Speed of Light Lowered in Vacuum: Consequences for Relativity?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the implications of a recent article claiming a lowered speed of light in a vacuum, which is fundamentally misinterpreted. Participants clarify that the invariance of the speed of light, denoted as c0 = 3e08 m/s, remains intact for plane waves, as stated in the original scientific paper. The consensus is that the popular media's portrayal of the research is misleading and does not affect the principles of relativity.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of the theory of relativity
  • Familiarity with the concept of light speed invariance
  • Knowledge of wave mechanics
  • Ability to interpret scientific papers and abstracts
NEXT STEPS
  • Read the original paper from Science Magazine on light speed and structured waves
  • Investigate the implications of wave mechanics on relativity
  • Explore the differences between plane waves and structured waves
  • Review common misconceptions in popular science reporting
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of relativity, science communicators, and anyone interested in the accurate interpretation of scientific research and its media representation.

PaulElu
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Hello !
A few days ago, I came across this article
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30944584

And I was wondering if it has any consequences with the relativity ? I mean, in my mind, light velocity is supposed to be constant in vaccum, c0 = 3e08 [m/s] approximatively...

What do you think ?

Paul.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
It has no consequences for relativity. If you track down the paper they are referring to the last sentence of the abstract effectively says so, pointing out that structured waves do not, in general, travel at c.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6224/857
 
PaulElu said:
Hello !
What do you think ?
That article is (rather grotesquely) misdescribing the actual work and the conclusions drawn from it. This is a common problem with popular press descriptions of scientific work... it's as if they didn't even bother reading the abstract, which says "Our work highlights that, even in free space, the invariance of the speed of light only applies to plane waves.".

You will find a link to the actual paper here and much discussion of this and similar experiments in other threads here.
 

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