Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources.
Observation of image pair creation and annihilation from superluminal scattering sources.
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DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.1501691
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发表时间：
2016-04
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Faccio D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Clerici M;Spalding GC;Warburton R;Lyons A;Aniculaesei C;Richards JM;Leach J;Henderson R;Faccio D
研究人员通过超快时间分辨成像实验研究散射光源的超光速运动学。光速的不变性是我们目前对宇宙理解的基础支柱之一。它意味着一系列的后果，这些后果与我们对时间性的感知有关，最终与时间本身有关。尽管这些结果在亚光速运动的情况下得到了很好的实验研究，但超光速运动的运动学缺乏直接的证据，甚至没有明确的实验方法。我们研究了与光源超光速运动有关的运动学效应。通过使用高时间分辨率的成像技术，我们直接证明，如果源接近观察者在超光速，时间顺序的事件是颠倒的，它的图像似乎向后传播。此外，对于一个源改变其速度和穿越亚光速和超光速传播区域之间的界面，我们观察到图像对湮灭和创建，这取决于交叉方向。这些结果是非常普遍的，并表明，无论发射器的速度，它是不可能明确地确定一个事件的运动学单独从成像和时间分辨的测量。这不仅对光有影响，而且对声音和其他波动现象也有影响。
Researchers experimentally investigate the superluminal kinematics of scattering light sources through ultrafast time-resolved imaging. The invariance of the speed of light is one of the foundational pillars of our current understanding of the universe. It implies a series of consequences related to our perception of simultaneity and, ultimately, of time itself. Whereas these consequences are experimentally well studied in the case of subluminal motion, the kinematics of superluminal motion lack direct evidence or even a clear experimental approach. We investigate kinematic effects associated with the superluminal motion of a light source. By using high-temporal-resolution imaging techniques, we directly demonstrate that if the source approaches an observer at superluminal speeds, the temporal ordering of events is inverted and its image appears to propagate backward. Moreover, for a source changing its speed and crossing the interface between subluminal and superluminal propagation regions, we observe image pair annihilation and creation, depending on the crossing direction. These results are very general and show that, regardless of the emitter speed, it is not possible to unambiguously determine the kinematics of an event from imaging and time-resolved measurements alone. This has implications not only for light, but also, for example, for sound and other wave phenomena.