Faster Than the Speed of Light -The Most Expensive Speeding Ticket in the Galaxy

I wasn't rooting for the tortoise. The hare would've won, too, if it wasn't for his succumbing to steroid-related complications there at the end. Speed is where it's at-- pure Italian sports car, bullet train, booster rocket SPEEEEEEED. Faster than sound. Faster than a comet. Faster than light? Well, not so fast...

When two University of Koblenz [Germany] physicists, Dr. Gunter Nimtz and fellow speed demon Dr. Alfons Stahlhofen claimed earlier this year to have tranmitted microwave photons across a distance of three feet 'instantaneously', it caused an understandable stir. Some decriptions even referred to the tiny blips as having arrived before they left-- which could lead to advances in Lost Luggage Science.

Leaving such 'spooky' aspects aside, the results suggested the photons had nonetheless travelled at a faster than light (FTL) rate. 'Not possible!' very smart people have shouted for more than one hundred years. 'Why not, man?' respond the equally-intelligent, though tie-dyed wearing, faction. Not helping matters is disagreement over what constitutes FTL speed in the first place, what with wormholes and tricks of observation.

Basically, the Gunter-Stahlhofen achievement provokes fresh discussion of whether or not matter and/or information (as opposed to strange particles popping into and out of existance; or, the expansion rate of the universe itself) can hit FTL on the speedometer. In the grand tradition of scientific advancement leading to beneficial human applications, the shorthand for FTL information might as well be 'instant communication', a subject given fascinating treatment in the novel Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter. Not to mention what Douglas Adams had to say about the speed of bad news!

Which brings us to the usual brass tacks: Can a human spacehip hit FTL? Questions leading to questions, I'm afraid. Would FTL thrust be worth the necessary fuel? Would an asteroid, in no way detectable ahead of time, pass through the craft cleanly-- or create a messy version of a supercollider? Would the requisite acceleration and deceleration rates (don't want to squish the passengers) make these journeys impractical by future standards? By the time such technology exists, would FTL travel be used for exploration... or escape? Will another race, already having already perfected FTL, simply loan us the manual? And finally, are these essentially one-way trips (the Earth you left, in theory, a long-gone memory)... or will a space-warping speed of 2c or 3c or more actually send the craft back in time?! Well??!!

I get so excited, people throw cold water in my face. You watch enough science fiction, everyone zipping around the galaxy...

Hey, let's just start with a slow ship to Mars.
The voyage will take a year, but so do most trips in Bay Area traffic.

by Eric Duby

links:
eosbooks.com
math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SpeedOfLight/FTL.html

Comments

[Jim Vesely]

Human space travel at FTL seems a distant hope at best. But if FTL is found to be possible for electromagnetic emissions (radio waves, microwaves, etc.), think of the advantages it would afford in communications between Earth and explorers on Mars, Titan or beyond. Or in maneuvering unmanned vehicles remotely controlled from Earth. These possibilities are what excite me.

[Eric Duby]

Right on, Jim. There are probably positive applications we can't even foresee. One premise of this piece, however, was 'getting there is half the fun'. Would have written much more, but was distracted... teasing my quantum cat with a length of string theory.

[Florin]

I guess in maximum 5 years this warp engine will be rality.We have developed some experiments about FTL systems for 2 years here at the National Research University of Bacau.We're getting close.
We just need to focus more