Variable Speed of Light

[bumab]

I've been reading the posts for quite a while, and have been thouroughly entertained! I've got a thought prehaps someone could straighten out...

Taking a few statements:
e=mc^2 is true, and has always been true
the law of conservation of energy is true, and has always been truen

If the amount of mass in the universe has changed over time, from ~0 at the big bang (all energy) to now, and continues to change because of fusion, fission, etc., and the overall energy of the universe has remained constant (LCE), then c must have changed in order to keep the equation true (i.e. keeping E constant)

basically, it's a simple thing, so i feel that i must be missing something basic.

[bumab]

Taking the universe as a whole, remember. Not isolated systems where a VSL is accounted for by relativity, but the whole universe, which is only relative to itself, i guess. so AS A WHOLE, the speed of light should be changing, right?

(but most think it's not.... hmmm....)

[maddog]

Originally Posted by bumab

Taking the universe as a whole, remember. Not isolated systems where a VSL is accounted for by relativity, but the whole universe, which is only relative to itself, i guess. so AS A WHOLE, the speed of light should be changing, right?

(but most think it's not.... hmmm....)

bumab,

I'll answer both posts here.
1. For a closed universe the sum of all matter and energy would be constant. For an
open universe (or one with wormholes from elsewhere), matter/energy can be added.

2. Leaving VSL aside for the moment, the notion of hyperinflation (which appears to
exceed speed of light) can be thought of independent of a reference frame and therefore
does not need adhere to SR. There is a physicist from England who is the protaganist on
the VSL theory. He has a book out. I have it and have yet to read it. So I am unable
to comment.

Maddog

[Thelonious]

Originally Posted by maddog

For an open universe (or one with wormholes from elsewhere), matter/energy can be added.

Excuse me, I have never read or heard about any cosmological model where mass/energy can be added to the system. Could you please expound upon these ideas or provide proper references?

[maddog]

Originally Posted by Thelonious

Excuse me, I have never read or heard about any cosmological model where mass/energy can be added to the system. Could you please expound upon these ideas or provide proper references?

A physicist at CalTech, Kip Thorne has speculated that wormholes can be allowed. This
is because GR allows for them. Hawking has said that causality would violated if both
sides were within the same universe. Thus taking both people at face value a "white"
wormhole would come from elsewhere. I am not aware if a whole comology has been
formed from this thought problem. Doesn't say it is true, just a summary of their
speculation as captured from articles from New Scientist and Physics Today within the
last year. You are welcome to look it up. Sorry, I don't have exact dates... Try last
summer.

Maddog

[KickAssClown]

I can't give refrence 'spect maybe Steven Hawking but In a universal model where we have either wormholes or whiteholes coming from another universe then one can "add" Mass-Energy to the the host universe. technically even then Mass-Energy is strictly conservered.

[maddog]

Originally Posted by KickAssClown

I can't give refrence 'spect maybe Steven Hawking but In a universal model where we have either wormholes or whiteholes coming from another universe then one can "add" Mass-Energy to the the host universe. technically even then Mass-Energy is strictly conservered.

Wasn't implyin lack of conservation. Only to think about a mechanism to add mass or
energy to a universe once formed.

Maddog

[bumab]

Originally Posted by maddog

bumab,

I'll answer both posts here.
1. For a closed universe the sum of all matter and energy would be constant. For an
open universe (or one with wormholes from elsewhere), matter/energy can be added.

Maddog

Yeah, so a constant speed of light over the entire universes history seems to imply it's not a closed universe...

Inflation, I thought, was an entirely different matter used to explain the early universes grand expansion. VSL, in my understanding, is a different way to explain the same expansion we assume from the homogeneity of the universe (and other things). So, VSL is a competing theory (at least as far as expansion seems to go). But the argument I put forth seems to still be valid.

Has anyone read that book? I've heard it's pretty well written.

[Tormod]

Which book are you talking about? There are a couple of books on the topic.

[bumab]

I was talking about Faster then the Speed of Light, by João Magueijo... just came out, supposed to be pretty well written (from a writing standpoint), but I've not heard much good criticism of the theories yet...