Faster Than Light: Superluminal Loopholes in Physics

by Nick Herbert

Overview

"Even though most physicists believe that the speed of light is as fast as anyone can go, Einstein's theory of special relativity does not rule out faster-than-light (FTL) travel. On the contrary, it seems to indicate that certain superluminal or FTL effects would permit us to re-experience the past: time travel would become a reality, not science fiction. Through this crack in the cosmic egg steps Herbert, a Stanford physicist and author of Quantum Reality, who summarizes clearly current speculation and theory about faster-than-light travel. Along with space warps, black holes and tachyons (hypothetical FTL particles), he looks at the so-called 'quantum connection'--an alleged force said to instantaneously link any two subatomic particles long after they have bumped into each other. Free of the woolgathering that tints much writing on the 'new physics', this brave, exciting book should send scientists back to their drawing boards; for the nonspecialist reader, it reveals a world much stranger than Star Trek."--Publishers Weekly

"Original, challenging, and audacious."--San Diego Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780452263178
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/30/1989
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Nick Herbert is the author of Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics, Faster Than Light: Superluminal Loopholes in Physics, and Elemental Mind: Human Consciousness. Dr. Herbert holds a PhD in experimental physics from Stanford University. He has taught science at all levels, from graduate school to kindergarten. With his wife Betsy, he developed a hands-on home-schooling science curriculum.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Fence-Makers and Fence-Breakers: A Fascination with Limits
Chapter 2. Is Time Travel Possible? Einstein Says No; Minkowski Says Maybe
Chapter 3. Things That Go Faster Than Light
Chapter 4. Phase Waves: Superluminal Vibes in the Upper Atmosphere
Chapter 5. Advanced Waves: Oscillations That Travel Backward in Time
Chapter 6. Space Warps: Superluminal Shortcuts in Curved Space-Time
Chapter 7. Deviant Denizens of the Timestream: Tachyons, Antiparticles, and Neutral Kaons
Chapter 8. The Quantum Connection: Superluminal Shortcut in Configuration Space
Chapter 9. Softening the Superluminal Paradox
Related Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

Even though most physicists believe that the speed of light is as fast as anyone or anything can go, Einstein's theory of special relativity does not rule out faster-than-light (FTL) travel. On the contrary, it seems to indicate that certain superluminal or FTL effects would permit us to re-experience the past: time travel would become a reality, not science fiction. Through this crack in the cosmic egg steps Herbert, a Stanford physicist and author of Quantum Reality , who summarizes clearly current speculation and theory about faster-than-light travel. Along with space warps, black holes and tachyons (hypothetical FTL particles), he looks at the so-called ``quantum connection''an alleged force said to instantaneously link any two subatomic particles long after they have bumped into each other. Free of the woolgathering that tints much writing on the ``new physics,'' this brave, exciting book should send scientists back to their drawing boards; for the nonspecialist reader, it reveals a world much stranger than Star Trek. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly