Finding Superbradyons with fast computers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blam
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Computers
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of superbradyons and the potential for faster-than-light (FTL) travel, particularly in the context of computational capabilities and quantum computing. Participants explore the implications of using advanced supercomputers to investigate these theoretical particles and the limitations imposed by the speed of light and relativity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant references a Wikipedia article on superbradyons and questions whether PetaFLOP computers could enable the observation of particles that travel faster than light.
  • Another participant clarifies that the fastest supercomputer, IBM Blue Gene/L, operates at 280.6 Tera FLOPS and emphasizes that computations do not have physical existence tied to a single physical system, thus limiting their implications for sensory perception.
  • A different participant argues that computers are physical entities and that there are inherent limits to processing speed, even in quantum computing, due to the constraints of relativity and the mass-energy relationship.
  • One participant suggests that while there is no theoretical limit to the number of computations performed simultaneously, the speed of individual computations is constrained by the speed of light, regardless of the technology used.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of computational speed and the physical nature of computations. There is no consensus on whether supercomputers can lead to discoveries of particles like superbradyons or on the limits of computation speed in relation to FTL travel.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight limitations related to the physical constraints of computation and the nature of signals in circuits, as well as the ambiguity surrounding the theoretical aspects of computation speed and FTL travel.

Blam
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
I was scanning Wikipedia recently looking for a real mass particle smaller then a photon for faster then photon travel or FTL.
I found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbradyon
but would not be possible to tangebly see without PetaFLOP computers or something faster then that? Would we then have something faster then the current perception of the speed of light?

I still have to study Quantum Computing too.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Computer science news on Phys.org
The fastest supercomputer right now is the IBM Blue Gene/L, at 280.6 Tera FLOPS (not a single peta). It's a parallel computer so no single unit has a clock faster than the speed of light as you're probably aware. In terms of perception, it's a hard case to make. Computations don't have physical existence and they are not particularly tied to any single physical system, so i don't think we can draw conclusions from them. A supercomputer such as blue gene won't be able to provide any outstanding sensory stimulus either. For example, if it were acting as a gigantic graphics card, then it wouldn't be able to draw two consecutive frames on a screen faster that the speed of light (the signal still has to travel to the screen and this can't be faster than the speed of light, even if there was a processor per pixel).
 
I see but I do think a computer is physical as you said where computations equal physical connections in RAM etc. so there is a limit to how 'fast' it can process information if say, even in Quantum Computing environments, where photons are used as a circuit board. So the law of relativity is something like no matter how much of a certain mass I use I can't go faster then the original mass because all that mass is set at a certain speed,. so no matter how many Quantum Computers I use I can't manage something like a Tachyon and go faster then a photon. Darn.
Oh well we'll have to figure out how to manage it someday but we would have to discover things in nature smaller than a photon first which might be impossible with our bodily makeup; but I can imagine traveling that fast at least.
 
The whole thing is a little ambiguous i think. Theoretically there isn't a limit to how many computations you can perform in a given time unit. If you have enough processors, you can do as many as you like. I think what is relevant is how fast you can perform a single computation, and that is certainly limited by relativity since the signals traveling in the circuit (even if it's an optical computer) can't go faster than the speed of light. So in theory you can't perform a single computation faster than light can propagate from one end of the circuit to another, though you can make it faster by making the chip impossibly small. Given this limit on a single computation you can also apply it to multiple computations.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Replies
8
Views
4K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
14
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
979
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
7K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
3K