Do tachyons exist or not?if so causality will be failed

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In summary, Barton Zweibeck thinks that tachyons may exist in the universe, but they have not yet been observed. If they do exist, it may have negative consequences for the principle of causality.
  • #1
hi mak
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do tachyons exist or not?if so causality will be failed!

is there any particle that can travel faster than photon and still preserve the einstein's postulates?
if they exist how can we explain the space like separated events that voilate the causality.
 
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  • #2
There is certainly no known particle that moves faster than light. Yes, if such a particle existed AND could interact with tardyons, then causality could be violated.
Some people argue that if tachyons existed and could NOT interact with tardyons, then we would never know of there existence and so, as far as we are concerned they don't exist!
 
  • #3
Tachyons do not exist because the have unphysical properties like negative mass and so on...

In QFT there is a nice way "to get rid of them", namely the continuous breakdown of symmetry (in the vacuum-state like the U(1)-symmetry). Through the Higgs-mechanism which "gives" elementary particles their mass, these tachyons can acquire positive mass-values.

For clarity : In the Standard Model all elementary particles are masless because mass mixes up the two different chiralities (left-handed and right handed). It is proven that particles of left handed chirality behave "different" when it comes to the four interactions then those with right-handed chirality.

I must say that the last text is not perferctly ok but it gives you a pretty clear image of what is meant by the statement that elemantary particles are massless. If you wanne know more, please just let me know. I will be more the happy to elaborate.

regards
marlon
 
  • #4
hi mak said:
is there any particle that can travel faster than photon and still preserve the einstein's postulates?
if they exist how can we explain the space like separated events that voilate the causality.

Nobody's ever seen a tachyon, so there's no evidence that they exist. Besides possible effects on causality (I gather the issue is more complicated than it first appears, see for instance )

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ParticleAndNuclear/tachyons.html

there are some other problems with tachyons, like the tendency to create an unstable vacuum in quantum field theory, and the creation of rocket drives with efficiences greater than 100%. So they probably don't exist.
 
  • #5
If you want to travel faster than light, your mass must be imaginary ... could you imagine that?
 
  • #6
A guy called Kostelecky formulated in 1985 the hypothesis that neutrinos are really particles moving faster than light. In this theory, neutrinos are called tachyonic neutrinos. But tachyons in SR have imaginary mass and neutrinos have a little positive mass, so the hypothesis seems incorrect
Anyway, in SR, doesn't matter if the particle is a neutrino, a photino or whatever: if its velocity is superior to c there's violation of causality
 
  • #8
Only in "deformed" Lorentz dynamics.
 
  • #9
Self adjoint,

IN regards to Barton Zwiebeck.

The topic of this post is about Tachyon's. Does Barton's view show this development and origination?

We have had our talks before about Tachyon Condensation in String Theory. Do you recall? I was interested in how this is percieved, and how you might have thought Barton Zweibeck contributed?

Regards
 
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Related to Do tachyons exist or not?if so causality will be failed

1. Do tachyons actually exist?

Currently, there is no concrete evidence to support the existence of tachyons. They are only theoretical particles proposed by physicists to explain certain phenomena.

2. How would the existence of tachyons affect causality?

If tachyons do exist and can travel faster than the speed of light, it would violate the principle of causality. This is because they would be able to travel backwards in time and potentially cause effects before their own cause.

3. Can tachyons be detected or measured?

Due to their hypothetical nature and extremely high energies, it is currently impossible to detect or measure tachyons. Some experiments have been conducted, but the results have been inconclusive.

4. What implications would the existence of tachyons have on our understanding of the universe?

If tachyons do exist and can travel faster than light, it would challenge our current understanding of space, time, and the laws of physics. It could potentially lead to new theories and discoveries in the field of physics.

5. Are there any practical applications of tachyons?

As tachyons are purely theoretical at this point, there are no practical applications that have been discovered. However, if their existence is proven, they could potentially have practical applications in communication and transportation technology.

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