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The phase coherence of light from high redshift sources - evidence against the General Relativistic linkage between gravity and large scale space curvature
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Lieu, Richard Mittaz, Jonathan P. D. |
| Copyright Year | 2003 |
| Abstract | The manifestation of diffraction pattern in the HST/NICMOS image of ex-tragalactic point sources indicate that the phase coherence of optical light is maintained through a distance of propagation reaching the Hubble limit. The phenomenon can in fact be used as an extremely sensitive probe of the physical world in a parameter regime far from that of the laboratory. In a previous work we demonstrated, using this probe, that the speed of light has an accuracy sufficient to enable an exclusion of Planck scale space-time fluctuations. Here we examine the phase evolution of light as it passes through a Universe containing many massive bodies. According to General Relativity, these masses can influence the light beam from a remote distance by their gravitational fields, resulting in a net change of the beam direction-the curvature of space. We show that if the effect is present, the random motion of the masses will cause an inevitable loss of longitudinal phase coherence from photons emitted by high redshift sources, i.e. the sources will appear blurred. The situation is reminscent of stars twinkling as their light is scattered by a turbulent atmosphere. Since the NICMOS images clearly point to the absence of such behavior, the limit we obtain invalidates General Relativity as applied to space at the grandest scale. It also excludes the possibility of a reduction in the Hubble constant at locations where the gravitational field has the equivalent value of 1 AU or more from the sun. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0308305v4.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
