Superluminal (Part 2 of 4): Scientists Unveil Mind-Blowing Topology of Space as They Shatter Light Speed Limits!

Simplified String Theory

In 1994, Professor Dr. Günter Nimtz and his colleague, Horst Aichmann, conducted groundbreaking experiments at Hewlett-Packard that involved transmitting information faster than light. They successfully transported a signal over a very short distance at a speed 4.7 times that of light, thanks to a phenomenon called quantum tunneling. This remarkable result has ignited heated discussions among scientists, yet it remains reproducible.

FASTER-THAN-LIGHT?

As improbable as it sounds, I was present in 1999 when Professor Dr. Nimtz transmitted an AM-modulated microwave signal of Mozart’s 40th symphony through a Bose double prism at 4.7 times the speed of light.

Nimtz’s quantum tunneling experiment, 1999

As the webmaster of a Sci-Fi-themed news website called the “Museum of the Future,” I was constantly on the lookout for intriguing topics. One day, I stumbled upon an article about Dr. Nimtz and the enigmatic processes of superluminal quantum tunneling. Intrigued, I reached out to him, and he graciously agreed to demonstrate his experiment.

The following is an excerpt from the original article I wrote about Nimtz’s experiment on September 9, 1999, titled Faster Than Light Transmission Of Signals:

“Having met Prof. Dr. Nimtz for the first time I was shown his new tunneling experiment. As a lay person I’m not able to launch immediately into an in-depth scientific interpretation of his experiment but I will dutifully try to comprehend what I saw today, and try and share my insights and questions and make the data available as they become known.”

“I present here for the first time world-exclusive pictures of Prof. Nimtz’s new experiment setup.”

In this experiment, the quantum-tunneled signal was measured against a signal traveling through ordinary laboratory space. To demonstrate this, Dr. Nimtz employed an oscilloscope and a detector diode to accurately gauge the tunneling time.

Mozart at 4.7 Times the Speed of Light

In anticipation of potential questions in the future, I prepared a short video six years ago that includes the last surviving recording of the superluminal Mozart transmission.

Technical Questions

In August 2023, I corresponded with Horst Aichmann, the engineer behind the quantum tunneling experiment and a co-author with Professor Nimtz on various related papers. I inquired about the modulation and detection of the signal timing. He provided the following information:

“During our timing measurements, I created a pulse modulator equipped with specialized filtering, enabling a repetition rate of 13 MHz and a rise time of approximately 500 picoseconds. The AM signal provides an easily detectable and measurable trace, thanks to a fast detector diode coupled with a sufficiently rapid oscilloscope.”

If we indeed accept the existence of superluminal effects originating from quantum tunneling, we can conclude that this phenomenon allows a particle to enter a strictly localized tachyonic state, for a very short period of time.

Superluminal tunneling has been successfully performed hundreds of times in laboratories worldwide, demonstrating its applicability in everyday technology. For instance, the fingerprint reader on your smartphone utilizes quantum tunneling. You may not think about it, but it simply works!

Fingerprint Readers and Quantum Tunneling

Fingerprint readers use quantum tunneling to get your fingerprint
Image: http://pubs.sciepub.com/ijp/3/1/7/index.html

When quantum tunneling occurs with a red laser pointer (operating at a frequency of several hundred terahertz), the evanescent tachyonic field only extends a few picometers because of the high frequency.

During Nimtz’s experiments, he utilized a frequency of 8.7 GHz, which coincidentally matched the wavelength of Helium-3 emissions. This particular frequency enabled his evanescent field to be detectable over several centimeters between prisms. (It just happened that the microwave emitter available in the university lab operated at this frequency.)

Interestingly, it appears that the lower the frequency used, the more extensive the evanescent field extends from the barrier.

Replications (this is a great subject for your Science Fair project!)

Recently, this groundbreaking experiment was replicated by Peter Elsen and Simon Tebeck, who presented their findings at “Jugend forscht,” Germany’s prestigious student physics competition, in 2019. Their work earned them first prize from Rheinland-Pfalz as well as the Heraeus Prize for Germany.

Left: Former chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, right: “Jugend Forscht” winner Peter Elsen (17)

References:
Superluminal Tunneling: “Jugend forscht” winners.
“Jugend forscht” Winners meet the German Chancellor


What is a brane? (Topology and String Theory in a nutshell)

The rule that nothing can move faster than light has a little-known exception: evanescent waves. Various explanations have been tried to account for this phenomenon.

Illustration of dimensions, from zero to four dimensions
NerdBoy1392, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

My explanation is simple: a photon is the smallest possible unit of topology, geometry, dimension, information, energy, or anything. Topologically, a photon is a zero-dimensional point in space; it is a quantum of zero (0) dimension.

In the mesmerizing ballet of quantum tunneling, this photon, this pure potential, traverses a barrier. In doing so, it transforms; as a point transitions from one locality to another, it becomes a line—a string. It is this very string, that delicate filament, which finds its place in the grand narrative of string theory. Suddenly, we have transcended from the ethereal realm of the zero-dimensional to the tangible reality of a one-dimensional object.

In the lexicon of theoretical physics, we might also refer to this one-dimensional string as a “brane,” existing within a confined, one-dimensional space devoid of the tapestry of time.

What is a brane?

In the realms of string and quantum theory, a 1-brane are one-dimensional “objects or waves” that traverse space-time—not through classical laws, but governed by the principles of quantum physics. When we consider one-dimensional space, we omit the fourth dimension, which is time.

In this context, photons or strings can move superluminally. This isn’t merely an abstract mathematical idea; it reflects our reality.

Evanescent waves result from photons re-entering the four-dimensional non-quantum realm, allowing us to witness the faster-than-light movement of a photon traversing a barrier.

It’s space, Jim, but not as we know it

Albert Einstein explained his theory of special relativity using geometry by the mathematician Hermann Minkowski, who unified space and time into a four-dimensional spacetime continuum.

For his theory of general relativity, Einstein employed Riemannian geometry—a branch that includes the concept of curved space—to describe how mass and energy distort spacetime.

This “topology,” the curved space model, has held an endless fascination for us since early times.

A human meditating on the Riemann Sphere

A sphere exists in 3 and 4 dimensions. In zero- and one-dimensional realms, the sphere (and time) do not exist, because these dimensions lack the necessary structure to define a “surface” or “volume,” let alone “time.”

Is it “time” to move beyond the Riemann sphere in our understanding of the cosmos?

Click here for “Superluminal,” part 3:
Unlocking the Mind: Are Human Brainwaves Defying the Speed of Light?


The “Superluminal” series:
1. The Discovery Of Faster-Than-Light Brainwaves: An illustrated journey
2. Scientists Unveil Mind-Blowing Topology of Space as They Shatter Light Speed Limits!
3. Unlocking the Mind: Are Human Brainwaves Defying the Speed of Light?
4. Unveiling the Mystery of Faster-Than-Light Consciousness


Can information travel faster than light

When there is no time, there is no space (and vice versa)

…from the photon’s perspective, time does not exist. At the speed of light, time effectively shouts: “HALT!” Whether or not photons actually speak German is irrelevant. Important is: “When there is no time, there is no space.”

Image: hologram of a photon, Univ. of Warsaw

One of Günter Nimtz’s claims regarding superluminal tunneling is that the tunneling process occurs faster than light. Most physicists concur with this assertion; for instance, Aephraim Steinberg stated that the results on quantum tunneling are “robustly superluminal.” The contention arises from Nimtz’s suggestion that a signal can be transmitted faster than light, which anyone can hear, thereby challenging the no-communication theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem .

Thus, on one hand, physicists agree that particles can quantum-tunnel faster than light, while on the other hand, they maintain that this phenomenon cannot be used to transmit information. Yet, it raises the question: if we can perceive such signals, how does this reconcile with the established limits of communication in physics?

Interestingly, Aephraim Steinberg from the University of Toronto has called quantum tunneling “robustly superluminal.” (https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-tunnel-shows-particles-can-break-the-speed-of-light-20201020/). He has measured this by using “Larmor clocks,” which is a different way of saying he measured the spin of photons before and after entering the tunnel.

So, he transmitted the spin position of a photon at superluminal speed. How is this not “transmitting information?” He transmitted information about the state of the photon, and measured its change after superluminal travel through the quantum tunnel. Didn’t he violate the no-communication theorem? And why is he allowed to transmit information on the photon spin at superluminal speed, and Nimtz from the University of Cologne can’t transmit AM modulated waves with Mozart?

SIMPLIFIED string theory

For simplification, I have described a photon as a quantum entity, a point, or a 0D (zero dimension) brane. The word “brane” comes from the word “membrane” and the physicists who came up with string theory left out the “mem”. When the photon undergoes tunneling, it behaves like a 1D (one dimensional) string. A 1D string is a “one-brane” membrane, but the physicists who came up with string theory thought it would sound better to give it a different name. I think.

NerdBoy1392, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

So, In both 0D and 1D contexts, the concepts of time and space, as we know them, do not exist. You need the fourth dimension to have space and time. What I have done here is to illustrate the particle/wave duality.

My simplification has not much in common with “real” string theory. I called it “string” theory because two points (photons) connected by a line look like a string. A string can be a wave. A point is a particle.

Moreover, there is a common assertion that “in quantum mechanics, particles exist in spacetime.” From our perspective, a photon certainly exists in spacetime as it travels from point A to point B.

However, from the photon’s perspective, time does not exist. At the speed of light, time effectively shouts: “HALT!” Whether or not photons actually speak German is irrelevant. Important is: “When there is no time, there is no space.”

This agrees with time-dilation at c.

————————

Second opinion: “A Photon’s Point of View”

by Steve Nerlich (PhD), Director, International Research and Analysis Unit, Australia

“A photons view” by Christopher Vitale of Networkologies and the Pratt Institute

“From a photon’s point of view, it is emitted and then instantaneously reabsorbed. This is true for a photon emitted in the core of the Sun, which might be reabsorbed after crossing a fraction of a millimeter’s distance. And it is equally true for a photon that, from our point of view, has traveled for over 13 billion years after being emitted from the surface of one of the universe’s first stars. So it seems that not only does a photon not experience the passage of time, it does not experience the passage of distance either.”
End quote

The photon follows a null geodesic; this is the path that massless particles follow. That’s why it’s called “null”; its interval (its “distance” in 4D spacetime) is equal to zero, and it does not have a proper time associated with it.


Difference of SIMPLIFIED string theory to “real” string theory

In real string theory, any particle, at any time, is a string. In my simplified version, a particle following a null geodesic, not influenced by gravity or fields of any kind, is a 0D (zero dimensional) point.

“Real” string theory vs the simplified version

It is only by interacting with external fields, gravitational, electromagnetic or objects, that the particle (photon) gains the first dimension. The photon is slowed down, and it becomes a “string.” The length of this string is analogous to its deceleration and possible wave “length.”

So, a very high energy-photon, for instance in the gamma ray spectrum, is a relatively short “string,” which translates into a short wavelength. A short string makes short wavelengths.

If the photon is slowed down more, for instance, by hitting the dense atmosphere of a planet, it becomes longer and can express an infrared wavelength. A longer photon string makes longer wavelengths, and it interacts differently with its environment.

QED

A Photon’s Point of View (archive)
https://web.archive.org/web/20240423185232/https://phys.org/news/2011-08-photons-view.html

A Photon’s Point of View
https://phys.org/news/2011-08-photons-view.html

Images
left: Hologram of a single photon, Univ. of Warsaw
https://geometrymatters.com/hologram-of-a-single-photon/