Tachyons

In physics and astronomy, hypothetical particles are studied that are capable of traveling faster than the speed of light. These hypothetical particles are called tachyons. Although Einstein's theory of relativity tells us that particles cannot travel faster than the speed of light, these types of particles are used to conduct various studies that yield great scientific benefits. If you want to learn more about modern physics and its concepts, you can consult what is quantum physics.

In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about tachyons and their characteristics.

What are tachyons

When we analyze the different particles that travel through space and time in physics or astronomy, we say that there is a limit to the speed of light. Whoever can travel faster than the speed of light can travel through time. Tachyon energy is born from the set of tachyons that are capable of traveling at high speeds. This type of energy is neutral and moves at a speed 27 times the speed of light. The tachyons are the components of this type of energy and corresponds to the energy of thought.

If we analyze it from the point of view of Einstein's theory of special relativity, the tachyon is a hypothetical particle that has a space-type quadrimoment. This implies that its energy and moments are real, its mass at rest would be an imaginary number. This makes its four-momentum negative. We analyze the moment of proper time and see that it will experience a tachyon, which is also imaginary. To delve deeper into how these concepts affect our understanding of the universe, you can read about what is astrophysics.

A curious effect of tachyons is that, unlike real particles, their speed increases as their energy increases. The consequence of this happening is due to special relativity. Hypothetically, we label a type of tachyon with a negative square mass. If we agree with Einstein, the total energy a particle has is its rest mass times the speed of light squared and multiplied by the Lorentz factor.

When tachyons are used for ordinary matter, we see that energy increases with velocity and becomes infinite as the velocity approaches the speed of light. If the mass is imaginary, the denominator of the fraction must also be imaginary in order to obtain energy as a real number. For the denominator to be imaginary, the square root must be negative. This will only occur if the velocity causes the particle to travel faster than the speed of light. This is where the tachyon is a particle that travels faster than the speed of light.

Limitations and field theory

It should be noted that tachyons are limited by the proportion of graphite spatial type that is obtained by analyzing energy and moment. Therefore, this hypothetical particle can never go at speeds lower than that of light. As a curious fact, as the energy of this particle decreases, its speed increases.

If tachyons existed and could interact with ordinary matter the principle of causality could be violated. This principle describes the relationship between causes and effects. It is a fundamental principle for all natural sciences, especially in the field of physics. Causality can also be studied from other perspectives such as philosophy, computation and statistics.

According to the theory of general relativity, it is possible to construct space-times in which particles can travel faster than the speed of light. This is a space-time that is always relative to a distant observer. For more details on the behavior of particles, we recommend that you read about the curious Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds.

If we look at field theory, we see that tachyons are usually a scalar field. In this case, it has a negative squared mass. The fact that such a particular exists means that there is an instability in the space-time vacuum. This is because the vacuum energy has a maximum instead of a minimum. A small impulse in this space-time could cause a decay of exponential amplitudes, producing a condensation of tachyons.

Tachyons also appear in many versions of string theory. This theory states that all we see are particles divided into electrons, photons, gravitons, etc. All of these particles are actually different vibrational states of the same string. Therefore, the mass of a particle can be deduced as the vibration exerted by the string. Tachyons appear in the spectrum of states of the permissible string, meaning that some states have negative squared masses. Therefore, they are imaginary masses.

Could tachyons answer questions about the universe?

The scientists Herb Fried, from Brown University, and Yves gabellini, from INLN-Université de Nice, believe that the mysteries of the Standard Model can be solved by tachyons. These scientists have even developed a model based on tachyons while trying to find an explanation for dark energy in space. The model they created encountered several mathematical difficulties because it included completely unexpected imaginary numbers.

We know that the rest mass of a tachyon is an imaginary number. This is not the case with ordinary particles. Scientists realized that by including fluctuating tachyon and anti-tachyon pairs, imaginary numbers that did not help to complete the calculations could be eliminated. They could also explain the rapid expansion of the universe in the initial moments of its creation.

These assumptions cannot be denied by any experimental test. However, the model fits perfectly with all the experimental data currently available on dark energy and the energy of inflation that occurred when the big bang created the universe.

All these calculations suggest that high-energy tachyons would be able to reabsorb almost all of the photons that are emitted and, therefore, they become invisible.