Abstract
We examine the question of whether or not special relativity requires that the pressure must be less than the energy density of matter. To do this, we study a model of matter consisting of a classical one-dimensional lattice of point particles interacting via a potential satisfying the three-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation. Despite the fact that for this model the pressure p can exceed the energy density c2, giving rise to an adiabatic sound speed cs=(dpd)12>c, and in the low-frequency limit to a group velocity ddk>c and phase velocity k>c, for this type of lattice model, the formally calculated speed cs is not a signal speed and we find that the true signal propagation speed vsignal<c. Thus special relativity alone does not guarantee that p<c2. We briefly discuss other constraints on p, none of which seem sufficiently rigorous to rule out the possibility that p> at high densities. The significance of the present result for the upper mass limit of neutron stars and the existence of black holes is also considered.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1823-1831 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Physical Review D |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1979 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
Cite this
Must ultrabaric matter be superluminal? / Caporaso, George J; Brecher, K.
In: Physical Review D, Vol. 20, No. 8, 1979, p. 1823-1831.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Must ultrabaric matter be superluminal?
AU - Caporaso, George J
AU - Brecher, K.
PY - 1979
Y1 - 1979
N2 - We examine the question of whether or not special relativity requires that the pressure must be less than the energy density of matter. To do this, we study a model of matter consisting of a classical one-dimensional lattice of point particles interacting via a potential satisfying the three-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation. Despite the fact that for this model the pressure p can exceed the energy density c2, giving rise to an adiabatic sound speed cs=(dpd)12>c, and in the low-frequency limit to a group velocity ddk>c and phase velocity k>c, for this type of lattice model, the formally calculated speed cs is not a signal speed and we find that the true signal propagation speed vsignal at high densities. The significance of the present result for the upper mass limit of neutron stars and the existence of black holes is also considered.
AB - We examine the question of whether or not special relativity requires that the pressure must be less than the energy density of matter. To do this, we study a model of matter consisting of a classical one-dimensional lattice of point particles interacting via a potential satisfying the three-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation. Despite the fact that for this model the pressure p can exceed the energy density c2, giving rise to an adiabatic sound speed cs=(dpd)12>c, and in the low-frequency limit to a group velocity ddk>c and phase velocity k>c, for this type of lattice model, the formally calculated speed cs is not a signal speed and we find that the true signal propagation speed vsignal at high densities. The significance of the present result for the upper mass limit of neutron stars and the existence of black holes is also considered.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0000518354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0000518354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.20.1823
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.20.1823
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000518354
VL - 20
SP - 1823
EP - 1831
JO - Physical review D: Particles and fields
JF - Physical review D: Particles and fields
SN - 0556-2821
IS - 8
ER -