Unmasking a Pseudoscience: The Tachyon Detector

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the concept of tachyons and the validity of a supposed tachyon detector. Participants explore the theoretical implications of tachyons, their properties, and the credibility of claims made about their detection, touching on themes of pseudoscience and the nature of theoretical physics.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express skepticism about the tachyon detector, suggesting it is merely a simple amplifier and labeling it as pseudoscience.
  • Concerns are raised regarding the concept of tachyons, particularly the idea of negative mass, which some argue is discredited.
  • Others note that tachyons are discussed in the context of string theory, where they may be transformed into physical particles, but question the feasibility of detecting them with standard electronics.
  • One participant proposes that if tachyons exist, they would be massless bundles of energy/momentum, detectable only through their energy transfer.
  • Another participant argues that tachyons cannot be massless due to their hypothetical imaginary mass, which allows them to exceed the speed of light.
  • Concerns are raised about the credibility of the sources discussing tachyons, with some participants describing them as characteristic of superficial understandings of physics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally disagree on the nature and existence of tachyons, with multiple competing views presented regarding their properties and the validity of the tachyon detector. The discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the definitions and implications of tachyon properties, particularly concerning mass and detection methods. There are unresolved questions about the theoretical frameworks being referenced.

juan avellaneda
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some time ago i found this information

http://www.spots.ab.ca/~belfroy/tachyonDetector.html

on internet about a supposed "tachyon detector " . I have to confess that i believe this junk until a more deep study of electronics and amplificators led me to conclude that this is only a simple 3 stage amplificator

is ridiculous and funny to think now how some pieces of transistors, capacitors and resistance could detect something that even the most powerful and advanced scientific instruments ever constructed couldn't have done yet

this is definitively pseudoscience

someone knows who is this misterious professor Shinichi Seike, or about that whacky G research institute, or know something about the "principles of ultrarelativity" ?

thanks
 
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I never made it past the opening sentence...

"A tachyon particle if it exists as a particle that can travel faster than the speed of light. It may have a mass and size smaller than that of a light photon"

Assuming a photon is massless, it appears we are talking negative mass here. That is a pretty thoroughly discredited concept.
 
Chronos said:
I never made it past the opening sentence...

"A tachyon particle if it exists as a particle that can travel faster than the speed of light. It may have a mass and size smaller than that of a light photon"

Assuming a photon is massless, it appears we are talking negative mass here. That is a pretty thoroughly discredited concept.


Tachyons are a standard feature of some string physics, where it is sometimes possible for physical interactions to turn them into physical particles. But to detect them with ordinary electronics is just silly.
 
Good point. I may have issues with theories that make no testable predictions.. er, isn't that called string theory?
 
Hi,

I think that if tachyon particles exist, they would be massless bundles of energy/momentum, without any electromagnetic, weak, strong, or gravitational properties. They would be detectable only by their transfer of energy/momentum to a suitable detector.

juju
 
juju said:
Hi,

I think that if tachyon particles exist, they would be massless bundles of energy/momentum, without any electromagnetic, weak, strong, or gravitational properties. They would be detectable only by their transfer of energy/momentum to a suitable detector.

juju

They can't be massless, because the thing that allows them to travel faster than light is their imaginary mass, m2 < 0. If they were massless, they would just travel at c, like the photon.
 
also ridiculous is what this guy has at the bottom of some of his other web pages
Some of the internet pages generate temporary arrays the help clear some of your random access memory from possible internet attacks that may have come in with the downloads. You can maximize your security settings on Netscape 6.2, encrypt Netscape 6.2 with Windows XP, store Netscape 6.2 in your own folder and set your magnetic hard disk on "hidden" mode to help protect your computer.
after browsing through some of his "theoretical science" writings, they all seem fairly characteristic of those with a very superificial understanding of physics trying to come up with "revolutionary ideas"...crackpots
 
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z

selfAdjoint said:
They can't be massless, because the thing that allows them to travel faster than light is their imaginary mass, m2 < 0. If they were massless, they would just travel at c, like the photon.

It may be that being just bundles of energy/momentum. they are not subject to the same constraints as other massless particles.

Also, if a particle had an imaginary mass, wouldn't that imply that its world lines would be perpendicular to normal space.

juju
 

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