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Light's Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes ... Backwards?
University of Rochester ^ | 11 May 2006 | Staff (press release)

Posted on 05/12/2006 7:42:17 AM PDT by PatrickHenry

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To: RightWhale

I believe it was actually oog the neanderthatl who postulated, no light, no cave panting, leading to Einsteins theory that information was limited by light.

And of course in the future some people will choose another way of controlling information using something called "The Dark Side" of the force, negating this theory.


21 posted on 05/12/2006 8:02:32 AM PDT by Waverunner
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To: battlecry

I'm flabbergasted!
22 posted on 05/12/2006 8:03:00 AM PDT by Coop (Proud founding member of GCA - Gruntled Conservatives of America)
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To: Yo-Yo
" Good luck with that. A perfect square wave of frequency x consists of the fundamental sine wave x plus the sum of all odd harmonic sine waves of frequency x."

Well, sure, everybody knows that. But what if you send it through the Stargate two or three times first? ;-)

23 posted on 05/12/2006 8:04:17 AM PDT by Pablo64 ("Everything I say is fully substantiated by my own opinion.")
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To: Waverunner

Einstein said a lot of things, but 'information' isn't in the index to his tract 'The Meaning of Relativity'. He also said that if chose to leave his second wife no force on earth could stop him.


24 posted on 05/12/2006 8:06:33 AM PDT by RightWhale (Off touch and out of base)
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To: PatrickHenry

"an optical fiber that had been laced with the element erbium"

So, if the fiber needed to be repaired or upgraded, that would be kinda like erban renewal?


25 posted on 05/12/2006 8:08:44 AM PDT by Clioman
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To: fungoking
If the girls in space dress like the ones on (Star Trek), sign me up!

Be careful of what you ask for on this forum. There are twisted people who (a) know how to use Photoshop, (b) have images of Helen Thomas on their computers, and (c) have waaay too much time on their hands.

26 posted on 05/12/2006 8:09:02 AM PDT by Fudd
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To: PatrickHenry

Bump.


27 posted on 05/12/2006 8:09:20 AM PDT by techcor
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To: Pablo64
Well, sure, everybody knows that. But what if you send it through the Stargate two or three times first? ;-)

Well, that'll stun your beeber, which is very series!

28 posted on 05/12/2006 8:10:34 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
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To: PatrickHenry

Really nice article, PH. Every time I see a new physics breakthrough I'm painfully reminded of how specialized fields in science have become, because, to be quite honest, I really don't truly understand much of the physics they're talking about at all.


29 posted on 05/12/2006 8:12:34 AM PDT by Quark2005 (Confidence follows from consilience.)
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To: PatrickHenry

Wow, fascinating.


30 posted on 05/12/2006 8:14:18 AM PDT by TAdams8591
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To: PatrickHenry

"As the pulse enters the material, a second pulse appears on the far end of the fiber and flows backward."


Sounds more like a reflection to me than a case of light "flowing backward." The only thing that seems odd about it when viewed in that way is the timing, i.e. that the second pulse appears immediately at the far end of the fiber, apparently just after the initial pulse enters the fiber.

So your first thought is that it can't be a reflection because the initial pulse has not yet gotten to the end of the fiber. However, they say that a portion of the light impulse is apparently flowing faster than its normal speed. I wonder if they just mean the normal speed thru the material, which might very well be less than the speed of light in a vaccuum. If so, then I'm not too suprised by the result. In fact, if that's the case, then it seems like they are making a mountain out of a mole hill.


31 posted on 05/12/2006 8:15:44 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: PatrickHenry

There's a difference betwixt group velocity and phase veolcity.


32 posted on 05/12/2006 8:23:52 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch ist der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: PatrickHenry

I'm not a physicist, but this smells like BS to me.


33 posted on 05/12/2006 8:24:02 AM PDT by BadAndy ("Loud mouth internet Rambo")
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To: Coop
Whooooaaa....


34 posted on 05/12/2006 8:24:19 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: Yo-Yo

"Sdrawkcab tou gnimoc era stsop ym "
""sdrawkcab krow t'nseod rekcehclleps ruoY""

OAML


35 posted on 05/12/2006 8:27:07 AM PDT by BadAndy ("Loud mouth internet Rambo")
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To: PatrickHenry

How do they know it wasn't going backward in the first place?


36 posted on 05/12/2006 8:27:45 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper
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To: PatrickHenry
This short column talks about what appears to be a similar phenomenon and why it doesn't violate relativity.
37 posted on 05/12/2006 8:39:36 AM PDT by Quark2005 (Confidence follows from consilience.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Light's Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes ... Backwards?

Haven't these guys ever heard of a mirror? Next they'll be telling us that men and women are different.

38 posted on 05/12/2006 8:43:44 AM PDT by TheDon (The Democratic Party is the party of TREASON!)
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To: PatrickHenry

It's all smoke and mirrors.


39 posted on 05/12/2006 8:49:27 AM PDT by subterfuge (Call me a Jingoist, I don't care...)
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To: PatrickHenry

How does the leading edge of the wave of the pule of light contain the information on the whole wave? Is that not impossible by definition?


40 posted on 05/12/2006 8:55:08 AM PDT by Bones75
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