Black Hole Information Loss Question

[Alex1]

Haha Damn lmao that would suck good thing they don't. So basically the tachyon is really just a solution to an obsolete bosonic string theory?

 

[Chronos]

Haha Damn lmao that would suck good thing they don't. So basically the tachyon is really just a solution to an obsolete bosonic string theory?

No, it is a straightforward mathematical solution to the equations of special relativity. The notion of imaginary mass is not, however, as far fetched as it may appear. Imaginary currents are routinely considered in electrical circuits and the standard model of particle physics allow the Higgs boson, under certain conditions, to have imaginary mass. The biggest problem with tachyons entails logical parardoxes which can arise, such as the Tolman Paradox. These are normally considered mathematical artifacts with no physical analogue [i.e., unphysical solutions].

 

[Mark M]

Haha Damn lmao that would suck good thing they don't. So basically the tachyon is really just a solution to an obsolete bosonic string theory?

Like Chronos said, the tachyon isn't just a solution for bosonic string theories, but a general solution in relativistic quantum field theory. Tachyons themselves don't pose too much of a problem, but they imply an unstable vacuum, which would be catastrophic. Systems will prefer to be in states of lower potential energy. An example of this is a pendulum in a gravitational field. If you stand the pendulum up so that the mass is on top, then it has a lot of potential energy - slightly disturbing it will cause it to move to a lower potential energy state, e.g. fall over so that it is in a normal position.

If tachyons existed, then negative energy states would be possible. If so, then the vacuum wouldn't be the lowest possible energy state - and once you allow one negative energy state, you essentially allow then all, all the way down to infinity. So, the vacuum will rapidly decay into this state, which we obviously don't observe (you wouldn't be here if this happened). So, tachyons don't exist.

 

[Alex1]

Alright thanks man.

 

[Alex1]

Thanks man, that gives me a better understanding of a tachyon.