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According to a recent study in New Scientist light may have slowed down.
quote:
The cosmic speed limit - the speed of light - may have reduced as the Universe matured. New research seems to confirm hints that one fundamental constant, and possibly the speed of light as well, has changed slightly over time.
The notion turns traditional physics on its head. "If it holds up, it surely has to be one of the more important discoveries in fundamental physics," says John Webb, an astrophysicist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
Webb's team has done an extremely careful analysis, says David Tytler, an astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego: "This paper is at the top end as far as detail and checking are concerned."
The new analysis is based on measurements of what is called the "fine structure constant". This constant, which depends on three other supposedly fixed quantities - including the speed of light - can be deduced from the wavelengths of light absorbed by gas clouds between Earth and distant quasars.
I know this is an idea that has been knocking around for a little while, but I believe these may be the first observable results.
Not sure if it's strangely reassuring or oddly terrifying that even universal constants can't quite make it up the stairs as fast as they used to.
[ 17-08-2001: Message edited by: ephemerat ] |
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