Physicist suggests speed of light might be slower than thought

[Archean]

Physicist suggests speed of light might be slower than thought

Franson's arguments are based on observations made of the supernova SN 1987A–it exploded in February 1987. Measurements here on Earth picked up the arrival of both photons and neutrinos from the blast but there was a problem—the arrival of the photons was later than expected, by 4.7 hours. Scientists at the time attributed it to a likelihood that the photons were actually from another source. But what if that wasn't what it was, Franson wonders, what if light slows down as it travels due to a property of photons known as vacuum polarization—where a photon splits into a positron and an electron, for a very short time before recombining back into a photon. That should create a gravitational differential, he notes, between the pair of particles, which, he theorizes, would have a tiny energy impact when they recombine—enough to cause a slight bit of a slowdown during travel. If such splitting and rejoining occurred many times with many photons on a journey of 168,000 light years, the distance between us and SN 1987A, it could easily add up to the 4.7 hour delay, he suggests.

 

[red1776]

I'm Sure the folks at CERN will be thrilled to hear they have been on a goose chase for 40 years, and that the Higgs Boson is not really there...actually it would exist, and not exist at the same time.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Hey @red1776, fire up that machine of yours, do some calculations, and give us the answer to this question. lol

 

[red1776]

Hey @red1776, fire up that machine of yours, do some calculations, and give us the answer to this question. lol

That reminds me Cliff:
https://www.techspot.com/community/...ooled-final-system.192347/page-3#post-1411891

 

[luvantique]

Physicist suggests speed of light might be slower than thought

Franson's arguments are based on observations made of the supernova SN 1987A–it exploded in February 1987. Measurements here on Earth picked up the arrival of both photons and neutrinos from the blast but there was a problem—the arrival of the photons was later than expected, by 4.7 hours. Scientists at the time attributed it to a likelihood that the photons were actually from another source. But what if that wasn't what it was, Franson wonders, what if light slows down as it travels due to a property of photons known as vacuum polarization—where a photon splits into a positron and an electron, for a very short time before recombining back into a photon. That should create a gravitational differential, he notes, between the pair of particles, which, he theorizes, would have a tiny energy impact when they recombine—enough to cause a slight bit of a slowdown during travel. If such splitting and rejoining occurred many times with many photons on a journey of 168,000 light years, the distance between us and SN 1987A, it could easily add up to the 4.7 hour delay, he suggests.

I think he's forgotten his Physics I class. The energy of an electromagnetic wave has nothing to do with its velocity. The change in energy would cause a change in wavelength and frequency, but velocity remains unchanged in a given medium because velocity is the product of the reciprocal values of frequency and wavelength.