VSL (Variable Speed of Light) Relativity

[Eugene Shubert]

Joao Magueijo asserts in his book, "Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation," _Perseus Publishing_, 2003, that revisions to special relativity are possible that do not contradict the relativity of motion.

IT’S DIFFICULT to sum up where VSL stands, as I finish this book, because it is still well within the maelstrom of scientific inquiry. VSL is now an umbrella for many different theories, all predicting, in one way or another, that the speed of light is not constant, and that revisions to special relativity are required. Some of these theories contradict the relativity of motion—for example, the model Andy and I first proposed—but others don’t. Some predict that the speed of light varies in space-time, such as my Lorentz-invariant VSL theory and Moffat’s theory. (p. 256).

Judging from the pages I’ve read I don’t believe Magueijo’s claim for a minute. I am fairly confident that I can refute it easily. All I need is for someone to exhibit a concrete example—an explicit transformation equation—expressing how space-time events transform in different “inertial” frames of reference, preserving the principle of relativity. Out of all you researchers, and from the vast collection of VSL papers, does anyone here know how to write down even one of these alleged transforms explicitly for the easy case of one spatial dimension?

Eugene Shubert
http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/generalized.htm

 

[eljose79]

Dear Eugene Shubert,

Thank you for your post and for raising an important question about the validity of Joao Magueijo's assertion in his book, "Faster Than the Speed of Light."

Firstly, I want to clarify that Magueijo's theory of Variable Speed of Light (VSL) is just one of the many theories that fall under the umbrella of VSL. As you mentioned, there are other theories, such as Lorentz-invariant VSL and Moffat's theory, that also predict variations in the speed of light without contradicting the principle of relativity.

Now, to address your skepticism about Magueijo's claim, I would like to point out that the idea of variable speed of light is not a new concept. In fact, it has been explored by many scientists, including Einstein himself, in the early 20th century. The main difference between Magueijo's theory and others is that he proposes a varying speed of light in space-time, rather than just in different frames of reference.

As for your request for a concrete example or explicit transformation equation, I would suggest looking into the work of George Ellis and Roy Maartens, who have proposed a VSL model with an explicit transformation equation that preserves the principle of relativity. Their model is based on a varying gravitational constant, which affects the speed of light in different regions of space-time.

In conclusion, while Magueijo's theory may still be in the realm of scientific inquiry and may require further evidence and experimentation, it is not entirely baseless. There are other VSL theories that have been proposed and are being studied, and some of them do not contradict the principle of relativity. I hope this helps to address your concerns and encourages you to continue exploring the concept of variable speed of light.