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Cosmology and Astronomy :
Is the speed of light constant?
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Jim1348 Send message Joined: 17 Nov 14 Posts: 134 Credit: 5,412,499 RAC: 11 |
Magueijo proposed that to solve one of the biggest physics problems, called the “horizon problem,” we might have to challenge the idea that the speed of light is constant. The problem states that the universe reached a uniform temperature long before energy-carrying photons traveling at constant speed could have had the time to reach all corners of the expanding universe. http://qz.com/846498/the-speed-of-light-is-constant-physicists-plan-to-test-a-new-theory-that-questions-einsteins-assumptions/ This appears to be relevant to Cosmology, or vice-versa. |
![]() Volunteer moderator Project administrator Project scientist ![]() Send message Joined: 24 Jun 07 Posts: 192 Credit: 15,273 RAC: 0 |
Hi Thanks for your post. Yes this is relevant to cosmology. At this point the best measurement of the claimed very precise prediction by the varying speed of light hypothesis is consistent with the world's best constraints coming from the Planck data analysis. I am personally a bit sceptic regarding the claimed uniqueness of this prediction given that we know so little about the detailed physics at this epoch. If it is true the ever precise measurements coming from the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization and other probes will eventually be able to distinguish this model from other approaches that predict a range of possible values. If you're interested to know how this works (even if the data agrees with both models) ask me and I will tell you about relative model probabilities in Bayesian stats... Till then, All the best, Ben Creator of Cosmology@Home |