Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20416/lsrsps.v1i1.33

Keywords:

superluminal influences, principle of relativity, tachyons, quantum nonlocality, simultaneity, state reduction

Abstract

It continues to be alleged that superluminal influences of any sort would be inconsistent with special relativity for the following three reasons: (i) they would imply the existence of a ‘distinguished’ frame; (ii) they would allow the detection of absolute motion; and (iii) they would violate the relativity of simultaneity. This paper shows that the first two objections rest upon very elementary misunderstandings of Minkowski geometry and on lingering Newtonian intuitions about instantaneity. The third objection has a basis, but rather than invalidating the notion of faster-than-light influences it points the way to more general conceptions of simultaneity that could allow for quantum nonlocality in a natural way.

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Published

2014-07-01

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014): Numéro de lancement

Section

Research Paper

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

How to Cite

“Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity?”. 2014. Lato Sensu: Revue de la Société de Philosophie Des Sciences 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.20416/lsrsps.v1i1.33.