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Hi Jim,
Here's my understanding
of how the speed of light can vary: You can think of the speed of
a particular light wave as being fixed by the relationship between
its wavelength and its frequency: (speed) = (wavelength) * (frequency)
. So in the scenario Lieu et al are talking about, both the frequency
and the wavelength of the light can vary independently by a tiny
amount (set by the Planck scale) because of the discreteness of
space and time. Thus the speed of that light wave will also vary.
It's worth noting that these experiments put limits on any such
variation - the speed of light is constant to within about one
part in 10^32.
Todd
On Thursday, April 3,
2003, at 03:27 PM, Jim McClellan wrote:
> We can measure the Planck time, reasoned Ragazzoni and Lieu,
by
> looking at
> distant objects. As a beam of starlight hops towards us through
> countless
> Planck times, its speed varies. This would smear the beam out
so that
> different parts arrive at different times and distort our picture
of
> where
> it came from. The longer the journey, the bigger the distortion.
>
> Todd:
> Why does the speed of light vary?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Todd Duncan" <duncan@scienceintegration.org>
> To: "SII listserv post" <science@lists.pdx.edu>
> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 11:01 PM
> Subject: graininess of the universe
>
>
>> Does anyone have any insights about this recent Nature
news update on
>> observations related to the "graininess" of spacetime?
>>
>> "Sharp images blur universal picture - Hubble measurements
suggests
>> Universe isn't as lumpy as it should be."
>>
>> http://www.nature.com/nsu/030324/030324-13.html
>>
>> Are the results really as big a concern as they make it
sound in the
>> article?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Todd
>>
>> "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
- Gandhi