LIGHT SPEED

What is the speed of light?


From WikiPedia; 

The speed of light (meaning speed of light in vacuum), usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time. This speed is approximately 186,282 miles per second. It is the maximum speed at which all energy, matter, and information in the universe can travel. It is the speed of all massless particles and associated fields - including electromagnetic radiation such as light, in a vacuum, and it is predicted by theory to be the speed of gravity (that is, gravitational waves). Such particles and waves travel at c regardless of the motion of the source or the inertial frame of reference of the observer. In the theory of relativity, c interrelates space and time, and appears in the famous equation of mass–energy equivalence E = mc²

But what exactly is the speed of light?  Speed is defined as a vector component of distance divided by time. But relativity makes a mockery of that by saying that, in fact, space and time are defined by the speed of light.  


So maybe we should not call it the 'speed' of light.  


To two observers, one moving near the speed of light, odd things begin to happen. Relativity of simultaneity is the concept that simultaneity–whether two events occur at the same time–is not absolute, but depends on the observer's reference frame. According to the special theory of relativity, it is impossible to say in an absolute sense whether two events occur at the same time if those events are separated in space. This is way hard to comprehend, so I need pictures. Let's say Alex lives in a metal cylinder, a biosphere that is self sufficient for his needs. Alex is no dummy; even though he can't see out of his metal can, over the years he has developed analytic mathematical tools and sophisticated models of the universe. He has a working knowledge of relativity. Being the good scientist, he records detailed measurements of all unusual events. One day he records the time of a large electrical discharge at one end of his tin can, and a few seconds later another large discharge at the other end of his can.

From Alex's reference frame, these events are clearly separated in time and space (his can is very large). He happily concludes that one event followed the other in the sequencing of time. Shortly thereafter, he gets a telepathic message from Mark (this has never happened before, so it is quite exciting for Alex). Mark tells Alex that he saw Alex's ship pass by at a very high rate of speed (nearly light-speed!) and that a lightning discharge hit the front and back of Alex's ship - at the same time! Alex is amazed, but after working through the math he concludes that factoring in speed, time dilation, and space-time curvature, the two discharges did occur at the same time in Mark's reference frame. Accepting that Mark's reference frame is more valid because he is moving and Mark is not, Alex revises his records to show that the two events were simultaneous.



However, to Mark and Alex's chagrin, a higher life form, Dad, was watching from another reference frame. By Dad's observation, Mark is the one moving, while Alex's ship is standing still.  Dad is frustrated with the simpletons - clearly Alex was correct from the start and the two discharges were separated in time. Because Mark was moving, he saw them at the same time.




Of course, Dad may not be as advanced as he thinks he is and even more advanced beings are watching from different reference planes.  In fact, there are nearly an infinite number of reference frames available, and all are equally valid.  Now if Alex's ship is moving, and it happens to impact on Mark's planet, then those timelines will need to merge.  Neither will be the same reference frame as before, but after impact they will be the same.  Could that be considered a probability wave collapse on the macro scale?


There are some researchers that believe that is indeed what is happening at the quantum scale.  The elaborate relativistic dance done by elemental particles mean they often interact, creating the need to collapse reference frames.  The collapse of the timelines means lost information, leading to entropy.


Back to the Speed of light.  Maybe light has zero speed.  The reference frames start at zero and can grow to a level that complements entropy.  This concept is not new, and is very controversial, but it would hold an appeal in terms of strict definition.  Plus our science fictionists would not be tempted to break the light speed barrier if it was zero.  Mass requires space, space requires time, and time is defined by entropy.  The photon doesn't have that problem, it is essentially massless (contains only energy mass), and is very stable.  If we are able to leave them alone, and consider them an unmoving point particle, life gets easier.


Ah, but you say, these things move in relation to one another!  But with a nearly infinite number of reference frames, photons can coexist happily in different timelines and still be motionless.

TIMELINES

I am fascinated by timelines and entropy. Are collapsing timelines the catalysis of entropy?

Early Philosophical Scientists applied Newton’s Laws and determined that a perpetual machine should be possible, at least perpetual motion of the second kind. None of Newton’s laws contradicts the possibility. However, they soon ran headlong into an oddity, the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is not possible to deduce the Second Law from Newton’s Laws of motion, but lo and behold, heat loss appears to be inevitable, or as Rudolf Clausius concludes: “The entropy of the universe tends to a maximum”.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the only law of nature that makes a fundamental statement about past and future.

The Many-worlds Interpretation holds that each quantum event spins off a new universe. Under this view, it would hold that in an infinite number of similar universe sets Schrodinger's cat is dead, and a like set would see that Schrodinger's cat lives. This bothers me, and I can not believe it is this complicated.

I happen to prefer a form of the Decoherence Interpretation, that implies many timelines (equally real depending on relative viewpoint) will occur in the quantum state, and a loss of the ordering of the phase angles reduces the possible outcomes through cutting the number of relativistic timeslices. Relativity of simultaneity certainly exists at the atomic scale, even though it is impossible to judge its contribution to wave-particle duality. This reverses the many-worlds outcome back to the quantum state where I think it belongs. It will really irritate me when I'm proven wrong.

Take our good friend the protium atom for example. Nice and simple, One proton with a happy electron. According to the most accepted theories, protons are comprised of two up quarks and one down quark, held together by one of the four fundamental forces of nature, the strong interaction. This force is mediated by a swarm of gluons. All of this is packed into a space of about about 1.6 femtometre in diameter. For those that are wondering, that's small ( if you cut a foot long hot dog into slices to share with 2 trillion of your friends). What is really amazing is that those three quarks do not even come close to being crowded in that space. In that space, they do an elaborate dance in time with the strong nuclear force. The quarks rock, roll, and reel - constantly changing partners (and color!).

This dance is done at nature's maximum speed. In fact, the quark also has a spin, and no-one has quite figured out how to increase the speed of light to account for how that works. Usually we just say, "well, it is a point particle", meaning, "crap if I know". The proton has a positive electrical charge, and throws out magnetic field lines that can capture an electron to form the hydrogen atom. Each of these particles are moving at speeds that are significant and different from one another. The principles of the relativity of simultaneity come into play, even at these small scales.

THE PROTON LOCOMOTION DANCE

This brings us to another of the four fundamental interactions in nature operating in the hydrogen atom, Electromagnetism. Electromagnetism is the force that holds the electron and proton together inside the atom. Even though the electron is a slow poke compared to the photons, gluons, and quarks, it still moves at an estimated 1,365 thousand miles per second. This means that for each partner in this dance, relativistic timelines exist where the down quark sees the electron in a different place and speed than its cousin the up quark. A complex dance, where each partner anticipates the movement of the next and is played out in multiple timelines. Saying that one timeline is more real than the next would be wrong, they are all equally valid. The multiple timelines at atomic scale would look like a probability wave. The particles would also need to obey basic laws within those timelines. For example, the electron will obey the Pauli's exclusion principle, allowing for a loophole to explain interference patterns at electron configuration nodes.