Three time dimensions, one spatial dimension: the relativity of super-observers in 1+3 space-time

How can our world be seen by observers moving faster than light in a vacuum? Such a picture will be clearly different from what we encounter every day. Theorists from the Universities of Warsaw and Oxford argue: “We should expect to see not only phenomena that occur spontaneously, without an identifiable cause, but also particles traveling simultaneously along multiple trajectories.”

And the very concept of time would also be completely transformed – the superluminous world must feature three dimensions of time and one spatial dimension and must be described in the familiar language of field theory. It turns out that the existence of such super-observers does not lead to anything logically inconsistent, moreover, it is quite possible that super-luminous objects really do exist.

In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein completely redefined the way we perceive time and space. Three-dimensional space acquired a fourth dimension – time, and the concepts of time and space, hitherto separate, began to be treated as a whole. “In the special theory of relativity formulated by Albert Einstein in 1905, time and space differ only in sign in some equations,” explains the professor. Andrzej Dragan, a physicist from the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Physics and the Center for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore.

Einstein based his special theory of relativity on two assumptions: Galileo’s principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed of light. As Andrzej Dragan argues, the first principle is crucial, which posits that the laws of physics in every inertial system are the same, and that all inertial observers are equal. “This principle usually applies to observers moving relative to each other at speeds less than the speed of light (c). However, there is no fundamental reason why observers should move with respect to the described physical systems at speeds greater than the speed to which light should not be subject,” Dragan argues. .

What happens when we assume – in theory at least – that the world can be seen from ultraluminous reference frames? There is a possibility that this could allow the basic principles of quantum mechanics to be integrated into the special theory of relativity. This revolutionary hypothesis of prof. Andrei Dragan and prof. Arthur Eckert of the University of Oxford first introduced it in an article titled “The Quantum Principle of Relativity” published two years ago in New Journal of Physics.

There they considered the simplified case of both families of observers in a space-time consisting of two dimensions: one spatial and one temporal. In its most recent issue of the magazine Classical and quantitative gravitytitled “Relativity for Super-observers in 1+3 Spacetime,” a group of 5 physicists goes a step further, presenting conclusions about the full four-dimensional spacetime.

The authors start with the concept of space-time corresponding to our physical reality: with three spatial dimensions and one time dimension. However, from the point of view of the super-observer, only one dimension of this world retains spatial character, the dimension along which particles can move.

“The other three dimensions are time dimensions,” explains the professor. Andrey Dragan. “From the point of view of such an observer, the particle ‘lives’ independently at each of the three times. But from our point of view—the luminous bread-eaters—it appears to be simultaneous motion in all directions of space, i.e. the propagation of a quantum-mechanical spherical wave associated with a particle,” he comments. the professor. Krzysztof Turzyński, co-author of the research.

It is, as explained by prof. Andrzej Dragan, according to Huygens’ principle formulated in the 18th century, according to which each point a wave reaches becomes the source of a new spherical wave. This principle was initially applied only to the light wave, but quantum mechanics has extended this principle to all other forms of matter.

As the publication’s authors demonstrate, the inclusion of supermonitors in the description requires the creation of a new definition of velocity and kinetics. The paper’s authors established that “this new definition maintains Einstein’s hypothesis of the constancy of the speed of light in a vacuum even for super-observers.” “So our extended special relativity doesn’t seem like a particularly extravagant idea,” Dragan adds.

How does the description of the world to which we introduce the Super-Watchers change? After the supersolutions are taken into account, the world becomes non-deterministic, the particles – instead of one after the other – begin to move along many trajectories at once, according to the quantum superposition principle.

Andrzej Dragan notes: “For the observer above the luminosity, the classical Newtonian point particle ceases to make sense, and the field becomes the only quantity that can be used to describe the physical world.” Until recently, it was generally believed that the basic assumptions of quantum theory were fundamental and could not be derived from anything more fundamental. In this work we showed that the justification of quantum theory using extended relativity can naturally be generalized to 1+3 space-time and such extension leads to conclusions that posit Quantum field theory,” the authors write.

So it seems that all particles have unusual properties in extended special relativity. Do you work in the opposite direction? Can we detect normal particles of superluminosity, that is, particles that move relative to us at superluminous speeds?

“It’s not that simple,” says the professor. Krzysztof Turzyński. “The abstract experimental discovery of a new fundamental particle is a Nobel Prize-worthy achievement that can be achieved in a large research team using the latest experimental techniques. However, we hope to apply our results to a better understanding of the spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomenon associated with the mass of the Higgs particle and other particles in the Standard Model, especially at the beginning of Universe “.

Andrzej Dragan adds that the key component of any spontaneous symmetry-breaking mechanism is the tachyonic field. It seems that superluminous phenomena may play a major role in the Higgs mechanism.