Tachyonic antitelephone

A tachyonic antitelephone is a hypothetical device in theoretical physics that could be used to send signals into one's own past. Albert Einstein in 1907^[1]^[2] presented a thought experiment of how faster-than-light signals can lead to a paradox of causality, which was described by Einstein and Arnold Sommerfeld in 1910 as a means "to telegraph into the past".^[3] The same thought experiment was described by Richard Chace Tolman in 1917;^[4] thus, it is also known as Tolman's paradox.

A device capable of "telegraphing into the past" was later also called a "tachyonic antitelephone" by Gregory Benford et al.^[5] According to current understanding of physics, no such faster-than-light transfer of information is actually possible.

^ Einstein, Albert (1907). "Über das Relativitätsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen" [On the relativity principle and the conclusions drawn from it] (PDF). Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik. 4: 411–462. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
^ Einstein, Albert (1990). "On the relativity principle and the conclusions drawn from it". In Stachel, John; Cassidy, David C; Renn, Jürgen; et al. (eds.). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 2: The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900-1909. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 252. ISBN 9780691085265. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
^ Miller, A.I. (1981), Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905–1911), Reading: Addison–Wesley, ISBN 0-201-04679-2
^ R. C. Tolman (1917). "Velocities greater than that of light". The theory of the Relativity of Motion. University of California Press. p. 54. OCLC 13129939.
^ Gregory Benford; D. L. Book; W. A. Newcomb (1970). "The Tachyonic Antitelephone" (PDF). Physical Review D. 2 (2): 263–265. Bibcode:1970PhRvD...2..263B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.2.263. S2CID 121124132. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-07.

[Einst-1] Einstein, Albert (1907). "Über das Relativitätsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen" [On the relativity principle and the conclusions drawn from it] (PDF). Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität und Elektronik. 4: 411–462. Retrieved 2 August 2015.

[Einsttransl-2] Einstein, Albert (1990). "On the relativity principle and the conclusions drawn from it". In Stachel, John; Cassidy, David C; Renn, Jürgen; et al. (eds.). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 2: The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900-1909. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 252. ISBN 9780691085265. Retrieved 2 August 2015.

[3] Miller, A.I. (1981), Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905–1911), Reading: Addison–Wesley, ISBN 0-201-04679-2

[tol-4] R. C. Tolman (1917). "Velocities greater than that of light". The theory of the Relativity of Motion. University of California Press. p. 54. OCLC 13129939.

[ben-5] Gregory Benford; D. L. Book; W. A. Newcomb (1970). "The Tachyonic Antitelephone" (PDF). Physical Review D. 2 (2): 263–265. Bibcode:1970PhRvD...2..263B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.2.263. S2CID 121124132. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-07.

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