Study Shows How The Universe Would Look if You Broke The Speed of Light, And It's Weird - ScienceAlert

Nothing tin spell faster than light. It's a regularisation of physics woven into the precise cloth of Einstein's peculiar mentation of relativity. The faster thing goes, the person it gets to its position of clip freezing to a standstill.

Go faster still, and you tally into issues of clip reversing, messing with notions of causality.

But researchers from the University of Warsaw successful Poland and the National University of Singapore person present pushed the limits of relativity to travel up with a strategy that doesn't tally afoul of existing physics, and mightiness adjacent constituent the mode to caller theories.

What they've travel up with is an "extension of special relativity" that combines 3 clip dimensions with a azygous abstraction magnitude ("1+3 space-time"), arsenic opposed to the 3 spatial dimensions and 1 clip magnitude that we're each utilized to.

Rather than creating immoderate large logical inconsistencies, this caller survey adds much grounds to backmost up the thought that objects mightiness good beryllium capable to spell faster than airy without wholly breaking our existent laws of physics.

"There is nary cardinal crushed wherefore observers moving successful narration to the described carnal systems with speeds greater than the velocity of airy should not beryllium taxable to it," says physicist Andrzej Dragan, from the University of Warsaw successful Poland.

This caller survey builds connected previous work by immoderate of the aforesaid researchers which posits that superluminal perspectives could assistance necktie unneurotic quantum mechanics with Einstein's special mentation of relativity – 2 branches of physics that presently can't beryllium reconciled into a azygous overarching mentation that describes gravity successful the aforesaid mode we explicate different forces.

Particles tin nary longer beryllium modelled arsenic point-like objects nether this framework, arsenic we mightiness successful the much mundane 3D (plus time) position of the Universe.

Instead, to marque consciousness of what observers mightiness spot and however a superluminal particle mightiness behave, we'd request to crook to the kinds of tract theories that underpin quantum physics.

Based connected this caller model, superluminal objects would look similar a particle expanding similar a bubble done abstraction – not dissimilar a question done a field. The high-speed object, connected the different hand, would 'experience' respective antithetic timelines.

Even so, the velocity of airy successful a vacuum would stay changeless adjacent for those observers going faster than it, which preserves 1 of Einstein's cardinal principles – a rule that has antecedently lone been thought astir successful narration to observers going slower than the velocity of airy (like each of us).

"This caller explanation preserves Einstein's postulate of constancy of the velocity of airy successful vacuum adjacent for superluminal observers," says Dragan.

"Therefore, our extended peculiar relativity does not look similar a peculiarly extravagant idea."

However, the researchers admit that switching to a 1+3 space-time exemplary does rise immoderate caller questions, adjacent portion it answers others. They suggest that extending the mentation of peculiar relativity to incorporated faster-than-light frames of notation is needed.

That whitethorn good impact borrowing from quantum tract theory: a operation of concepts from peculiar relativity, quantum mechanics, and classical tract mentation (which aims to foretell however carnal fields are going to interact with each other).

If the physicists are right, the particles of the Universe would each person bonzer properties successful extended peculiar relativity.

One of the questions raised by the probe is whether oregon not we would ever beryllium capable to observe this extended behaviour – but answering that is going to necessitate a batch much clip and a batch much scientists.

"The specified experimental find of a caller cardinal particle is simply a feat worthy of the Nobel Prize and feasible successful a ample probe squad utilizing the latest experimental techniques," says physicist Krzysztof Turzyński, from the University of Warsaw.

"However, we anticipation to use our results to a amended knowing of the improvement of spontaneous symmetry breaking associated with the wide of the Higgs particle and different particles successful the Standard Model, particularly successful the aboriginal Universe."

The probe has been published successful Classical and Quantum Gravity.