Relativity and Cosmology

Hmm... For what it's worth, Wikipedia has this to say:

"... in reality the tachyon "detector" is spontaneously emitting tachyons. The effect of the reinterpretation principle on any tachyon "detector" is that any incoming tachyonic message would be lost against the tachyon background noise, which is an inevitable accompaniment of the uncontrollable emission. The counter intuitive conclusion is that tachyons (if they existed) could be used to transmit energy-momentum, but they can't be used for communication."

I don't understand the implications of what is said, but the notion that energy may be transmitted faster than light is surely interesting!

The WIKI explanation is definitely counterintuitive, maybe because of its intrinsic assumptions.

If I am able to transmit energy over a period of time using tachyons, i.e. particles that move faster than light but don't have a zero time of transfer, and if I modulate that energy emission through time, I then have effectively transfered information from source to target.

I think the problem here is the assumption that the tachyon energy levels produced will never exceed the background tachyon emissions and therefore not be able to transfer any information through the background noise.

It makes me think of radio transmitters and receivers. The same argument could be used to prove that radio is not a viable form of information transmission.

The engineering puzzles here would be to produce a sensor that would not swamp itself with its own secondary tachyon emissions and a transmitter that would produce bursts of tachyons at a level higher than the background noise. Morse code comes to mind as a first try at data transfer.

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As to the transfer of energy, that would require some way of constraining the tachyons so that most if not all of the energy will transfer between source and receiver. We have not even been able to do that effectively in the mundane end of the spectrum as yet. It is still a neat idea for sci-fi speculation where you could have exotic high energy generator systems transmitting to receivers in remote or mobile locations. Harness the solar corona or better yet the potential of a black hole and transmit that energy to transportation devices anywhere in the solar system or universe. Would make a huge change to the transportation industry where all you would need is a motor, control system and a receiver for the needed energy.

Jorrie, you are a hopeless alternative cosmologist! I hope you had a great vacation.

Jon