Many things in life are incessant . The crushing sense of dashing hopes after stop a bar of chocolate , for example . The capriciousness of 2016 . And , of course , the speed of light .
But , wait ! Perhaps it is not so . A new field has propose the speed of light in a vacuum has not always been the same note value it is now ( 299,792,458 meters per second ) , and was in fact slightly high at the beginning of the universe 13.8 billion years ago .
The theory comes from Professor João Magueijo at Imperial College London , publish inPhysical Review D. Magueijo first proposed the thought of an alternate speed of light back in 1998 , and now says he has a fashion we can test it .
The theory goes that second after the Big Bang , there must have been a fashion to spread heat and DOE around the universe , before sombreness had a chance to reach every corner . At the moment , our good theory for how this occurred is known as inflation – a period of rapid expanding upon that was faster than the current pace of expansion of the universe of discourse .
This help to deal with the so - called “ horizon job ” , where all parts of the universe of discourse today are approximately the same everywhere we look , broadly speaking . But if the speed of light was always invariant , it does n’t quite make gumption how vitality could have been spread uniformly .
So Magueijo purport that the speed of visible radiation was higher moment after the Big Bang , allowing the cosmos to become consistent in its early stage . To prove this , he says we can face for fluctuations in the cosmic microwave scope – the fossilized relic of the early universe – known as the spectral power .
He predicts that this figure should be 0.96478 . At the moment , our best estimate puts the figure at around 0.968 , with a security deposit of computer error . If it is elaborate towards Magueijo ’s anatomy by next measuring , his theory could be test right .
“ If observance in the cheeseparing future tense do find this figure to be accurate , it could lead to a adjustment of Einstein ’s theory of sombreness , ” he said in astatement .
And , well , if he ’s right , it would have wide implications for Einstein ’s theory of relativity , indicate the f number of light was not the constant we always thought it to be . If he ’s wrong , well , panic over , and we can get back to our regular lives .
