Tachyons in Robertson-Walker cosmology

Abstract

Superluminal signal transfer is studied in the context of a preferred cosmic frame of reference provided by the galactic background. The receding galaxies constitute a frame of absolute rest, in which the energy of tachyons (faster-than-light particles) is unambiguously defined as a positive quantity. The causality violation which arises in relativistic tachyonic theories is avoided. The author defines interactions of particles and tachyons in terms of elastic head-on collisions and energy-momentum conservation. To compare the theory developed with existing relativistic theories, tachyons are studied at first in a Minkowski universe, and the causality of a superluminal communication process is analyzed. Then the author discusses the dynamics of tachyons in a Robertson-Walker universe with linear expansion factor and negatively curved three-space. He points out the consequences that the space expansion has on tachyons, like a finite life-time in the frame of absolute rest, and multiple images in the rest frames of moving observers.