Speed barrier broken

[mykonian]

1. The statement of restrained relativity "Nothing travels faster than light" is false. The true statement is "No information travels faster than light".

You are aware that the second statement includes the first, right?

[mykonian]

1. The statement of restrained relativity "Nothing travels faster than light" is false. The true statement is "No information travels faster than light".

You are aware that the second statement includes the first, right?

No, it doesn't. The hypothetical tachyon can travel FTL, from what I understand.

Hmm, I wasn't aware of that. Just a question I don't expect an answer on, but what makes that the tachyon doesn't carry information?

[mykonian]

Honestly it's not as sexy as it may sounds for you. It won't change physics, at most it will reveal a particular case of a certain theory.

Which is quite sexy, I'd say!

[mykonian]

Hmm, I wasn't aware of that. Just a question I don't expect an answer on, but what makes that the tachyon doesn't carry information?

From what I gather (and I warn you, I'm pulling this all from Wikipedia without knowing anything about physics), they're not 'real' particles, but rather a representation of an instability. Or something.

As I said, I know nothing. So.

Doesn't matter. Most of the people posting here don't. Few have seen the mathematics behind the special relativity (which are easy and elegant enough to understand and show well enough why "faster then light" gives a lot of trouble). At the point where we both don't have a clue, it shows just who's best with wikipedia and heard something here an there.

For people who want an introduction on the subject this was what introduced me a few years ago. High school maths gets you through it, and it's a pleasant read anyway. Part one is what you need to have understand why lightspeed is a barrier people didn't expect to be broken.

[mykonian]

Doesn't matter. Most of the people posting here don't. Few have seen the mathematics behind the special relativity (which are easy and elegant enough to understand and show well enough why "faster then light" gives a lot of trouble).

Well I am, and I can say special relativity is a piece of cake compare to general relativity and to quantum field theory and associated (what this neutrinos are all about)

Which is why I stopped taking extra physics at that point. I have a general idea, and that's it.

The tachyon is a theoritical particule who strictly speaking goes faster than light, its mass at v=0 is stricly complex (mathematically speaking) which physicist don't have an explanation for. Even if it goes strictly speaking faster than light, you can't measure anything because it goes either in the future (time wise) or in the past (time wise) on the relativistic level he goes to the to the outside of the cone of future. It evolves outside of the causality principle.

Here you lose me. I might be wrong, but I thought mass was an observable, and that that made it necessary for it to be real.

No, there is a lot of things that travels faster than light when you speak about quantum mechanics, like quantum entanglement or phase speed but none of them contains information (or energy).

Thank you.

[mykonian]

1. The statement of restrained relativity "Nothing travels faster than light" is false. The true statement is "No information travels faster than light".

You are aware that the second statement includes the first, right?

By the way, that is not quite true; there are some things in quantum physcis that happen instantly at great distances ("spooky action at a distance" to quote Einsten), like the collapsing of the wave-form of one particle when a different particle is observed, but they can not be used to carry information.

yeah, otolia mentioned that. Which was nice, I had forgotten about it, but I finally understand the notation now so I actually have a clue what it is about.

PS : Is it me or my post that mykonian quoted disappeared ?

It's still there.