Where is the Planck time?

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

It is widely believed that the Universe was created in a violent (kT ˜ h/tP ≈ 1029 eV) explosion lasting tP ≈ 5.4 x 10-44 s, where tP = (\hbar G/c5)(1)/(2), the Planck time, is an interval during which even time is a fuzzy concept. We present a method of directly testing whether time has its usual (i.e. classical) meaning on scales of <= tP. If indeed time and space cannot be known more precisely than tP and c tP, the same must apply to the period and wavelength of light, so that even the most monochromatic plane wave must in reality be a superposition of waves with independently varying ω and k, each having a different phase velcocity ω /k. For the entire accessible range of the electromagnetic spectrum this effect is extremely small, but can cumulatively lead to a complete loss of phase information if the emitted radiation propagated a sufficiently large distance. Since, at optical frequencies, the phase coherence of light from a distant point source is a necessary condition for the presence of diffraction patterns when the source is viewed through a telescope, such observations offer by far the most sensitive and uncontroversial test. We show that the HST detection of Airy rings from the active galaxy PKS1413+135, located at a distance of 1.2 Gpc, secures the exclusion of all first order Planck scale space-time fluctuations. This result may be used to deduce that the speed of light in vacuo is exact to a few parts in 1032.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Where is the Planck time? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Where is the Planck time?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Where is the Planck time? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-999674

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.