MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Look up the definition of coherent light for the definition
Where are the interplanetary laser comms? CSC64
- Thread starter Yenaldlooshi
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MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Okay. I looked that stuff up. You previously said that this applied to all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Does it still apply at quantum-level wavelengths, smaller than Gamma. How about at the other end of the spectrum? Wavelengths measured in kilometers instead of meters?
Have all of those been checked as well? I can't find any information on tests of those ranges. It seems to be a situation very similar to Newton before we found examples of where Newtonian Physics breaks down. Newtonian Physics was never proven inaccurate on Earth. It was only when we looked off Our planet that we found it's flaws.
Yenaldlooshi
Cosmic Mongoose
MasterGwydion's point is exactly that our human understanding (and therefore your understanding) of physics can be subject to change. You know what you know now, but in a thousand years we might know something different, just as peer reviewed then as a thing is now. Should you bet your life right now that it will be different and in what ways? No, you shouldn't. The stakes are too high if you are talking about your life. Is it ok to say it's different in a science fiction role playing game? Yes, I think so. Especially if it improves the rules mechanics, thus playability, thus fun. Traveller only needs to have an illusion or veneer that it is realistic, because it is not realistic to try to make it actually realistic.
Sure, but the characteristics of those are predictable, they will travel at light speed, be subject to the inverse square rule etc.
And... it's fair to say that laboratory created elements potentially do exist in nature, but only briefly and in extremely small amounts. The main reason for this is that they decay into more stable elements in very short periods of time; even if a large amount of them were somehow created in a supernova or from supermassive black hole interactions, within a few months at most they would be something else. With the possible exception of the theoretical island of stability... but even that may only have half-lives on the order of days anyway. Still far more stable than half lives of miliseconds.
And... it's fair to say that laboratory created elements potentially do exist in nature, but only briefly and in extremely small amounts. The main reason for this is that they decay into more stable elements in very short periods of time; even if a large amount of them were somehow created in a supernova or from supermassive black hole interactions, within a few months at most they would be something else. With the possible exception of the theoretical island of stability... but even that may only have half-lives on the order of days anyway. Still far more stable than half lives of miliseconds.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
What effect will be had by adding shaped and focused gravitational fields along the laser's flight path to maintain coherence? This is just one possible way that future generations could exceed our understanding of the universe but also our ability to manipulate the rules of the universe. How many more ways have we not thought of?
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Go tell that to the guy that wrote up the Jump Drive. That is basically what he did.
And any Referee can happily do the same. It's YTU and Rule Zero territory.
IN ANY CASE, current technology does let us communicate between planets, and it's already just a matter of signal strength and ability to detect it. It's clear that the only real barrier to communication between Traveller spaceships and/or planetary or orbital facilities would be time delay and (aside from Meson comms) something physically blocking the line of sight such as one party being on the far side of a world.
IN ANY CASE, current technology does let us communicate between planets, and it's already just a matter of signal strength and ability to detect it. It's clear that the only real barrier to communication between Traveller spaceships and/or planetary or orbital facilities would be time delay and (aside from Meson comms) something physically blocking the line of sight such as one party being on the far side of a world.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
How far to you think these grav projectors reach in the Trav universe?
Gravity obeys the inverse square law, so my guess is not far enough to make much practical difference. Maybe you're getting a 100 watt signal instead of a 4 watt one. I don't really have the in depth optics knowledge to say for certain.
TNE posited grav assisted lenses to aid laser focussing. So the idea's been looked at before.
TNE posited grav assisted lenses to aid laser focussing. So the idea's been looked at before.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Does it though? If so, black holes with infinite gravity should have no limit as to their range. Since, what is the Inverse-Square when the mass of the object is infinite?
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Black hole | Definition, Formation, Types, Pictures, & Facts | Britannica
Black hole, cosmic body of extremely intense gravity from which nothing, not even light, can escape. It can be formed by the death of a massive star wherein its core gravitationally collapses inward upon itself, compressing to a point of zero volume and infinite density called the singularity.
www.britannica.com
Indeed. If they did then everything in the universe would be be subject to infinite gravitational pull and would be infinitely accelerated towards them and the universe would cease to exist in 1/infinity seconds.
Even if we concede that a Black Hole could have very high gravitational pull, it would surely just bend the laser beam toward it (and likely into it). To focus it you would need several Black Holes in exactly the the right place to exert enough gravity to focus but not enough to divert the beam. If you chose the path carefully and in an infinite universe found the right combination of Black Holes where their current gravity was exactly at the right level to each other (and remained constant) you might be able to focus, but only in that specific line.
They'd be more likely to pull the beam apart than pull it together.
So not really possible, or practical even if it were.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Micro black holes can theoretically be created along the "laser's" path, using particle accelerators or the like, creating gravitational lenses and keeping the "beam" together for longer distances. If the micro black holes are created in the center of the beam, then it would bend the beam back inwards so that the beam would not spread as much.
Yes?
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
You may want to read it.Black hole | Definition, Formation, Types, Pictures, & Facts | Britannica
Black hole, cosmic body of extremely intense gravity from which nothing, not even light, can escape. It can be formed by the death of a massive star wherein its core gravitationally collapses inward upon itself, compressing to a point of zero volume and infinite density called the singularity.
Intense gravity is not infinite.
Similarly black holes can have a range of masses, from the primordial microscopic black holes the to the several stellar mass black holes and then finally the monster black holes found at the centre of galaxies with millions of stellar masses.
But not infinite.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Why not just use the particle accelerators to carry your message in the first place...
or better yet input the same energy yo your original laser beam...
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
I am not saying that it would be a smart way to do it. I am just saying that, even with current knowledge,it is theoretically possible, so who knows what kind of stuff they will come up with in the next several thousand years.
Did you not read the last sentence?
"The crushing weight of constituent matter falling in from all sides compresses the dying star to a point of zero volume and infinite density called the singularity."
If you are had a way of keeping the particle beams required to generate those Black Holes focussed along the path of the laser beam they why would you need the Black Holes?
What is a "micro" black hole. You can't get much more "Micro" than a singularity. Do you mean black holes with a microscopic Schwarzchild radius? Or do you mean with micro gravity (which means they won't attract anything)?
A Black Hole in the centre of the beam would attract the light in the beam to it, and if any of it crossed the event horizon, the light itself would be unable to escape. The closer the beam to the hole, the more it is diverted toward the hole making control extremely difficult. If the black holes gravitational pull it is capable of pulling in the far edge of the beam (but not so great it will pull it all the way in) then it will still also pulling back once the light passes the singularity.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Yes, certainly not far enough to help interplanetary laser comms
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