Einstein After obtaining the time expansion formula and ruler shrink formula, it is found that any mass object will face the problem of "infinite" when it reaches the speed of light.
means that time expands to infinity and space shrinks to infinity. What’s more serious is that after the object is at the speed of light or exceeds the speed of light, there will be an imaginary that has no practical significance.
Physics is a discipline that describes the real world. It does not allow infinite existence, nor does it allow meaningless imaginary numbers. Therefore, the speed of light is the fastest speed in the universe. This is the most unbreakable iron law in our universe. The movement of any object cannot exceed the speed of light in a vacuum.
But the universe is so great that there is no
Sometimes there is an incredible " super-light speed " phenomenon: a pair of neutron stars 140 million light years away from the earth ejected high-energy particle streams during the merger process. The flight speed of these high-energy particle streams seems to reach 7 times the speed of light.
In 2015, the US Laser Interference Gravitational Wave Observatory detected the gravitational wave event generated by the merger of double black holes for the first time. Einstein's General Relativity was further verified. In August 2017, the Laser Interference Gravitational Wave Observatory and Virgo detected gravitational waves again. Unlike the last time, this gravitational wave event came from the merger of two neutron stars . This event was named GW170817 . It was this merged neutron star that emitted a high-energy particle flow at super-light speed.
neutron star is the product of supernova explosion . It was once the collapse core of a massive celestial body. Among the countless celestial bodies in the universe, the size of neutron stars is simply a small point. Their diameter is only about 20 kilometers on average, and , but the mass of neutron stars is very high, which is equivalent to compressing the sun into a space smaller than a city.
Therefore, its density is very high, and is one of the most dense celestial bodies in the universe.
According to NASA's calculations, a spoonful of matter on a neutron star weighs 4 billion tons, and high density means high gravity. The surface gravity of a standard neutron star is about 700 billion times that of the earth. If a person jumps downwards 1 meter from the surface, his speed can be accelerated to 1 million kilometers per hour at the moment he drops to the surface.
This amazing density brings strong gravity to neutron stars, so that in the GW170817 event, the two neutron stars merged together. Their collision instantly caused gravitational wave ripples in the space-time structure, and scientists followed these ripples to trace their origins: A distant galaxy that is 2.13 billion light-years away from Milky Way galaxy. The merger of black holes is invisible, but the merger of neutron stars is dazzling and gorgeous. After the GW170817 merger event occurred, the gravitational wave signal arrived at the earth first, and the frequency increased from 24 Hz to several hundred Hz, which lasted about 100 seconds. After the gravitational wave reached the earth 1 1.7 seconds, NASA's Fermi satellite observed the subsequent gamma radiation flash.
This is the first and only cosmic event in which detects gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation at the same time.
In a comprehensive tracking observation, scientists found that the neutron star merged and generated a high-energy particle flow. Through the observation of the Hubble Space Telescope and the discovery of the National Science Foundation , scientists pieced together the detailed process of this event and calculated the approximate movement speed of the particle flow.
Judging from the observations of Hubble Telescope , the speed of these ejected particles in seems to reach 7 times the speed of light.
Is Einstein's general theory of relativity going to be broken?
is obviously unlikely at the moment. Although some people think that superluminal speed does exist, it is actually just an illusion of "super luminous motion" . This phenomenon is not uncommon in the universe and is often found in celestial events that can produce near-light jets.
The reason for the illusion is related to the speed of matter and the direction of flight. Their speed is generally close to the speed of light, and part of it flies towards the earth. Taking GW170817 as an example, the jet itself is close to the earth at a speed close to the speed of light. The light emitted behind is closer to the earth every time, and the distance between and the earth is shorter, so the time for these lights to reach the earth will continue to shorten. So they seem to be much faster than they actually are.
With some additional calculations, scientists came up with its real speed: is at least 99.97% of the speed of light, which is already very fast under the existing physics system.
But the Milky Way is big, and the universe is bigger
If we cross the Milky Way at the speed of light, it will take 100,000 years. If we want to cross the entire observable universe , it will take about 93 billion years. The former may still be able to complete the entire journey using hibernation technology, but the latter's time span is almost eternal for humans.
Can humans be locked in a square land in the Milky Way by the speed of light?
In general theory of relativity, Einstein not only predicted gravitational waves, but also predicted the existence of "wormhole" . Wormholes are not unfamiliar with science fiction works. For example, there is a plot of wormholes in the famous science fiction movie "Interstellar". Wormholes are thin tubes of time and space that link the distant universe, which can allow us to span millions of light-years in a very short time.
The essence of the wormhole is not super-light speed, but "snap the shortcut" , so the iron law of light speed has not been broken. Many theories proposed by Einstein have been confirmed, and it may only be a matter of time before the discovery of the wormhole is discovered.
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