Fermi captures space-time theory evidence

[The Straight Story]

Fermi captures space-time theory evidence


WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- NASA says its Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope ended its first year of operation by obtaining a measurement that is evidence of the structure of space-time.

....

But capping those achievements is a measurement that provides rare experimental evidence about the very structure of space and time, unified as space-time in the theories of the late theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.

On May 10, Fermi and other satellites detected a short gamma ray burst that scientists think occurs when neutron stars collide, NASA said. Of the many gamma ray photons Fermi detected from the 2.1-second burst, two possessed energies differing by a million times. Yet, scientists said, after traveling some 7 billion years, the pair arrived just nine-tenths of a second apart.

"This measurement eliminates any approach to a new theory of gravity that predicts a strong energy dependent change in the speed of light," said Peter Michelson, Fermi's principal investigator at Stanford University. "To one part in 100 million billion, these two photons traveled at the same speed. Einstein still rules."

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/10/28/Fermi-captures-space-time-theory-evidence/UPI-42321256758304/

[phantom power]

1. That does constrain new theory directions. Useful.

[Richard Steele]

2. Fascinating stuff. K&R

[Subdivisions]

3. After travelling together for 7 billion years...

I bet those photons are sick to death of each other.

Are we there yet? I gotta pee...

[gratuitous]

5. Together? You know how long 0.9 seconds is in photon time?

They'd probably need the yearbook and three beers to remember each other.

[Subdivisions]

8. Yeah, I know...but it doesn't facilitate the joke if you think about them as

having been 167,400 miles apart during their long journey.

:hi:

[Salviati]

7. Not to worry...

From their point of view, they just left. Haven't even needed to take a pit stop yet.


For objects moving at relativistic speeds, time appears to slow down for objects moving relative to an outside observer, the faster an object goes, the slower time appears to be moving. If something is moving at the speed of light, then time appears to stop. Of course, from the moving object's perspective, time appears to be flowing at a normal rate, but the distance between outside objects shrink, so that the distance between the supernova and earth would seem much shorter to a fast moving object than to us. To a photon, they essentially seem to be right on top of each other.

[wtmusic]

4. Peter Michelson related to Albert of Michelson-Morley?

It would kinda make sense.

[hunter]

6. 7 billion years is no time at all to a photon.

I don't want to be anywhere near the neighborhood of two neutron stars colliding. 7 billion years seems like a safe distance.

[Ikonoklast]

10. The energy released must have been stupendous.

Give you a nice tan, I bet.




Right before getting instantaneously vaporized into sub-atomic particles, that is.

[Cyrano]

9. I'm waiting for the next Galileo, or Newton, or Einstein.

He or she may be among us now, or is being born at this very instant, or may not appear for another hundred years, or another millennium.

But it seems inevitable that our current perceptions of space/time/gravity, the speed of light, the realities of the universe, (and perhaps "reality" itself), will be greatly changed when/if the mysteries of "dark matter" and "dark energy" are ever explained.

Do parallel universes exist? Are we all living in some inexplicable version of "The Matrix?" Is the current universe we perceive one that has been reborn over and over, and will continue to do so throughout our definition of "eternity?"

At present, regardless of what we think we know, we are like ants trying to grasp the meaning and function of a single grain of sand.

Nonetheless, the curiosity that drives our species should/must be admirable to any superior or more sophisticated life forms that may be aware of our existence.

[ret5hd]

11. I suspect our species is derided as all being on the "short bus" ...

by any intergalactic watchers out there.

[hunter]

12. As Dr. Who says...

"I'm a very dangerous fellow when I don't know what I'm doing."

Given human nature somebody will figure it out and then somebody else will build a bomb, a tiny little planet-breaker of a bomb.

The next Galileo, Newton, or Einstein probably isn't going to be remembered by anyone as there won't be anyone left to remember.

[dysfunctional press]

13. on a side note- did you know that super dave osborne is albert einstein's brother...?

THIS albert einstein, that is.

[MilesColtrane]

14. One hundred eighty six thousand miles per second...

It's not just a good idea, it's the law.

[Cyrano]

15. Perhaps

At one time, the religious powers that be declared that the Earth was the center of the universe. They believed that everything in the sky rotated around the Earth every 24 hours. When Galileo disputed this, he was thrown into a dungeon until he recanted.

No one believes more than I that Albert Einstein was perhaps the greatest genius who has ever lived. Yet, we humans have not even reached our adolescence as a species.

One hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second seems to be the speed limit of light (or of anything else). Yet, I can't help but question whether this will be proven to be incorrect (or perhaps even an illusion) at some point in the future.

Newton's theories seemed absolute until Einstein came along. We humans are still in the infancy of our quest for knowledge. But the good news is that, there are those among us who are driven by that quest.