Faster than Light

Variable speed of light in a gravitational field:

http://physics.aps.org/story/v16/st1

"Imagine a pulse of light emitted downward from the top of a cliff just as a diver jumps. By the time the light reaches the ground, the diver will have gained speed and will regard a detector stationed on the ground as moving upward. According to the diver, the light source was stationary when it emitted the pulse, but the detector is racing upwards toward the light pulse at the moment of detection. So the detector should see the light's frequency increased by the Doppler effect."

As judged from the frame of the diver, at the moment of detection the detector is racing upwards with a speed v. So what is the relative speed of the light pulse and the detector at the moment of detection, ACCORDING TO THE DIVER? Both antirelativists and (clever) relativists claim that, ACCORDING TO THE DIVER, the relative speed is:

c' = c v

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

Einstein's nightmare: The speed of light relative to an observer varies if that observer moves towards or away from the light source:

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay-einstein-relativity.htm

John Stachel: "But here he ran into the most blatant-seeming contradiction, which I mentioned earlier when first discussing the two principles. As noted then, the Maxwell-Lorentz equations imply that there exists (at least) one inertial frame in which the speed of light is a constant regardless of the motion of the light source. Einstein's version of the relativity principle (minus the ether) requires that, if this is true for one inertial frame, it must be true for all inertial frames. But this seems to be nonsense. How can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam? Einstein states that he wrestled with this problem over a lengthy period of time, to the point of despair. We have no details of this struggle, unfortunately. Finally, after a day spent wrestling once more with the problem in the company of his friend and patent office colleague Michele Besso, the only person thanked in the 1905 SRT paper, there came a moment of crucial insight. In all of his struggles with the emission theory as well as with Lorentz's theory, he had been assuming that the ordinary Newtonian law of addition of velocities was unproblematic. It is this law of addition of velocities that allows one to "prove" that, if the velocity of light is constant with respect to one inertial frame, it cannot be constant with respect to any other inertial frame moving with respect to the first. It suddenly dawned on Einstein that this "obvious" law was based on certain assumptions about the nature of time..."

Time did obey Einstein's orders - it started to flow differently for the moving observer so that the speed of light relative to him could gloriously remain constant. Unfortunately Einstein forgot to tell the wavelength to vary with the speed of the observer so as to neutralize the frequency shift. The danger is obvious - bad people may remember the formula:

(frequency) = (speed of light)/(wavelength)

and come to the conclusion: "The frequency varies as the observer moves towards or away from the light source but the motion of the observer obviously cannot alter the wavelength of any wave - it remains unchanged. Then the formula tells us that the frequency shift can only be caused by a shift in the speed of light. In other words, the Doppler effect amounts to an experimental confirmation of the variation of the speed of light with the speed of the observer. No we don't believe in relativity, relativity, relativity anymore!"

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

The Pound-Rebka experiment confirmed the Newtonian tenet that, as light falls in a gravitational well, its speed increases exactly as the speed of any falling particle does:

http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/redshift_white_dwarfs

Albert Einstein Institute: "One of the three classical tests for general relativity is the gravitational redshift of light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation. However, in contrast to the other two tests - the gravitational deflection of light and the relativistic perihelion shift -, you do not need general relativity to derive the correct prediction for the gravitational redshift. A combination of Newtonian gravity, a particle theory of light, and the weak equivalence principle (gravitating mass equals inertial mass) suffices. (...) The gravitational redshift was first measured on earth in 1960-65 by Pound, Rebka, and Snider at Harvard University..."

Is this compatibility between the Pound-Rebka experiment and Newton's emission theory of light dangerous for Einstein's theory? Many Einsteinians don't know the answer to that question and teach, just in case, that the speed of light does not increase at all:

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586

Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?), Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw, p. 236: "If the light falls in strict accord with the principle of equivalence, then, as it falls, its energy should increase by exactly the same fraction that it increases for any other thing we could imagine dropping. We need to know what happens to the light as it gains energy. In other words, what can Pound and Rebka expect to see at the bottom of their laboratory when the dropped light arrives? There is only one way for the light to increase its energy. We know that it cannot speed up, because it is already traveling at the universal speed limit, but it can increase its frequency."

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

The gravitational redshift can be explained in terms of shift in the speed of photons, as is suggested in one of the quotations in my previous post. Accordingly, the redshifted light Radek Wojtak refers to is one having a speed lower than c. However if he had said that in his paper, neither Nature nor any other mainstream journal would have published the paper:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/galaxies-einstein-relativity/

"The researchers, led by Radek Wojtak of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, set out to test a classic prediction of general relativity: that light will lose energy as it is escaping a gravitational field. The stronger the field, the greater the energy loss suffered by the light. As a result, photons emitted from the center of a galaxy cluster - a massive object containing thousands of galaxies - should lose more energy than photons coming from the edge of the cluster because gravity is strongest in the center. (...) The effect is known as gravitational redshifting."

Ironically, Einstein's general relativity, just like Newton's emission theory of light, predicts that, as light is escaping a gravitational field, it will lose SPEED (as judged from the frame of the observer):

http://www.speed-light.info/speed_of_light_variable.htm

"In the presence of gravity the speed of light becomes relative. To see the steps how Einstein theorized that the measured speed of light in a gravitational field is actually not a constant but rather a variable depending upon the reference frame of the observer: 'On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light', Annalen der Physik, 35, 1911. Einstein wrote this paper in 1911 in German. It predated the full formal development of general relativity by about four years. You can find an English translation of this paper in the Dover book 'The Principle of Relativity' beginning on page 99; you will find in section 3 of that paper Einstein's derivation of the variable speed of light in a gravitational potential, eqn (3). The result is: c'=c0(1+phi/c^2) where phi is the gravitational potential relative to the point where the speed of light co is measured. Simply put: Light appears to travel slower in stronger gravitational fields (near bigger mass). You can find a more sophisticated derivation later by Einstein (1955) from the full theory of general relativity in the weak field approximation: (...) For the 1955 results but not in coordinates see page 93, eqn (6.28): c(r)=[1+2phi(r)/c^2]c. Namely the 1955 approximation shows a variation in km/sec twice as much as first predicted in 1911."

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

Einstein and the emission theory of light:

http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/companion.pdf

John Norton: "Einstein could not see how to formulate a fully relativistic electrodynamics merely using his new device of field transformations. So he considered the possibility of modifying Maxwells electrodynamics in order to bring it into accord with an emission theory of light, such as Newton had originally conceived. There was some inevitability in these attempts, as long as he held to classical (Galilean) kinematics. Imagine that some emitter sends out a light beam at c. According to this kinematics, an observer who moves past at v in the opposite direction, will see the emitter moving at v and the light emitted at c+v."

And the frequency the observer will see is f'=(c+v)/L, where L is the wavelength:

http://www.hep.man.ac.uk/u/roger/PHYS10302/lecture18.pdf

Roger Barlow, Professor of Particle Physics: "Moving Observer. Now suppose the source is fixed but the observer is moving towards the source, with speed v. In time t, ct/(lambda) waves pass a fixed point. A moving point adds another vt/(lambda). So f'=(c+v)/(lambda)."

Einsteinians,

Is f', the frequency the observer sees, compatible with c'=c+v, the variable speed of light predicted by Newton's emission theory of light?

Einsteinians ready to answer the question:

http://game2gether.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wall1-1280x1024-1024x819.jpg

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

Now watching Supermassive Black Holes on channel 170.

There is a direct linear correlation between the velocity of the most distant stars orbtibing any given galaxy and the size of the black holes of that given galaxy. This per the show I am now watching.

Can someone confirm that this same linear relationship exists with the velocity of the outer electron field surrounding atoms of small nucleus (i.e. carbon) and those of larger atoms (i.e. gold). My guess is that we find the same linear relationship. I have no idea how to find it, but its probably there. Get government funding!

Can someone please answer my balloon inquiry? Where does the Space come from?

(that is if CIG Theory is wrong) Please.

(I'm scared of Black Holes - won't sleep well tonight)

Doug

Walther Ritz no longer an unperson?

It is not too dangerous to criticize Einstein's relativity and even extract career and money from the criticism - some high-ranking Einsteinians are experts in this. Yet as soon as one starts questioning the original falsehood - Einstein's 1905 light postulate - one automatically becomes an unperson:

George Orwell: "Withers, however, was already an unperson. He did not exist : he had never existed."

Walther (or Walter) Ritz is undoubtedly an unperson and yet:

"The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas presents a lecture by Alberto A. Martínez, Associate Professor of History at The University of Texas at Austin entitled "Einstein, Relativity, and Myths" (...) Martínez will discuss how Einstein's relativity paper of 1905 changed physics and how it also led to misinterpretations and myths."

The problem is that Alberto Martinez, like many high-ranking Einsteinians, is a Ritzian deep in his heart:

Alberto Martinez: "Does the speed of light depend on the speed of its source? Before formulating his theory of special relativity, Albert Einstein spent a few years trying to formulate a theory in which the speed of light depends on its source, just like all material projectiles. Likewise, Walter Ritz outlined such a theory, where none of the peculiar effects of Einstein's relativity would hold. By 1913 most physicists abandoned such efforts, accepting the postulate of the constancy of the speed of light. Yet five decades later all the evidence that had been said to prove that the speed of light is independent of its source had been found to be defective."

Alberto Martinez: "In sum, Einstein rejected the emission hypothesis prior to 1905 not because of any direct empirical evidence against it, but because it seemed to involve too many theoretical and mathematical complications. By contrast, Ritz was impressed by the lack of empirical evidence against the emission hypothesis, and he was not deterred by the mathematical difficulties it involved. It seemed to Ritz far more reasonable to assume, in the interest of the "economy" of scientific concepts, that the speed of light depends on the speed of its source, like any other projectile, rather than to assume or believe, with Einstein, that its speed is independent of the motion of its source even though it is not a wave in a medium; that nothing can go faster than light; that the length and mass of any body varies with its velocity; that there exist no rigid bodies; that duration and simultaneity are relative concepts; that the basic parallelogram law for the addition of velocities is not exactly valid; and so forth. Ritz commented that "it is a curious thing, worthy of remark, that only a few years ago one would have thought it sufficient to refute a theory to show that it entails even one or another of these consequences...."

Pentcho Valev

Initially the observer is stationary in the beach water but then starts walking out into the ocean with a speed v. Relative to him, the frequency of the ocean waves shifts from f=c/L to f'=(c+v)/L and their speed shifts from c to c'=c+v.

Initially the observer is stationary with respect to the sound source but then starts moving towards the source with a speed v. Relative to him, the frequency of the sound waves shifts from f=c/L to f'=(c+v)/L and their speed shifts from c to c'=c+v.

Initially the observer is stationary with respect to the light source but then starts moving towards the source with a speed v. Relative to him, the frequency of the light waves shifts from f=c/L to f'=(c+v)/L and their speed shifts from c to c'=....? Einsteinians?

Einsteinians: Help! Help! Divine Einstein! Yes we all believe in relativity, relativity, relativity! Who's asking?

Pentcho Valev

For all waves (light waves included), when the observer starts moving towards the wave source with a speed v, the speed of the waves relative to him shifts from c to c'=c+v:

http://www.takoi.edu.hk/~phy/0304_S6_webpage/Doppler%20effec1[1].2.htm

"Approaching observer with stationary source. The wavelength observed by the observer remains unchanged. (lambda)=c/f. Apparent speed of the wave relatively to the observer: c'=c+Vo. Apparent frequency observed by the observer: f'=c'/(lambda)=[(c+Vo)/c]f."

The awful formula c'=c+v provokes two reactions among Einsteinians:

Ordinary Einsteinians' reaction.

High-ranking Einsteinians' reaction.

Pentcho Valev

"Where are the "Einsteinians?" So as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's great discoveries, the question arises: How many professional physicists are Einsteinians?"

Smolin asked this question in 2005. At that time the Einsteinians were still quite many but almost all of them have left the sinking ship since then:

"It is still not clear who is right, says John Norton, a philosopher based at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Norton is hesitant to express it, but his instinct - and the consensus in physics - seems to be that space and time exist on their own. The trouble with this idea, though, is that it doesn't sit well with relativity, which describes space-time as a malleable fabric whose geometry can be changed by the gravity of stars, planets and matter."

"Many physicists argue that time is an illusion. Lee Smolin begs to differ. (...) Smolin wishes to hold on to the reality of time. But to do so, he must overcome a major hurdle: General and special relativity seem to imply the opposite. In the classical Newtonian view, physics operated according to the ticking of an invisible universal clock. But Einstein threw out that master clock when, in his theory of special relativity, he argued that no two events are truly simultaneous unless they are causally related. If simultaneity - the notion of "now" - is relative, the universal clock must be a fiction, and time itself a proxy for the movement and change of objects in the universe. Time is literally written out of the equation. Although he has spent much of his career exploring the facets of a "timeless" universe, Smolin has become convinced that this is "deeply wrong," he says."

Pentcho Valev

"University of Adelaide applied mathematicians have extended Einstein's theory of special relativity to work beyond the speed of light. (...) "Our approach is a natural and logical extension of the Einstein Theory of Special Relativity, and produces anticipated formulae without the need for imaginary numbers or complicated physics." The research has been published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society A in a paper, 'Einstein's special relativity beyond the speed of light'. Their formulas extend special relativity to a situation where the relative velocity can be infinite, and can be used to describe motion at speeds faster than light."

"A natural and logical extension of the Einstein Theory of Special Relativity" means that a valid deductive chain exists between Einstein's 1905 postulates and the new formulas. This is obviously not the case.

In fact, Einstein's relativity stopped being deductive shortly after 1905. Rather, arbitrary manipulation of the equations until the desired predictions are obtained became the main method. The introduction and withdrawal of the cosmological constant and the long and painful adaptation of the theory to the Mercury's perihelion anomaly are typical examples.

Pentcho Valev

If deduction had not been abandoned, Einstein's relativity would have been refuted by the following simple argument:

PREMISE: "If we accept the principle of equivalence, we must also accept that light falls in a gravitational field with the same acceleration as material bodies."

CONCLUSION: In gravitation-free space, the speed of light (as measured by the receiver) varies with the speed of the receiver.

VALIDITY OF THE ARGUMENT: The emitter (E) and the receiver (R) are at rest: E at the earth surface, R at a distance h above E. In accordance with the PREMISE, the receiver measures the speed of light to be c'=c(1-gh/c^2). This scenario is equivalent to one in which E and R are fixed in an elevator accelerating, in gravitation-free space, with constant acceleration g in the direction E->R. So when the light signal reaches R, R has acquired speed v=gh/c. Accordingly, the receiver in the elevator measures the speed of light to be c'=c(1-gh/c^2)=c-v.

Pentcho Valev

Logical illiteracy (plus dishonesty) among high-ranking Einsteinians:

Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond: "The evidence of the nonzero mass of the photon would not, as such, shake in any way the validity of the special relalivity. It would, however, nullify all its derivations which are based on the invariance of the photon velocity."

Mitchell J. Feigenbaum: "In this paper, not only do I show that the constant speed of light is unnecessary for the construction of the theories of relativity, but overwhelmingly more, there is no room for it in the theory."

Pentcho Valev

The strongest argument against relativity:

"Sound waves have speed c, and f and L are related by c=Lf. For an observer moving relative to medium with speed u, apparent propagation speed c' will be different: c'=c±u. Wavelength cannot change - it's a constant length in the medium, and same length in moving coordinate system (motion does not change lengths). Observed frequency has to change, to match apparent speed and fixed wavelength: f'=c'/L."

This is equally valid for light waves - the motion of the observer cannot change their wavelength either. That is, for an observer moving towards the light source with speed v, the speed of the waves will be c'=c+v, in violation of special relativity. The shift in frequency is in fact caused by the shift in the speed of light. Various aspects of the problem were dealt with in my essay:

Shift in Frequency Implies Shift in Speed of Light

Pentcho Valev

I am a pharmacologist, not a physicist, so my comment may be rather naive. I have always thought that it would be highly unlikely that the speed of light would have been a fixed constant value from the origin of the universe to the present day. Presumably, as space, time and energy were created at the Big Bang (if the theory is essentially correct!),the properties of space itself have been constantly changing as the universe has expanded. Light propagates through space, so initially, when space was 'denser', the speed of light differed from the present day value.

Hello Mr Fletcher,Mr Valev,

It is important it seems to me to consider the evolution of this light speed. The BB is seen, in my model of spherization, as a fractal of the main central sphere of light and after a multiplication of the serie of uniqueness.

If the space, the gravitation and the light are the same in a kind of BEC of our mind at this zero absolute.It become relevant considering the diffusion, spherical of this mass, this space and this light.If the serie of uniqueness is for all quantum entanglement and even for the number of cosmological spheres inside the universal sphere. So it relevant to consider that c is invariant at its present and locality. But we can say that perhaps c was different in the past, just due to evolution and the equilibrium between expansion/contraction. It implies that we can consider that c changes its speed but very very slowly so.The constant of c is so a real constant? It is the same that our electromagnetism, we have limits of uncompleteness due to our young age at the universal scale. The works of Maxwell and Lorentz are relevant also about the invariance of c at this present.

We cannot pass above c with the bosons. But perhaps that we can with the fermions. It is an important differenciation. The bosons are under the law of invariance of c in the vaccuum. The fermions, them in my line of reasoning, turn in opposite sense than bosons.It explains so the linearity of c.and the stability in space of the gravitation. If c is invariant in its present but change due to evolution.So how can we say that c does not change.In logic, c increases at each second but it is a so very weak changement. The entropy is correlated.

Hope it helps.:)

Best Regards

A stationary source sends a light pulse towards a stationary observer/receiver. Then the source starts moving towards the observer and sends another pulse. The two pulses are physically different, judging from the different frequency they will have at reception, and the difference is obviously created BEFORE reception. What does the difference consist in? Two answers are conceivable:

(A) The speed of the second pulse (relative to the observer) is higher than the speed of the first.

(B) The wavelength of the second pulse is shorter than the wavelength of the first.

(A) is fatal for relativity, (B) is absurd. Yet Einsteinians always have a third answer.

Pentcho Valev

Pentcho

How is (B) absurd? If the emitter starts moving while sending out waves (so with time gaps between however small), the wavelength must reduce. How could it not?.

(and it's also fatal for SR).

Peter

If the wavelength of light varies with the speed of the source, as is the case with sound waves, then the principle of relativity is violated (the motion of the light source is not equivalent to the motion of the observer). In this sense (B) is absurd - it contradicts the principle of relativity. But of course one may assume, alternatively, that the principle of relativity is invalid (this assumption is implicit in "preferred reference frame" theories) - then (B) would not be absurd. In either case special relativity will have to be abandoned.

Pentcho Valev