Particles that go Faster than Light
Particles that go Faster than Light
复制标题
比光还快的粒子
DOI：
10.1038/scientificamerican0270-68
复制
发表时间：
1970
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
G. Feinberg
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
G. Feinberg
爱因斯坦得出这一结论的基础是他的发现，即相对论方程表明，一个物体的质量随着速度的增加而增加，在光速（通常用c表示）下变得无限大。由于一个物体的质量衡量的是它对速度变化的阻力，所以当质量达到无穷大时，就不能使这个物体走得更快。以不同的方式表述，相对论所暗示的能量和速度之间的关系是这样的：当物体的速度接近c时，它的能量变得无限。由于这种能量必须由任何加速物体的东西提供，因此需要无限的能量源将杰拉尔德·范伯格的物体从任何低速加速到光速。这样的无限能量源是不存在的，因此不可能使一个物体从小于c运动到大于c。此外，如果一个物体可以以某种方式从小于c的速度运动到大于c的速度，同样的相对论方程意味着它的能量和动量将变成虚数，也就是说，包含负数的平方根的数字。这种情况似乎没有任何物理意义。具有象能的物体显然不能与具有实能的物体交换能量，因此不能影响它们。因此，这些物体无法被真正的仪器检测到，可以说是不存在的。在爱因斯坦工作的背景下，物体的性质不断变化，不考虑新物体的产生，因此，没有任何形式的能量，也就是任何物质，可以比光跑得快，这似乎是一个合乎逻辑的结论。
The basis of Einstein's conclusion was his discovery that the equations of rela tivity implied that the mass of an object increases as its speed increases, becom ing infinite at the speed of light (which is usually denoted c). Since the mass of a body measures its resistance to a change of speed, when the mass be comes infinite the body cannot be made to go any faster. Stated somewhat differ ently, the relation between energy and speed implied by relativity is such that as the speed of a body approaches c its energy becomes infinite. Since this ener gy must be supplied by whatever is ac celerating the body, an infinite source of energy would be needed to speed up a by Gerald Feinberg body to the speed of light from any low er speed. No such infinite energy source is available, and so it is impossible to make a body go from less than c to c. FurthelIDore, if a body could some how be made to go from a speed less than c to one greater than c, the same relativity equations imply that its energy and momentum would become imagi nary numbers, that is, numbers contain ing a square root of a negative number. This situation does not seem to have any physical meaning. Objects with imagi nary energy clearly cannot exchange energy with objects having real energy and hence cannot affect them. Accord ingly, such objects could not be detected by real instruments, and can be said not to exist. Within the context in which Einstein worked, where the properties of objects varied continuously and where the creation of new objects was not con sidered, it therefore seemed a logical conclusion that no form of energy, and hence no matter, could b'avel faster than light.