Jim Choate writes:
> In the most striking of the new experiments a pulse of light that
> enters a transparent chamber filled with specially prepared cesium gas
> is pushed to speeds of 300 times the normal speed of light. That is so
> fast that, under these peculiar circumstances, the main part of the
> pulse exits the far side of the chamber even before it enters at the
> near side.
It is not exactly a well-kept secret that the envelope of a waveform may
move at arbitrary velocity through a medium, even though the wave itself
propagates at a much lower speed.
This does not allow one to convey information at faster than light
velocities, and is just an artifact produced by carefully interfering
waveforms with closely spaced frequencies.
It's a cute experiment, but I'm not buying stock in the IPO.
--
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
