- #1
tcthmas
- 3
- 0
Hey all, am new here so please go easy on me.
This regards observation of Markarian 501 with the MAGIC telescope. Gamma rays appear 4 minutes after the visible light. That high energy photons (gamma rays) travel more slowly through the "quantum foam" has been suggested, and even more mundane ideas have also been put forward. I would like to know if a theory of mine has any validity or possibility of being correct.
What if a wavelength of light has a minimum limit? Much like the velocity of a massive particle has an upper limit (the speed of light). I would guess this limit to be related to (if not exactly) the Planck length. We have never observed a photon with a wavelength even close to the Planck length. So what I am thinking is that much like relativity says time dilation occurs as you approach the speed of light, the speed of a photon decreases as you approach the Planck length (until you reach v=0 which is obviously the limit). The tachyon theoretically loses energy as its speed increses. Wouldn't the corollary make sense as well? That a photon's velocity decreases as its energy increases?
I would suspect that if this were happening the effects would be unnoticeable until you got to "relativistic" wavelengths like those of gamma rays. This would explain the delay we see from Markarian 501. Obviously, more data would be extremely helpful in determining if any such effect is happening.
Another thought. Inflation was introduced (by hand) to the Big Bang theory in order to explain the uniformity of the Universe we see today. An alternate explanation can be achieved if we assume that light traveled slower in the past. During the first few trillionths of a second after the big bang light would have to be at incredibly small wavelengths and therefore (according to my theory) traveling more slowly than it does today. And when the energy density decreased enough it would suddenly inflate. Your thoughts? Has somebody already thought of this and been proven incorrect? Thanks!
This regards observation of Markarian 501 with the MAGIC telescope. Gamma rays appear 4 minutes after the visible light. That high energy photons (gamma rays) travel more slowly through the "quantum foam" has been suggested, and even more mundane ideas have also been put forward. I would like to know if a theory of mine has any validity or possibility of being correct.
What if a wavelength of light has a minimum limit? Much like the velocity of a massive particle has an upper limit (the speed of light). I would guess this limit to be related to (if not exactly) the Planck length. We have never observed a photon with a wavelength even close to the Planck length. So what I am thinking is that much like relativity says time dilation occurs as you approach the speed of light, the speed of a photon decreases as you approach the Planck length (until you reach v=0 which is obviously the limit). The tachyon theoretically loses energy as its speed increses. Wouldn't the corollary make sense as well? That a photon's velocity decreases as its energy increases?
I would suspect that if this were happening the effects would be unnoticeable until you got to "relativistic" wavelengths like those of gamma rays. This would explain the delay we see from Markarian 501. Obviously, more data would be extremely helpful in determining if any such effect is happening.
Another thought. Inflation was introduced (by hand) to the Big Bang theory in order to explain the uniformity of the Universe we see today. An alternate explanation can be achieved if we assume that light traveled slower in the past. During the first few trillionths of a second after the big bang light would have to be at incredibly small wavelengths and therefore (according to my theory) traveling more slowly than it does today. And when the energy density decreased enough it would suddenly inflate. Your thoughts? Has somebody already thought of this and been proven incorrect? Thanks!
Last edited: