POSTED AT
12:00 AM ON Apr. 26, 2005
| PRINT |
Email
| SHARE
| COMMENTS (0)
When Alan Kostelecky presented his latest paper at the April meeting of the American Physical Society, Albert Einstein might have rolled over in his grave.
Kostelecky, a theoretical physics professor at IU, conjectures that light is a result of small violations in the theory of relativity. This hypothesis is just the latest work for the physicist, who has devoted the past 20 years to searching for minuscule flaws in Einstein's century-old theory of special relativity.
Kostelecky isn't alone in this endeavor. He is just one of many physicists across the world who now believe special relativity -- the backbone of many scientists' theoretical framework of the universe -- could have some holes in it. These physicists have been trying for years to find empirical proof of their suspicions, but so far all research in that area has failed to find conclusive violations in relativity. The experimentation Kostelecky suggests in his paper, however, could be just the tool physicists need to punch a hole in the theory of relativity.
When Einstein's paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" was published in 1905, it established a theory regarding the interactions of time, distance, mass and energy in the absence of gravity -- in other words, inside a vacuum -- for motion up to the speed of light. The concept, called the "special theory of relativity," was the precursor to the "theory of general relativity," which added a description of gravity.
Both theories are essential parts of physicists' attempts to mathematically explain all forces in the universe -- a concept called the "theory of everything." This theory is the Holy Grail for theoretical physicists, but it does have problems. Using current methods, it would take far more energy than humanity is capable of producing to test the theory of everything. In fact, it would require an atom smasher 18 times more powerful than the largest available today, Kostelecky said.
"It's a billion, billion times larger an energy scale than has been achieved in the biggest machines," he said.
Because of this handicap, Kostelecky said he realized there was no tangible, experimental basis for the sorts of theoretical pursuits physicists were working on.
"Virtually all theories that have been created have been based on clues on physics first," he said. "It's very hard to try to come up with a theory that is so far beyond the ken of physics at the moment."
So Kostelecky began looking at ways to conduct experiments that would bring physicists closer to understanding a theory of everything and uncovering violations of special relativity.
Almost more importantly, he also developed the "Standard Model Extension," a theoretical framework that combined existing theories, including general relativity, while taking into consideration violations of relativity.
For the last 15 years, this new model has consumed Kostelecky's time.
Unfortunately, all experimental research examining the Standard Model Extension has yet to yield any proof of violations in relativity.
But this new bit of theory stating that light is derived from violations in relativity shows promise because light can be measured so precisely under current methods.
The base of this proposal is that light violates Lorentz symmetry, an idea that requires the laws of physics to be the same for all observers.
"Special relativity is basically a statement that the world has Lorentz symmetry," Kostelecky said.
He explained that special relativity is like being stranded in a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no landmarks around -- it is impossible to tell which direction anything is. With his theory, Kostelecky said it's like giving the stranded person a compass.
"In Einstein's relativity, if it's exact, if you look in a direction, you can't tell what direction it is," he said. "That's true in space, but it's true in space time as well."
This phenomenon stems from the symmetry of relativity, said Robert Bluhm, a professor of theoretical physics as Colby College, who co-authored the paper with Kostelecky.
"There is a symmetry in relativity that says the laws of physics are the same for everyone," Bluhm said.
Although nothing has been proven yet, if scientists do find this theory to be correct, it would represent a major discovery, said Michael Snow, a professor of experimental physics at IU.
"If that experiment is correct and is verified by other people and by independent means, it would be a revolution in physics," he said.
But to Kostelecky, proving that relativity is not symmetric just makes sense.
"Many people argue that Einstein's special relativity is so beautiful because it's symmetric," he said. "To me, things that are beautiful are things that aren't quite symmetric. It's something close to perfect symmetry."
-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Zennie at mzennie@indiana.edu.