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Faster than light

Nature (2000)Cite this article

Can we send signals faster than light? Conventional wisdom says no, but a new experiment will provoke fresh debate, Philip Ball reports.

Science-fiction authors wanting to get their characters rapidly around a Universe too big to cross in a million lifetimes often invoke the 'tachyon', a particle that travels faster than light. But physics textbooks give no credence to the tachyon. That the speed of light represents the cosmic speed limit is, after all, the central tenet of Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity.

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References

  1. Mugnai, D., Ranfagni, A. & Ruggeri, R. Observation of superluminal behaviors in wave propagation. Physical Review Letters 84, 4830 - 4833 2000.

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  1. Philip Ball
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Ball, P. Faster than light. Nature (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/news000601-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news000601-5

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