Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: FredZarguna
If you could transmit information faster than the speed of light, the receiver would obtain the signal in the past

That does not compute.

137 posted on 12/09/2013 8:54:17 AM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies ]


To: Windflier; null and void
If you could transmit information faster than the speed of light, the receiver would obtain the signal in the past

That does not compute.

Yes, it does.

The fundamental idea that you're not grasping is that we do not live in a four dimensional vector space in which (x, y, z, t) are independent variables. There is an additional requirement, which outlaws an entire region of spacetime, which is that the quantity:

(ct)2 -x2 -y2 -z2 ≥ 0.

Equality in this equation holds only for massless particles, which travel the shortest distance paths.

The geometry of our universe requires that this quantity is the same for all observers in every inertial frame. Events lying outside of a hyperspatial spacetime "light cone" [for which (ct)2 -x2 -y2 -z2 < 0] cannot be causally related. This includes quantum events connected by so-called "entanglement."

For all observers, events originating outside of this light cone would appear to come from the future, a phenomenon which has never been observed.

A good explanation, with pictures, can be found here: http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/LIGHTCONE/lightcone.html

The wiki article is also good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_cone

This is why I keep telling you guys that superluminal velocity is impossible [I taught this subject in college for years.] The "light barrier" is not the same kind of barrier as the "sound barrier," the latter of which is not really a barrier at all. The "warp drive" of science fiction fame is a drive that needs to change the geometry of the entire universe: what it needs to "bend" or "warp"is the shortest distance between two points, which is (ct)2 -x2 -y2 -z2. However, in doing so, anyone using the "warp drive "would also become a time-traveler as well.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem.

142 posted on 12/09/2013 11:44:16 AM PST by FredZarguna (The sequel, thoroughly pointless, derivative, and boring was like all James Cameron "films.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 137 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson