- #1
BookWorm
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Is there any evidence supporting the existense of tachyons? Or is it all theory?
Evidence supporting the existense of tachyons?
- Context: Graduate
- Thread starter BookWorm
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Discussion Overview
The discussion centers around the existence of tachyons, exploring whether there is any evidence supporting their existence or if they remain purely theoretical. Participants delve into the implications of tachyons in relation to the speed of light and time, as well as the nature of evidence in scientific discourse.
Discussion Character
- Debate/contested
- Conceptual clarification
Main Points Raised
- Some participants assert that there is no evidence supporting the existence of tachyons, describing them as purely theoretical constructs.
- One participant suggests that while no empirical evidence exists, the possibility of new discoveries remains open.
- Another participant discusses the theoretical implications of tachyons, linking them to concepts of time and the speed of light, and posits that tachyons could be related to anti-photons.
- A participant introduces a thought experiment involving scissors to illustrate how certain actions could appear to exceed the speed of light without transmitting information, challenging the notion of absolute speed limits.
- There is a playful exchange regarding the definitions of tachyons and antimatter, suggesting that understanding these concepts is crucial to the discussion.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
Participants generally agree that there is currently no empirical evidence for tachyons, but multiple competing views on their theoretical implications and definitions remain unresolved.
Contextual Notes
The discussion reflects varying interpretations of what constitutes evidence in scientific theory, particularly in relation to theoretical particles like tachyons. There are also unresolved definitions regarding tachyons and antimatter that influence the conversation.
- #2
chroot
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Not a shred of evidence.
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- Warren
- #3
pallidin
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No evidence currently exists, yet is open to new discoveries as may be found.
- #4
Terry Giblin
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No evidence - pure theory of time and c
Bookworm,
The beauty of mathematics and physics is that they sometimes allow us to predict things before they are observed.
The theory of the tachyon is based on your definition or perception of the dimension we call time and its relationship to c.
Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light unless it’s never traveled any slower. To travel faster than the speed of light would require traveling backward in time, a particle, call a tachyon.
Or is a tachyon a single anti-photon quantum tunnelling through time, who knows?
There is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the tachyon, it is all based on your option of the pure theory, on which it is based apon.
Reality is more bizarre than fiction!
Then you have to explain all the facts.
I hope that has answered your question about the tachyon theorem.
Bookworm,
The beauty of mathematics and physics is that they sometimes allow us to predict things before they are observed.
The theory of the tachyon is based on your definition or perception of the dimension we call time and its relationship to c.
Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light unless it’s never traveled any slower. To travel faster than the speed of light would require traveling backward in time, a particle, call a tachyon.
Or is a tachyon a single anti-photon quantum tunnelling through time, who knows?
There is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the tachyon, it is all based on your option of the pure theory, on which it is based apon.
Reality is more bizarre than fiction!
Then you have to explain all the facts.
I hope that has answered your question about the tachyon theorem.
- #5
matt grime
Science Advisor
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I think you mean, Terry, that there is no empirical evidence, not there is no scientific evidence.
And things may travel faster than the speed of light, and slow down and everything. Here's an example by a well known relativist:
suppose we have a sufficiently long pair of scissors that we shut. Then the speed at which the point where the blades first meet may travel towards the end of the blades at faster than the speed of light, physical constraints of building and shutting the things excepted. There is no "information transmitted" to violate any inertial frame arguments etc.
And things may travel faster than the speed of light, and slow down and everything. Here's an example by a well known relativist:
suppose we have a sufficiently long pair of scissors that we shut. Then the speed at which the point where the blades first meet may travel towards the end of the blades at faster than the speed of light, physical constraints of building and shutting the things excepted. There is no "information transmitted" to violate any inertial frame arguments etc.
- #6
LURCH
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If tachyons do exist, should we not have found them some time before we started looking? 
- #7
Terry Giblin
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That depends on your definition of antimatter
Lurch, that's the best quote I heard a tachyon ago.
Which depends of course on everyone's definition of what antimatter is?
And what a tachyon is? - If you have the time?
LURCH said:If tachyons do exist, should we not have found them some time before we started looking?
Lurch, that's the best quote I heard a tachyon ago.
Which depends of course on everyone's definition of what antimatter is?
And what a tachyon is? - If you have the time?
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