Various experiments have shown superluminal group and signal velocities. Experiments were essentially carried out with microwave tunneling [1], with infrared waves by frustrated total internal reflection [2] and in a linear resonant molecular absorber with millimeter waves [3]. According to text books a superluminal signal velocity violates Einstein causality implying that cause and effect can be changed and time machines known from science fiction could be constructed. This naive analysis, however, assumes a signal to be a point in the time dimension neglecting its finite duration. A signal is not presented by a point nor by its front, but by its total length. On the other hand a signal energy is finite thus its frequency band is limited, the latter is a fundamental physical property in consequence of field quantization with quantum All superluminal experiments have been carried out with rather narrow frequency bands. The narrow band width is a condition sine qua non to avoid pulse reshaping of the signal due to the dispersion relation of the tunnelling barrier [4] or of any interacting medium. In consequence of the narrow frequency band width the time duration of the signal is long preserving causality in this way. However, superluminal signal velocity shortens the otherwise luminal time span between cause and effect.
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25 June 2001
COMPUTING ANTICIPATORY SYSTEMS: CASYS 2000 - Fourth International Conference
7-12 Aug 2000
Liege (Belgium)
Research Article|
June 25 2001
From superluminal velocity to time machines?
G. Nimtz;
G. Nimtz
1Universität zu Köln, II. Physikalisches Institut, Zülpicher Str. 77, D-50937 Köln, Germany
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A. A. Stahlhofen;
A. A. Stahlhofen
2Universität Koblenz, Institut fr Physik, Rheinau 1, D-56075 Koblenz, Germany
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A. Haibel
A. Haibel
1Universität zu Köln, II. Physikalisches Institut, Zülpicher Str. 77, D-50937 Köln, Germany
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AIP Conf. Proc. 573, 175–178 (2001)
Citation
G. Nimtz, A. A. Stahlhofen, A. Haibel; From superluminal velocity to time machines?. AIP Conf. Proc. 25 June 2001; 573 (1): 175–178. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1388688
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