4 ms·

Could gravitational waves be faster than Light/EM? Faster than c event?

whatshisface 6y ago
They're not faster than C, but they could outrun a beam of light if there was some stuff hanging out in space and raising the index of refraction. In relativity the C limit is geometric, in the same way that "you can't make an apple bigger by rotating it around in your hands" is geometric.
- ncmncm 6y ago
  Not only can, but do. The intergalactic medium (IGM) is very diffuse, but not pure vacuum. The difference in arrival time of light and gravitational waves from an event billions of light years distant could help measure the density of the IGM. Incidentally, while it is very cold, the IGM is plasma, so obeys plasma fluid-dynamic laws, which is why the clouds seen at the ends of Active Galactic Nucleus jets, millions of light years across, can be visibly turbulent.
Ididntdothis 6y ago
No
steve76 6y ago
Here are my thoughts. Take them for what they are worth. I'm no professional. Someone who does this for a living will probably eye roll big time: Gravity is the force exerted on mass due to a curvature of spacetime. It's faster to slow down your clock to get an extra second, move, and speed up your clock again than to just move. That's Relativity. Stochastic models scale out the subatomic probability models deriving temperature and pressure needed for containment. Combined with the photoelectric effect, viewing Planck's law in terms of particles, provides a model for acceleration. Light transfers heat through electromagnetic radiation. No conductive surface, no convective medium. Your watch ticks, right? That's medium enough for nature. Every object already emits at the speed of light, the electromagnetic radiation. For the entire object to go the speed of light, everything around absorbs it, taking the easiest place to transfer heat. The closest to instantaneous effects from what I know is Bell's Theorem. Grow a spinning coin at the speed of light through everything that exists, then stop it. Your side will be heads. You know every other side will be tails. You don't travel at all and instead build one object out of a lot of other separate things. So to me, speed of light and gravity in terms of a theory of matter are a lot alike from very abstract physical models.

They're not faster than C, but they could outrun a beam of light if there was some stuff hanging out in space and raising the index of refraction. In relativity the C limit is geometric, in the same way that "you can't make an apple bigger by rotating it around in your hands" is geometric.

ncmncm 6y ago
Not only can, but do. The intergalactic medium (IGM) is very diffuse, but not pure vacuum. The difference in arrival time of light and gravitational waves from an event billions of light years distant could help measure the density of the IGM. Incidentally, while it is very cold, the IGM is plasma, so obeys plasma fluid-dynamic laws, which is why the clouds seen at the ends of Active Galactic Nucleus jets, millions of light years across, can be visibly turbulent.

Ididntdothis 6y ago

steve76 6y ago

Here are my thoughts. Take them for what they are worth. I'm no professional. Someone who does this for a living will probably eye roll big time: Gravity is the force exerted on mass due to a curvature of spacetime. It's faster to slow down your clock to get an extra second, move, and speed up your clock again than to just move. That's Relativity. Stochastic models scale out the subatomic probability models deriving temperature and pressure needed for containment. Combined with the photoelectric effect, viewing Planck's law in terms of particles, provides a model for acceleration. Light transfers heat through electromagnetic radiation. No conductive surface, no convective medium. Your watch ticks, right? That's medium enough for nature. Every object already emits at the speed of light, the electromagnetic radiation. For the entire object to go the speed of light, everything around absorbs it, taking the easiest place to transfer heat. The closest to instantaneous effects from what I know is Bell's Theorem. Grow a spinning coin at the speed of light through everything that exists, then stop it. Your side will be heads. You know every other side will be tails. You don't travel at all and instead build one object out of a lot of other separate things. So to me, speed of light and gravity in terms of a theory of matter are a lot alike from very abstract physical models.