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arXiv:1106.2258

Is the Consequence of Superluminal Signalling to Physics Absolute Motion through an Ether?

Remi Cornwall

Published Jun 11, 2011• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In an earlier paper the author expounded an interferometer scheme to communicate classical data over an entangled quantum channel. We return to this concept to show that the laws of Quantum Mechanics are not violated and that the device is able to affect the statistical blend of the quantum states (and that this can be detected) but not the statistics - i.e. the physics of observables. The ideas of superluminal information transfer, discussed in the previous paper, are taken forward to develop a notion of absolute space, time and motion with relativistic effects ascribed to motion through an absolute reference frame - as the logical consequences dictate, permeated with a material causing the 'relativistic' effects. The reciprocal nature of the Lorentz Transform is shown to fail under superluminal signalling - one frame will be absolutely time dilated and length contacted; thus a full 'Ether Transformation' (though this cannot be a group) and a velocity addition law are derived, the Twin's Paradox is reconsidered. It would seem, in Special Relativity at least, that the phenomenological effects of motion are placed in an absolute, logical, materialistic setting, rather than a confusing relative one that, perhaps, allows no further inspection of just 'what it is' causing the effects. The author then discusses whether this programme can be carried forward into General Relativity with the space-time distortions ascribable to changes in the properties of the ether but on the whole describable in 3-space.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1106.2258

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In an earlier paper the author expounded an interferometer scheme to communicate classical data over an entangled quantum channel. We return to this concept to show that the laws of Quantum Mechanics are not violated and that the device is able to affect the statistical blend of the quantum states (and that this can be detected) but not the statistics - i.e. the physics of observables. The ideas of superluminal information transfer, discussed in the previous paper, are taken forward to develop a notion of absolute space, time and motion with relativistic effects ascribed to motion through an absolute reference frame - as the logical consequences dictate, permeated with a material causing the 'relativistic' effects. The reciprocal nature of the Lorentz Transform is shown to fail under superluminal signalling - one frame will be absolutely time dilated and length contacted; thus a full 'Ether Transformation' (though this cannot be a group) and a velocity addition law are derived, the Twin's Paradox is reconsidered. It would seem, in Special Relativity at least, that the phenomenological effects of motion are placed in an absolute, logical, materialistic setting, rather than a confusing relative one that, perhaps, allows no further inspection of just 'what it is' causing the effects. The author then discusses whether this programme can be carried forward into General Relativity with the space-time distortions ascribable to changes in the properties of the ether but on the whole describable in 3-space.
We understand emergent quantum mechanics in the sense that quantum mechanics describes processes of physical emergence relating an assumed sub-quantum physics to macroscopic boundary conditions. The latter can be shown to entail top-down causation, in addition to usual bottom-up scenarios. With this example it is demonstrated that definitions of "realism" in the literature are simply too restrictive. A prevailing manner to define realism in quantum mechanics is in terms of pre-determination independent of the measurement. With our counter-example, which actually is ubiquitous in emergent, or self-organizing, systems, we argue for realism without pre-determination . We refer to earlier results of our group showing how the guiding equation of the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation can be derived from a theory with classical ingredients only. Essentially, this corresponds to a "quantum mechanics without wave functions" in ordinary 3-space, albeit with nonlocal correlations. This, then, leads to the central question of how to deal with the nonlocality problem in a relativistic setting. We here show that a basic argument discussing the allegedly paradox time ordering of events in EPR-type two-particle experiments falls short of taking into account the contextuality of the experimental setup. Consequently, we then discuss under which circumstances (i.e. physical premises) superluminal information transfer (but not signaling) may be compatible with a Lorentz-invariant theory. Finally, we argue that the impossibility of superluminal signaling - despite the presence of superluminal information transfer - is not the result of some sort of conspiracy (á la "Nature likes to hide"), but the consequence of the impossibility to exactly reproduce in repeated experimental runs a state's preparation, or of the no-cloning theorem, respectively.
The field of scalar and vector potentials in electrodynamics is shown to represent an informational field capable of superluminally transmitting a signal (information) with no energy and momentum transfer. This conclusion strictly follows from Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic field interacting with electric charges and currents in vacuum, without resort to any additional hypotheses. That superluminal communication is possible is seen from the fact that the own field, generated by particles and inseparable from them, transforms the environment into a special physical medium which is capable to instantaneously transfer a signal (information) about any changes, happening to a particle in the region of its basic localization, to arbitrarily large distances. The phenomenon of superluminal communication is caused by the non-local connection of scalar and vector potentials with the electric and magnetic field strengths. The basis for the mechanism of superluminal communication considered in this work is the Aharonov-Bohm effect indicative of the field of electromagnetic potentials as a real physical field, which directly influences the behaviour of electron waves. The conclusion is made that in quantum systems superluminal signals occur constantly, in any quantum processes. The occurrence of superluminal signals is due to the space-time symmetry breaking of a special kind, consisting in that the equations for potentials do not possess relativistic invariance though Maxwell's equations for the field strengths are Lorentz-invariant. The results presented do not contradict the physical principles underlying special relativity and confirm the fundamental conclusion, made for the first time by de Broglie, that gauge invariance is not an absolute law in physics
A means and protocol is presented to send information on the Bell Channel to achieve the effect of superluminal signalling. The method is to use detection of a photon entangled state as one binary digit and either of the collapsed states as the complement digit - this is the protocol. The means to affect this detection is by use of an interferometer set-up able to resolve two interfering pathways corresponding to the two polarization states of the photon. To achieve interference of the horizontal and vertical components Faraday rotators are used to bring both components into diagonal polarization, this operation is unitary. Modulation is caused by the remote signaller collapsing one aspect of the photon wavefunction; a physically secure channel sending information superluminally results. A preliminary discussion into the clash and the hopeful resolution with Relativity theory is presented - it is noteworthy that at the instant of transmission between the two stations that there is no transfer of mass-energy to instigate communication but the transmission of a quantum state - pure information only.
It continues to be alleged that superluminal influences of any sort would be inconsistent with special relativity for the following three reasons: (i) they would imply the existence of a distinguished' frame; (ii) they would allow the detection of absolute motion; and (iii) they would violate the relativity of simultaneity. This paper shows that the first two objections rest upon very elementary misunderstandings of Minkowski geometry and lingering Newtonian intuitions about instantaneity. The third objection has a basis, but rather than invalidating the notion of faster than light influences it points the way to more general conceptions of simultaneity that could allow for quantum nonlocality in a natural way.
It continues to be alleged that superluminal influences of any sort would be inconsistent with special relativity for the following three reasons: (i) they would imply the existence of a ‘distinguished’ frame; (ii) they would allow the detection of absolute motion; and (iii) they would violate the relativity of simultaneity. This paper shows that the first two objections rest upon very elementary misunderstandings of Minkowski geometry and on lingering Newtonian intuitions about instantaneity. The third objection has a basis, but rather than invalidating the notion of faster-than-light influences it points the way to more general conceptions of simultaneity that could allow for quantum nonlocality in a natural way.
Abstract Particles cannot travel faster than the speed of light, nor can information. Nonetheless, this assumption has been frequently questioned over the years. This includes radical proposals like tachyons that can be observed in particle accelerators to more subtle ideas like studying superluminal causation to find classical explanations for quantum correlations. Most recently, it has been argued (Dragan and Ekert 2020 New J. Phys. 22 033038) that in a world with superluminal observers local determinism is impossible, linking the two pillars of physics-quantum theory and relativity-suggesting that the latter serves as the foundation for the former. Motivated by this approach, in this work, we extend the framework of quantum reference frames to incorporate superluminal Lorentz transformations. We apply this conceptual result to examine an apparent paradox where particles acquire negative energies after undergoing a superluminal Lorentz boost and propose a resolution within our framework. A consequence of this resolution is that different observers no longer agree whether a particle is incoming or outgoing or in a superposition of the two. We further find a similar apparent paradox for the entropy and/or temperature under superluminal Lorentz boosts and resolve it in an analogous fashion. Finally, we discuss Bell experiments under superluminal quantum reference frame transformations, showing that the involved probabilities still remain conserved. By applying the toolbox of quantum reference frames, we start charting an unexplored territory of superpositions between sub-and-superluminal quantum observers which gives rise to new conceptual questions.