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PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
without these bizarre advanced waves, causality would be violated in
the quantum theory. Feynman showed that if we add the contribution
of the advanced and retarded waves, we find that the terms that might
violate causality cancel precisely. Thus antimatter is essential to preserving causality. Without antimatter, causality might collapse.)
Feynman continued to pursue the germ of this crazy idea until it
eventually blossomed into a complete quantum theory of the electron.
His creation, quantum electrodynamics (QED), has been experimentally
verified to one part in 10 billion, making it one of the most accurate theories of all time. It won him and his colleagues Julian Schwinger and
Sin-Itiro Tomonaga the Nobel Prize in 1965.
(In Feynman's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he said that as a
youth he impulsively fell in love with these advanced waves from the
future, like falling in love with a beautiful girl. Today that beautiful girl
has matured into a grown woman and is the mother of many children.
One of those children is his theory of quantum electrodynamics.)
TACHYONS FROM THE FUTURE
In addition to advanced waves from the future (which have proven
their utility over and over again in the quantum theory) there is yet another bizarre concept from the quantum theory that seems just as
crazy, but perhaps not as useful. This is the idea of "tachyons," which
appear regularly on Star Trek. Anytime the writers of Star Trek need
some kind of new energy to perform some magical operation, they invoke tachyons.
Tachyons live in a strange world where everything travels faster
than light As tachyons lose energy, they travel faster, which violates
common sense. In fact, if they lose all energy, they travel at infinite velocity. As tachyons gain energy, however, they slow down until they
reach the speed of light.
What makes tachyons so strange is that they come with imaginary
mass. (By "imaginary," we mean that their mass has been multiplied
by the square root of minus one, or "i") If we simply take Einstein's fa-
PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
without these bizarre advanced waves, causality would be violated in
the quantum theory. Feynman showed that if we add the contribution
of the advanced and retarded waves, we find that the terms that might
violate causality cancel precisely. Thus antimatter is essential to preserving causality. Without antimatter, causality might collapse.)
Feynman continued to pursue the germ of this crazy idea until it
eventually blossomed into a complete quantum theory of the electron.
His creation, quantum electrodynamics (QED), has been experimentally
verified to one part in 10 billion, making it one of the most accurate theories of all time. It won him and his colleagues Julian Schwinger and
Sin-Itiro Tomonaga the Nobel Prize in 1965.
(In Feynman's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he said that as a
youth he impulsively fell in love with these advanced waves from the
future, like falling in love with a beautiful girl. Today that beautiful girl
has matured into a grown woman and is the mother of many children.
One of those children is his theory of quantum electrodynamics.)
TACHYONS FROM THE FUTURE
In addition to advanced waves from the future (which have proven
their utility over and over again in the quantum theory) there is yet another bizarre concept from the quantum theory that seems just as
crazy, but perhaps not as useful. This is the idea of "tachyons," which
appear regularly on Star Trek. Anytime the writers of Star Trek need
some kind of new energy to perform some magical operation, they invoke tachyons.
Tachyons live in a strange world where everything travels faster
than light As tachyons lose energy, they travel faster, which violates
common sense. In fact, if they lose all energy, they travel at infinite velocity. As tachyons gain energy, however, they slow down until they
reach the speed of light.
What makes tachyons so strange is that they come with imaginary
mass. (By "imaginary," we mean that their mass has been multiplied
by the square root of minus one, or "i") If we simply take Einstein's fa-