Physicists Theorize Invisible Hypothetical Particles "Tachyons" Might Be Prevailing Over Whole Universe

Hello, Everyone!

The Universe encompasses many mysteries waiting to be uncovered; the two most debatable concepts are still waiting to be discovered and proven with evidence: dark matter and dark energy. However, in a quest to solve this mystery physicists have theorized a concept of invisible hypothetical particles that might significantly prevail over the entire universe. These invisible and hypothetical particles, called TACHYONS, could span the entire universe, have imaginary mass, and travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light. Fascinating isn't it?

Let us have an overview of TACHYONS.

About Tachyons:

->These are invisible theorized subatomic particles that travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.

->The theory of special relativity outlines that mass is equivalent to energy contained by an object.

This can be understood by E=mc^2; where E=Energy contained by the object,m=mass of an object & c=speed of light.

This implies that mass and energy are equivalent and are related to one another. Mass changes according to the object but the speed of light is a constant value and is the same at every point in the universe.

Since the speed of light (c) is squared in the equation so the smallest mass moving with the speed of light has immense energy in it.

As the object moves at high speed its mass significantly increases which is very minor at normal speeds but if the speed nears that of light the mass observed of an object gets infinitely large.

According to the concept of special relativity, particles that consist of a mass are unable to move at a speed near to or greater than the speed of light in a vacuum because then in that case they would consist of infinite energy. However w.r.t tachyons; these particles are believed to contain an imaginary mass which implies their if their mass is squared then we have a negative value of their mass. This can be understood in the picture of the note below:

The tachyons; these particles are believed to contain an imaginary mass which implies their if their mass is squared then we have a negative value of their mass.

This means tachyons can travel at speeds greater than the speed of light without disrupting the fundamental concepts of physics.

->According to the second law of Newton in Newtonian mechanics:

We have Force=Mass* Acceleration=>F=m*a ; where F is the Force on an object,m is the mass of an object and a is the acceleration.

Thereforea=F/m i.e. acceleration is inversely proportional to mass for any given force

which implies an increase in mass would lead to a decrease in acceleration & decrease in mass would lead to more acceleration for any given force.

However, when we talk about the relative effects of acceleration, we must analyze the increase in mass with velocity according to the special relativity theory that if the mass of an object moves at a speed faster than that of light then it immensely gets massive. {E=mc^2} i.e. since Energy and mass are equivalent. Thus , when an object travels at a speed near to speed of light, its mass increases, and henceforth its acceleration decreases. Because high energy would be needed to accelerate an object with such a high mass as per E=mc^2.

->Several observations have been done using CERENKOV DETECTOR{ equipped with the proficiency to calculate the speed of a particle traversing across a medium} to trace tachyons.

->In a vacuum it is impossible for a particle to traverse at a speed greater than that of light; however, the speed of a particle may become greater than the speed of light in other medium.

Interestingly; if a particle traverses with a speed higher than the speed of light in a medium then a CERENKOV RADIATION is observed.

Now let us have a deeper analysis of TACHYONS:

Physicists have theorized a concept of invisible hypothetical particles that might significantly prevail over the entire universe. These invisible and hypothetical particles, called TACHYONS, could span the entire universe and have imaginary mass, and travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light.

Pic Source: New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16796-faster-than-light-tachyons-might-be-impossible-after-all/

According to a recent paper which is yet to be reviewed by other physicists, the physicists presumed that the entire universe entails Tachyons -invisible and hypothetical particles that travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light. This theory might revolutionize our concepts regarding -causality and time dilation.

Let us explain it one by one. What is causality and how do tachyons traversing at the speed of light disrupt the concept of causality?

According to causality law which is one of the primary concepts in philosophy and science, outlines that the preceding event is the reason behind any event to take place. More easily, we can say this in cause and effect equivalency i.e. every effect has a cause which had led to this effect, similarly every cause will bring about an effect.

Now to understand how it will get disrupted if tachyons travel with the speed of light let us have a quick overview of a few concepts.

Time Dilation According To The Special Theory Of Relativity: The special theory of relativity on time dilation stated by Albert Einstein details that time is not a constant and is relative according to the relative motion between the observers. The time for a moving object moving relative to an observer will seem to be passing slowly to an observer. This gets more dominant when an object moves with the speed of light relative to an observer. This implies that if an object or a particle moves at or greater than the speed of light the time passing for that object or a particle to an observer will appear to be passing very slowly.

We can further understand this by a basic quantity in special relativity called LORENTZ FACTOR /GAMMA FACTOR represented by a symbol γ which is observed in different equations outlining the relative effects for instance time dilation. There are other relativistic effects too such as relativistic mass and length contraction. Here firstly we will understand time dilation.

The Lorentz factor is defined by :

γ =1/√1-v^2/c^2 ; where v=velocity of an object relative to an observer

c=speed of light in vacuum.

For the pursuit of analyzing time dilation the Lorentz Factor describes the relative motion b/w:{as described in the pic of the notes below}

As the velocity v ->speed of light then thelorentz factor becomes infinity so the time interval as seen by the fixed observer will be very large i.e the moving observer will appear to be moving very slowly to the fixed observer

Thus as the object or a particle approaches the speed of light, it appears to be moving very slowly to the stationary observer. Hence we can say that the time is dilated.

How Causality Is Disrupted Due To Time Dilation: Now in extreme time dilation the cause and effect relation gets disrupted as the object traveling at a speed faster than light may appear to be moving backward in time to a stationary observer which ultimately disrupts our understanding of the fundamental concept of Causality, that every cause results in an effect in which chronologically cause is before effect. But if an object or a particle is moving faster than the speed of light then this chronology is broken making the effect to be occuring before the cause, leading to inconsistencies in logic.

Tachyons are hypothetical particles and do not exist however if they exist and move faster than the speed of light our fundamental concepts of causality are violated. However, the physicists are still intrigued by tachyons regardless of whether the causality principle is violated.

Scientists believe that tachyons may be similar to dark matter, the matter that is prevalent in every object existing in the universe. Though scientists have been in a dilemma about dark matter till now, they keep coming up with notions to ultimately better understand dark matter.

As per scientists' observations, the tachyons prevalent in the universe could make the expansion rate of the universe slow down prior to getting accelerated. The current expansion rate of the universe is accelerating due to an anti-gravitational force that pulls the universe away called dark energy, the tachyon universe framework can significantly make us understand dark matter as well the dark energy at the same instant of time.

To validate the conventional universe model consisting of dark matter and dark energy, the model was applied to the findings of Type 1a Supernova {a kind of highly potent explosion which occurs generally in binary star systems} to forge a relation amid distance and rate of expansion of the universe by the physicists. By findings from Type 1a supernovas scientists explored that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate during the end of the 1990s.

The mind-blowing part is according to the physicists the tachyon cosmological model significantly clarifies the supernova findings similar to the conventional cosmological model incorporated with dark matter and dark energy. This is the most intriguing part for astronomy and astrophysics enthusiasts, hinting that the tachyon concept is so radical.

As per the physicists, the data is available to them in large amounts i.e. the cosmic microwave background which is a left-out radiation emanating after the Big Ban explosion & data about how the galaxies are existing at very far-off distances. The next step as per the physicists is to validate this radical Tachyon universe model against the data about the wide-ranging universe.

There is a possibility that the Tachyon Universe model might not be able to pull through the careful analysis and tests. However, physicists believe that radical cosmological ideas are essential to be poised towards developments in the cosmological realm.

The results of the physicists' team are safely stored in the computer system arxiv which is getting printed in advance.

Thank You.

References:

https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/dark-matter/the-universe-may-be-dominated-by-particles-that-break-causality-and-move-faster-than-light-new-paper-suggests