Chapter 668: Imaginary Numbers Are Not Imaginary: Imaginary Mass

"I know that this kind of groundless speculation will not play any substantial role in scientific research."

After saying that, Lu Yongchang chuckled.

"But that was your guess!" an academician shouted, "for so long, Professor Lu, your guess has never been falsified!"

Lu Yongchang curled his lips and said half-jokingly: "What if it's wrong this time?"

"Then..." The academician who spoke scratched his head, and an awkward smile suddenly appeared on his face.

There was also a slight, kind laughter in the command center.

"Okay, let's get down to business." Lu Yongchang reached out and dragged a holographic projection over and started writing on it, "It's empty talk. Next, I will briefly explain to you the reasons for making this judgment."

As soon as the words fell, the originally relaxed atmosphere in the command center suddenly became solemn.

Every academician widened his eyes, fearing to miss even one punctuating step.

After all, everyone knows that Professor Lu’s deduction steps are particularly unconventional.

In a daze, you might have missed some important information.

"First of all, according to the special theory of relativity, objects with mass cannot exceed the speed of light. Just like protons and electrons, their running speed can only be infinitely close to the speed of light."

"So, for tachyons, we need to introduce a concept."

"Virtual mass."

"A long time ago, during the study of quantum physics, we came to a conclusion."

"Imaginary numbers are not imaginary. Imaginary numbers that have meaning in mathematics also have corresponding meanings in reality."

As he spoke, Lu Yongchang quickly wrote something on the holographic projection.

"Based on the derivation steps here, we can extrapolate the concept of imaginary numbers."

“This extends the concept of virtual mass.”

"And the mass of tachyon is an imaginary mass."

"It is precisely because of this that it can break away from the constraints of special relativity and become a faster-than-light particle."

As Lu Yongchang's words echoed in everyone's ears, there were more and more complicated formulas in the holographic projection.

"The speculation on the properties of tachyons is also based on the concept of virtual mass."

"Unlike ordinary particles, tachyons have a speed far exceeding the speed of light from the moment they appear."

"Its speed will increase infinitely as energy is dissipated, which is different from the particles we usually recognize."

"The moment its energy is exhausted and approaches zero, its speed will approach infinity."

"Therefore, if we want to observe tachyons, we must slow them down, which means we need to input a lot of energy into them."

"But even so, its speed will not be lower than the speed of light. Only with the help of curvature navigation can we get the opportunity to observe it."

On the side, Tao Yuda murmured thoughtfully: "Then if tachyons really exist, we can draw a simple conclusion."

"What?" Lu Yongchang heard Tao Yuda's mumbling, and he turned to cast an inquiring look at Tao Yuda.

Tao Yuda was silent for a while and said in a determined tone: "Our universe is composed of virtual and real parts. The real universe is the visible universe within the speed of light, while the virtual universe is the invisible universe above the speed of light!"

After hearing this, Lu Yongchang also fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he nodded hesitantly and confirmed Tao Yuda's statement: "This conclusion can indeed be drawn."

Lu Yongchang's words caused quite a stir in the command center.

Academicians from related majors began to discuss it one after another.

"No, that's not right!"

Fang Xu's voice drowned out all the subtle discussions: "Professor, Tachyon has a big problem!"

"Our cause and effect is reversed!"

…

Within the light cone, everything is destiny.

The emergence of tachyons seems to break this proposition.

"I understand what you mean."

Lu Yongchang said softly: "For the visible universe, the emergence of tachyons seems to mean that it is possible to reverse time, and the causal relationship will also be reversed."

"But the universe is fair."

"According to current inferences, we can only discover tachyons when traveling at super-light speeds and receive information transmitted with the help of tachyons."

"In other words, only if we transcend the light cone can we obtain information outside the light cone."

"Cause and effect are not reversed."

"But... what if?" Fang Xu said with an ugly face, "What if tachyon breaks through this limit and affects the visible universe?"

"If time can be turned back and cause and effect can be reversed, it means that our physics system has a huge problem to some extent!"

"This will be an extremely huge blow to the science of human civilization!"

Fang Xu's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting everyone's hearts hard.

Going back in time and reversing cause and effect will cause countless paradoxes.

Whether it is science or philosophy, it will be a subversive storm!

Lu Yongchang took a deep breath, with a look of contemplation in his eyes.

He raised his hand and waved it gently: "Be quiet and let me think about it."

The noisy command center became quiet again.

Lu Yongchang raised his head and looked at the holographic clock interface in the distance.

The hands move clockwise minute by minute, and the river of time flows forward evenly.

Suddenly, the pointer began to reverse, and the long river of time began to flow upstream!

The entire universe has changed!

The cause and effect relationship is no longer maintained. A person walking on the road will suddenly die because a flower pot will hit him ten minutes later!

Lv Yongchang shook his head vigorously and threw this extremely terrible picture out of his head.

"So far, we have never observed the occurrence of this phenomenon."

Lv Yongchang said word by word: "Perhaps, there is some self-correction mechanism in the universe that we don't know yet, which can prevent this situation from happening."

"Or..."

"Parallel universe theory."

"As long as the parallel universe is affected, this incredible scene will not appear."

When he said this, Lv Yongchang only felt his heart tremble slightly.

Could it be that...

Lv Yongchang calmed down and suppressed the groundless conjecture in his heart.

He raised his hand and gently rubbed his slightly painful temple.

"Don't think too much about it."

"What we can think of, they can think of too."

"Since the universe has been running without any problems so far, let's not worry about it."

"Think about the specific experimental problems."

"They..." Fang Xu's face darkened and he murmured in a low voice.