Slashdot Mirror
Double Pulsar Discovered
jabberjaw writes "Nature is reporting that a set of two pulsars could be emitting gravitational waves. Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, but a gravitational wave has yet to be detected. Find out more about gravitational waves and pulsars at Eric Weisstein's World of Physics."
The answer is a resounding...we dunno!
We have determined that it is at least 2x10^8 m/s, however, it may be as much as 3.6x10^8 (faster than light). We honestly don't know. I'm pretty sure I heard my quantum mecanics professor at the University of Arizona mention something about Einstein's theories requiring light and gravity to equal in speed, but I'm an aerospace engineer, not a quantum physicist. If they do equal...if the sun were to disappear, we would see the light of the sun and still be fine orbit wise for about 8 minutes. Kinda funny to think about.
As for the faster-than-light communications, we could do that with tangled photons. Einstein was troubled by the fact that quantum entanglment causes an instantaneous change across a large distance. It's been used in a large number of sci-fi novels, including Orson Scott Cards Ender's Game series of books.