One of the oddest things about our universe is that it has some fundamental constants. These constants-such as the speed of light in a vacuum-have numerical values that don’t change no matter what conditions you test them under. The speed of light in a vacuum had been measured at the same 299,792,458 meters per second by many physicists in the 19th century. But physicists had to wait until Albert Einstein developed his theory of relativity to understand why this was the case. As you probably know from your high-school physics, light can travel both as electromagnetic waves and as particles of photon. Einstein hypothesized that, if something could travel faster than the speed of light, it would
It's not as bold a prediction as you might think. Existing estimates have the spectral index at 0.968, which is just close enough that the scientists could be right if there's wiggle room. The challenge, of course, is collecting data with high enough accuracy that you can make a definitive call. There's no guarantee that this will happen any time soon. If the variable light speed concept is ever proven right, though, it would change our understanding of how the universe expanded. Right now, the constant speed theory doesn't give enough time for light to have traveled to where it is in the cosmos, evening out the universe's energy. Super-fast light would fill in that gap and force scientists to
Many physicists spend their days trying to prove Albert Einstein's theories correct. One pair of theoretical physicists is hoping to test whether the father of modern physics just may have been wrong about the speed of light. In his theory of special relativity, Einstein left a lot of wiggle room for the bending of space and time. But his calculations, and most subsequent breakthroughs in modern physics, rely on the notion that the speed of light has always been a constant 186,000 miles per second. But what if it wasn’t always that way? In a paper published in the November issue of the journal Physical Review D, physicists from the Imperial College London and Canada’s Perimeter Institute argue
There are multiple timelines playing out in parallel universes, according to a team of researchers. The sensational claim was made by a team of physicists, who believe that the parallel universes can all affect one another. Professor Howard Wiseman and Dr. Michael Hall, from Griffith University’s Center for Quantum Dynamics, claim that the idea of parallel universes is more than just science fiction. Fellow researcher Dr. Dirk-Andre Deckert, from the University of California, helped further the researchers’ theory, which goes against almost all conventional understanding of space and time. If there really are multiple, interacting universes, then it would be possible for time travellers to visit
There are multiple timelines playing out in parallel universes, according to a team of researchers. The sensational claim was made by a team of physicists, who believe that the parallel universes can all affect one another. Professor Howard Wiseman and Dr. Michael Hall, from Griffith University’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics, claim that the idea of parallel universes is more than just science fiction. Fellow researcher Dr. Dirk-Andre Deckert, from the University of California, helped further the researchers’ theory, which goes against almost all conventional understanding of space and time. If there really are multiple, interacting universes, then it would be possible for time travellers to visit
