School of Physics - Theses

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    The physics of faster than light objects
    Dawe, Ross Leslie ( 1990)
    A new formulation of the theory of tachyons is developed using the same two postulates as in Special Relativity. Use is made of a "switching principle" to show how tachyons automatically obey the laws of conservation of energy, momentum and electric charge. Tachyonic transformations of spacetime position, velocity, momentum, energy, force and acceleration are rigorously derived from first principles. Further tachyonic transformations are derived from Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field components E, B, D, H, P and M, current and charge densities, scalar and vector potentials and the electromagnetic field tensor. It turns out that there are two main types of transformations which apply when going from a bradyonic inertial reference frame to a tachyonic inertial reference frame and vice versa. The first type involves the same transformations as apply for subluminal frames, but with the inclusion of factors of either +i or -i when crossing the light barrier. Examples of this type of transformation include spacetime position, energy, momentum, acceleration, electromagnetic scalar and vector potentials, electric charge density and current density. The second general type of transformation has exactly the same form for u 2 < c2 and u2 > c2 , examples of which include velocity, force and the electromagnetic field vectors E, B, D, H, P and M. Here u is the boost speed between the two inertial reference frames. Several examples are given to show how tachyons can produce real and measurable effects. It turns out that the electromagnetic field produced by a charged tachyon takes the form of a "Mach cone", inside which the electromagnetic field is real and detectable. The field outside the cone is imaginary and undetectable because the field has not yet arrived from the source. Tachyons also exhibit a Doppler effect, which is a blueshift for approach and a redshift for recession, just as for bradyons. The transverse Doppler effect is a redshift for c2 < u2 < 2c2 but is a blueshift for 2c2 < u2. Tachyons also produce an "optic boom" effect when the observer contacts the edge of the Mach cone, while inside the cone the observer experiences the "two source effect" t whereby the tachyon appears to be in two separate and mutually receding places. This means that electromagnetic fields and potentials are given by a superposition due to an “earlier” and a “later” source. Further examples include calculations of the magnetic dipole moment of a tachyonic current loop and of the speed of light in a tachyonic dielectric. (Part Abstract)