Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity?

Kent A. Peacock

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arXiv · 1301.0307

Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity?

Kent A. Peacock

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Abstract

It continues to be alleged that superluminal influences of any sort would be inconsistent with special relativity for the following three reasons: (i) they would imply the existence of a distinguished' frame; (ii) they would allow the detection of absolute motion; and (iii) they would violate the relativity of simultaneity. This paper shows that the first two objections rest upon very elementary misunderstandings of Minkowski geometry and lingering Newtonian intuitions about instantaneity. The third objection has a basis, but rather than invalidating the notion of faster than light influences it points the way to more general conceptions of simultaneity that could allow for quantum nonlocality in a natural way.

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Kent A. Peacock. 2013-01-02. Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity?. https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.0307

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