Nothing travels faster than light. This is a physical law woven into the very fabric of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. The faster something goes, the closer you get to the perspective of time freezing to a halt.
If you go even faster, you run into problems where time goes backwards, ruining the notion of causality.
But researchers at the University of Warsaw in Poland and the National University of Singapore are pushing the limits of relativity theory, coming up with systems that don’t go against existing physics, and may even point the way to new theories.
What they came up with is an “extension of” special relativityIt combines 3 temporal dimensions and 1 spatial dimension (“1+3 spacetime”), in contrast to the 3 spatial dimensions and 1 temporal dimension that we are used to.
Rather than creating a serious logical contradiction, this new research adds evidence to support the idea that objects could travel faster than light without completely breaking the current laws of physics.
“There is no fundamental reason why an observer moving in relation to a physical system described at speeds faster than light should not be affected by it.” Physicist Andrzej Dragan saysfrom the University of Warsaw, Poland.
This new study previous job A faster-than-light perspective transforms quantum mechanics into Einstein’s special relativity – Two branches of physics that currently cannot be reconciled into a single overarching theory that explains gravity in the same way that it explains other forces.
Particles can no longer be modeled as point-like objects in this framework. This is unlike the more mundane 3D (and time) perspective of the universe.
Instead, to understand what an observer sees and how superluminal particles behave, we need to look to the field theory that underpins quantum physics.
Based on this new model, superluminal objects look like expanding particles like bubbles passing through space. Just like a wave passing through a field. Fast objects, on the other hand, “experience” several different timelines.
Yet the speed of light in a vacuum remains constant even for a faster moving observer, which holds one of Einstein’s basic principles. This principle was previously considered only in relation to observers traveling slower than the speed of light. (Like all of us).
“This new definition preserves Einstein’s postulate of the constancy of the speed of light in a vacuum, even for faster-than-light observers.” dragan says.
“So our extended special theory of relativity doesn’t seem like a particularly extravagant idea.”
However, the researchers admit that switching to a 1 + 3 spatiotemporal model, while providing different answers, raises some new questions. They suggest that special relativity should be extended to include faster-than-light coordinates.
it may involve borrowing quantum field theory: a combination of concepts from special relativity, quantum mechanics, and classical field theory (which aims to predict how physical fields interact with each other).
If the physicists are right, all the particles in the universe would have extraordinary properties in extended special relativity.
One of the questions raised by this study is whether we can observe this extended behavior, but it will take much more time and more scientists to figure it out. .
“The mere experimental discovery of a new fundamental particle is a feat worthy of a Nobel Prize, feasible with large research teams using modern experimental techniques.” Physicist Krzysztof Turzynski saysfrom the University of Warsaw.
“However, we would like to apply our results to better understand the phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking related to the mass of the Higgs boson and other particles. Standard model, especially in the early universe. “
This research classical and quantum gravity.
