Can Matter Waves Travel Faster Than Light?

[Akshay_Anti]

Faster than speed of light??

Throughout my schooling ( middle school and beyond, to be precise) I've learned and believed that nothing travels faster than speed of light... But my university textbook of physics says that matter waves can travel faster than speed of light... Isn't this kind of a contradiction? And how is it possible? I am really confused now... Help needed...

Thanx in advance...

 

[ZapperZ]

Throughout my schooling ( middle school and beyond, to be precise) I've learned and believed that nothing travels faster than speed of light... But my university textbook of physics says that matter waves can travel faster than speed of light... Isn't this kind of a contradiction? And how is it possible? I am really confused now... Help needed...

Thanx in advance...

Can you please cite the exact reference to your textbook (author, publisher, date of publication), and then cite the exact passage in your text that says this (including page number).

Zz.

 

[mathman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101211001710AAt5jdJ

The above may help.

 

[e.chaniotakis]

The point of confusion must be the phase velocity vs the group velocity of the wave.
The group velocity is the one that "mediates the energy" of the wave from one spacetime point to the other , and its formula is ug=dω/dk. This velocity can never exceed the speed of light.
On the other hand , the phase velocity describes the "speed" with which the disturbance moves. (Disturbance=wave pattern). This has no physical meaning actually, since the disturbance is a mathematical entity,used to help us out.

 

[sardar]

I can understand your confusion and concerns about this topic. It is important to remember that science is constantly evolving and new discoveries are made all the time. What we once believed to be true may be challenged or expanded upon by new evidence and research.

In the case of matter waves traveling faster than the speed of light, this concept is based on the theory of special relativity, which states that the speed of light is the maximum speed at which all matter and information in the universe can travel. However, this theory also allows for the possibility of particles or waves traveling faster than the speed of light under certain conditions.

One example of this is the phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, where particles can seemingly pass through barriers that would normally be impenetrable. In this case, the particles are not actually moving faster than the speed of light, but rather they are able to bypass the barrier through a quantum mechanical process.

It is also important to note that the concept of faster-than-light travel is still theoretical and has not been proven through experimentation. It is an area of ongoing research and debate in the scientific community.

So while it may seem like a contradiction to what we were taught in school, it is important to keep an open mind and continue to learn and explore new ideas in science. I hope this helps to clarify the concept for you.