'Hidden photons' may be used to send secret emails through Earth.Byline: ANI London, April 27 (ANI): A team of scientists has proposed the possibility of hypothetical particles called "hidden photons" being used to send secret emails through the Earth. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a report in New Scientist, the theory has been put forward by Andreas Ringwald at the German Electron Synchrotron synchrotron: see particle accelerator. synchrotron Cyclic particle accelerator in which the particle is confined to its orbit by a magnetic field. The strength of the magnetic field increases as the particle's momentum increases. (DESY DESY - Deutsches Electronen Synchrotron Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany. ) in Hamburg, and colleagues. Hidden photons are a class of particles predicted by so-called supersymmetric extensions to the standard model of particle physics particle physics or high-energy physics Study of the fundamental subatomic particles, including both matter (and antimatter) and the carrier particles of the fundamental interactions as described by quantum field theory. . Unlike normal photons, hidden photons could have a tiny mass and would be invisible because they would not interact with the charged particles in conventional matter. This means hidden photons would flit through even the densest materials unaffected. The only place to spot them is in a vacuum, where they should sometimes "oscillate To swing back and forth between the minimum and maximum values. An oscillation is one cycle, typically one complete wave in an alternating frequency. " into normal photons. There are already experiments searching for this effect: the idea is to shine a laser at a wall in a vacuum and see if any of the photons make it through to the other side by transforming into their hidden counterparts and back again. According to Ringwald's group, if these experiments succeed it should be possible to scale up the apparatus so that the hidden photons become signal carriers and the "wall" becomes any stretch of ground or water. Hypothetical 'hidden photons' could beam messages through any stretch of ground or water. "If such particles exist, then we can use them to communicate. It's very simple," said Ringwald. The benefit of such a communication method is that, unless someone were in the exact line of sight with appropriate equipment, it would be impossible to eavesdrop eaves·drop intr.v. eaves·dropped, eaves·drop·ping, eaves·drops To listen secretly to the private conversation of others. . For example, submarines could employ the system to avoid communicating via sound, which is easily intercepted. Hidden photons could even take messages where radio signals cannot reach, such as the far side of the moon. According to physicist Doug Shaw at Queen Mary, University of London It is a research-based university, with a strong international reputation, and with twenty-four percent of its students coming from abroad.[4] Queen Mary incorporates several leading international research units such as the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, the , it would be a "technical challenge" to line up transmitters and receivers over large distances, but he agrees a system is feasible in principle. "It's a nice idea," he said. "Unlike most hypothetical particles that are only accessible at high energies, these particles, if they exist, would have potentially useful real-world applications," he added. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion