Picture a scene in a park, where two kids named Silvia and Marco are deep in conversation. Marco sits comfortably on a bench feeding pigeons while Silvia rushes towards him. Breaking the tranquility of the moment Silvia excitedly exclaims, "Guess what? A swarm of spaceships from the Andromeda galaxy is heading towards Earth!" Marco responds calmly "Hmm I find that hard to believe." Now we're left with the question. Whos got it right?
Understanding the Andromeda Paradox
The Andromeda paradox takes its name from the galaxy itself. Revolves around the idea of simultaneity. Whether two events occur simultaneously. Separately depends on how they are observed. Lets go back to our scenario; Silvia, who is in motion perceives that the alien fleet is already on its way to Earth. However for Marco no invasion has started yet. This difference stems from Einsteins theory of relativity.
Einsteins Special Relativity and Loss of Simultaneity
Einsteins relativity is based on two fundamental principles; all reference frames are equal and light travels at a constant speed, across all reference systems.. Why does Silvia see things happening before Marco does? This paradox centers around what's known as the "loss of simultaneity."
The Andromeda galaxy, which is situated 2.5 million light years away captures our attention.
Subheading; Understanding the Andromeda Paradox
Lets imagine Silvia moving at a speed of 5 meters per second while the Andromeda galaxy is rapidly approaching the Milky Way at a higher velocity. Our focus here is on the time difference that Silvia perceives compared to what Marco doesn't notice. This can be calculated by dividing the product of Silvias distance traveled. Her speed by the square of the speed of light.
Subheading; The Rietdijk Putnam Penrose Argument
The Andromeda paradox represents one aspect of the Rietdijk Putnam argument as described by British physicist Roger Penrose in his book "The Emperors New Mind" published in 1989. Penrose vividly illustrates this phenomenon of non simultaneity in relativity. His remarkable contributions to physics earned him recognition with the Wolf Prize shared with Stephen Hawking in 1988 followed by a Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking research, on holes and general relativity.
Post a Comment