fiber optic cable and lastly a measuring devices called interferometers to see how much time elapses from launch to receive.
What we have found is time and complementarity between entangled photos is not affected by distance, thus making it theoretically possible to separate photons by millions of lights years and still have an instant communication. But, how do it do dat? Ummm…the short answer is, we have no clue, but when we do, watch out because this will be a huge watershed moment in human achievement.
Now this next part is where it gets really, really weird, ongoing tests by the famous physicist John Cramer at the University of Washington is attempting to prove a message sent via entangled non-location photons from one measuring device to another can arrive a slim fraction of a second before it was sent, thus establishing retro-causality, yes I said BEFORE, i.e., something we do in the present that affects something in the past. And if it works it will open the door to many things including for sending messages back in time. However, in theory we could not send a message back before the invention of the interferometers due to something called a space time loop, but, this is a whole other issue.
Einstein said nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. If you did you would come apart at the molecular level and vanish (poof!). But, thankfully he got it wrong and this is why some day we will be able to travel vast distances in record time some day in the not so distant future. Something else happens to time when we travel at or faster than light speed, time slows, Einsteins theory of relativity, and he got that right mostly. Time, gravity, speed are as related up down and sideways. Mind bending isn’t it?
The easy to understand point for you to know is, it is possible that two objects (entangled photons) can communicate with each other without any apparent transfer of energy or information and without regard to distance affecting time. This is beyond mind boggling and it will take some time to noodle this one out.
We know that space, speed and time can be merged, and while this defies the laws of physics, it does not in quantum mechanics and this is the next frontier. Pretty cool stuff, huh?
Where this will lead us, one can only begin to imagine, but it could be the key to exploration of the universe in ways never dreamed possible only a year or two ago.
Notation 1: A proton is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of all conventional atoms. The only place you can find matter without protons is in a neutron star or the core of powerful particle accelerators. The proton has a positive charge, which balances out the negative charge in atoms, electrons. If an atom has an imbalance of protons or neutrons, it is no longer neutral and becomes a charged particle, also known as an ion.
Want to know more? Check out these links: