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Tachyon Signals, Causal Paradoxes, and the Relativity of Simultaneity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Steven F. Savitt
Steven F. Savitt*
Affiliation:
The University of British Columbia
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Extract

The basic equations of the Special Theory of Relativity (STR) imply that no massive particle travelling at a velocity less than the velocity of light in vacuo (call that ‘c’) can be accelerated to a velocity either equal to or greater than c. For instance, the total energy E of a particle is given by the formula

(1)

where m is the rest mass of the particle and v its velocity in some given co-ordinate system (CS). One can choose units so that c = 1; hence for ordinary particles (|v| < 1) as v approaches 1, E grows without bound. That is, as a particle accelerates, its total energy increases and ever-increasing amounts of energy are required to accelerate it. So no ordinary particle (tardyon, bradyon) can be accelerated continuously from velocity v < 1 to velocity v = 1, much less to velocity v > 1.

Type
Part VII. Tachyons, Temporal Becoming, and Thermodynamics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 277 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1982

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Footnotes

1

I have had help from Paul Fitzgerald, R.I.G. Hughes, Arthur Millman, Howard Pfeffer, and Tom Settle, to whom I extend my thanks.

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