by Eric B » Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:23 pm
Since tachyons would have imaginary mass (not simply "negative", houserichichi, but rather the square root of a negative), adding them together will not produce a real mass particle, but simply a greater imaginary quantity.
(also, the math dictates that these would necessarily move faster than light, with the speed of light as the asymptotically slowest limit).
Then, there's the causality problem from the Lorenz Time cintractions. If you fire one out at thousands of times the speed of light, it will still take years and maybe even centuries and more to reach other parts of the universe, but the problem arises if it is intercepted by a traveler moving away from us at relativistic speeds (approaching the speed of light where the Lorentz contractions become quite significant), and then they try to fire it back to us at the same speed we sent it (but in their inertial frame of reference, now). The math predicts that it would return earlier than it was sent. (though I wonder if there might be some sort of "cosmic censorship" principle that would prevent that).
So it is believed that if tachyons exist, they do not interact with matter, but inhabit basically a ghost realm with the space and time coordinates reversed.
What evidence is offered that neutrinoes are tachyons?