Fundamentals of Time Dilation and Quantum Electrodynamics Confirmed

10/08/2014 03:34AM

Fundamentals of Time Dilation and Quantum Electrodynamics Confirmed

Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, together with Quantum Electrodynamics, which was formulated by Richard Feynman among others, are two important fundamentals of modern physics. A research group at the Technische Universitat Darmstadt in Germany in cooperation with several international universities and institutes, re-examined these theories in experiments at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research. Even though these two theories have been observed and experimentally verified many times in the past (and both have passed all the tests so far), the scientists wanted to explore any possible limits of the two theories. The results confirm the time dilation predicted for high velocities in the theory of relativity and the concept of Quantum Electrodynamics with an accuracy that has never before been achieved.


Comments:

I find the whole time stopping/light speed a conundrum<br><br>So if the photon moves at the speed of light and time stops at that same speed the photon sees zero time. <br><br>So the photo that leaves a star 2 light years away sees zero time when it hits your eye. It has now traveled twice as fast as measured light speed. Speed being distance/time and 0+0=0<br><br>The point at which time stops must be slightly higher then the measured speed of light or it does not ever truly stop. <br><br>Go ahead: say "it's relative"
  • tbennett [Thomas Bennett]
  • 10/14/2014 12:24AM
From my decades-ago recollection of special relativity class, there's also a foreshortening (length contraction) along the direction the photon is moving so the distance that appears as 2 light-years (or any distance for that matter) to us would appear as zero distance to the photon. From the photon's POV, it has traveled zero distance in zero time compared to our observation that it has traveled 2 light years distance in 2 years time. Neither frame-of-reference should show the photon traveling faster than c.