Abstract
In this article, after a theoretical introduction and a sketch of some related long-standing predictions, a bird's-eye view is presented—with the help of nine figures—of the various experimental sectors of physics in which Superluminal motions seem to appear (thus contributing support to those past predictions). In particular, a panorama is presented of the experiments with evanescent waves and/or tunnelling photons, and with the “localized Superluminal solutions” to the Maxwell equations (like the so-called X-shaped beams). The present review is brief, but is followed by a large enough bibliography to allow the interested reader deepening the preferred topic.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
See, e.g., O. M. Bilaniuk, V. K. Deshpande, and E. C. G. Sudarshan, Am. J. Phys. 30, 718 (1962).
See E. Recami and R. Mignani, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 4, 209–290, E398 (1974), and references therein. Cf. also E. Recami, ed., Tachyons, Monopoles, and Related Topics (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1978).
E. Recami, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 9(6), 1–178 (1986), and references therein.
See, e.g., E. Recami, in Annuario '73, Enciclopedia EST, E. Macorini, ed. (Mondadori, Milano, 1973), pp. 85–94; Nuovo Saggiatore 2(3), 20–29 (1986).
E. Recami, in I Concetti della Fisica, F. Pollini and G. Tarozzi, eds. (Acc. Naz. Sc. Lett. Arti, Modena, 1993), pp. 125–138. E. Recami and W. A. Rodrigues, “Antiparticles from special relativity,” Found. Physics 12, 709–718 (1982); 13, E533 (1983).
E. Recami, Found. Phys. 17, 239–296 (1987). See also Lett. Nuovo Cimento 44, 587-593 (1985); P. Caldirola and E. Recami, in Italian Studies in the Philosophy of Science, M. Dalla Chiara, ed. (Reidel, Boston, 1980), pp. 249–298. A. M. Shaarawi and I. M. Besieris, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33, 7255–7263 (2000).
Cf. M. Baldo Ceolin, “Review of neutrino physics,” invited talk at the XXIII Int. Symp. on Multiparticle Dynamics (Aspen, CO, Sept. 1993). E. W. Otten, Nucl. Phys. News 5, 11 (1995). From the theoretical point of view, see, e.g., E. Giannetto, G. D. Maccarrone, R. Mignani, and E. Recami, Phys. Lett. B 178, 115–120 (1986) and references therein. S. Giani, “Experimental evidence of superluminal velocities in astrophysics and proposed experiments,” CP458, in Space Technology and Applications International Forum 1999, M. S. El-Genk, ed. (A.I.P., Melville, 1999), pp. 881–888.
See, e.g., J. A. Zensus and T. J. Pearson, eds., Superluminal Radio Sources (University Press, Cambridge, 1987).
I. F. Mirabel and L. F. Rodriguez, “A superluminal source in the Galaxy,” Nature 371, 46 (1994) [with an editorial comment, “A galactic speed record,” by G. Gisler, at p. 18 of the same issue]; S. J. Tingay et al., “Relativistic motion in a nearby bright X-ray source,” Nature 374, 141 (1995).
M. J. Rees, Nature 211, 46 (1966). A. Cavaliere, P. Morrison, and L. Sartori, Science 173, 525 (1971).
E. Recami, A. Castellino, G. D. Maccarrone, and M. Rodonò, “Considerations about the apparent Superluminal expansions observed in astrophysics,” Nuovo Cimento B 93, 119 (1986). Cf. also R. Mignani and E. Recami, Gen. Relat. Grav. 5, 615 (1974).
V. S. Olkhovsky and E. Recami, Phys. Rep. 214, 339 (1992), and references therein, in particular T. E. Hartman, J. Appl. Phys. 33, 3427 (1962). See also V. S. Olkhovsky, E. Recami, F. Raciti, and A. K. Zaichenko, J. de Phys.-I 5, 1351–1365 (1995).
See, e.g., Th. Martin and R. Landauer, Phys. Rev. A 45, 2611 (1992). R. Y. Chiao, P. G. Kwiat, and A. M. Steinberg, Physica B 175, 257 (1991). A. Ranfagni, D. Mugnai, P. Fabeni, and G. P. Pazzi, Appl. Phys. Lett. 58, 774 (1991); Y. Japha and G. Kurizki, Phys. Rev. A 53, 586 (1996). Cf. also G. Kurizki, A. E. Kozhekin, and A. G. Kofman, Europhys. Lett. 42, 499 (1998). G. Kurizki, A. E. Kozhekin, A. G. Kofman, and M. Blaauboer, paper delivered at the VII Seminar on Quantum Optics, Raubichi, Belarus (May 1998).
E. Recami, F. Fontana, and R. Garavaglia, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 15, 2793 (2000), and references therein.
G. Nimtz and A. Enders, J. de Phys.-I 2, 1693 (1992); 3, 1089 (1993); 4, 1379 (1994); Phys. Rev. E 48, 632 (1993). H. M. Brodowsky, W. Heitmann, and G. Nimtz, J. de Phys.-I 4, 565 (1994); Phys. Lett. A 222, 125 (1996); 196, 154 (1994); G. Nimtz and W. Heitmann, Prog. Quant. Electr. 21, 81 (1997).
A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat, and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 708 (1993), and references therein; Scient. Am. 269(2), 38 (1993). Cf. also Y. Japha and G. Kurizki, Phys. Rev. A 53, 586 (1996).
A. Ranfagni, P. Fabeni, G. P. Pazzi, and D. Mugnai, Phys. Rev. E 48, 1453 (1993). Ch. Spielmann, R. Szipocs, A. Stingl, and F. Krausz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2308 (1994). Ph. Balcou and L. Dutriaux, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 851 (1997). V. Laude and P. Tournois, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16, 194 (1999).
Scientific American (Aug. 1993); Nature (Oct. 21, 1993); New Scientist (Apr. 1995); Newsweek (19 June 1995).
Reference 3, p. 158 and pp. 116–117. Cf. also D. Mugnai, A. Ranfagni, R. Ruggeri, A. Agresti, and E. Recami, Phys. Lett. A 209, 227 (1995).
H. M. Brodowsky, W. Heitmann, and G. Nimtz, Phys. Lett. A 222, 125 (1996).
A. P. L. Barbero, H. E. Hernández F., and E. Recami, “On the propagation speed of evanescent modes” [LANL Archives #physics/9811001] Phys. Rev. E 62, 8628 (2000), and references therein. See also E. Recami, H. E. Hernández F., and A. P. L. Barbero, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 7, 764–773 (1998). A. M. Shaarawi and I. M. Besieris, Phys. Rev. E 62(5), in press (Nov. 2000).
G. Nimtz, A. Enders, and H. Spieker, in Waves and Particles in Light and Matter, A. van der Merwe and A. Garuccio, eds. (Plenum, New York, 1993); J. de Phys.-I 4, 565 (1994). See also A. Enders and G. Nimtz, Phys. Rev. B 47, 9605 (1993).
V. S. Olkhovsky, E. Recami, and G. Salesi, “Tunneling through two successive barriers and the Hartman (Superluminal) effect” [Lanl Archives #quant-ph/0002022], Report INFN/FM_00/20 (Frascati, 2000), submitted for publication. S. Esposito, in preparation. See also A. M. Shaarawi and I. M. Besieris, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33, 8559–8576 (2000).
V. S. Olkhovsky, E. Recami, F. Raciti, and A. K. Zaichenko, Ref. 12, p. 1361. See also Refs. 3, 6 and E. Recami, F. Fontana, and R. Garavaglia, Ref. 14, p. 2807.
R. Y. Chiao, A. E. Kozhekin A. E., and G. Kurizki, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1254 (1996). C. G. B. Garret and D. E. McCumber, Phys. Rev. A 1, 305 (1970).
S. Chu and W. Wong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 738 (1982). M. W. Mitchell and R. Y. Chiao, Phys. Lett. A 230, 133_138 (1997). G. Nimtz, Europ. Phys. J., B (to appear as a Rapid Note). L. J. Wang, A. Kuzmich, and A. Dogariu, Nature 406, 277 (2000). Further experiments are being developed, e.g., at Glasgow [D. Jaroszynski, private commun.] with X rays.
G. Alzetta, A. Gozzini, L. Moi, and G. Orriols, Nuovo Cimento B 36, 5 (1976).
M. Artoni, G. C. La Rocca, F. S. Cataliotti, and F. Bassani, Phys. Rev. A, in press.
H. Bateman, Electrical and Optical Wave Motion (University Press, Cambridge, 1915). R. Courant and D. Hilbert, Methods of Mathematical Physics (Wiley, New York, 1966), Vol. 2, p. 760. J. N. Brittingham, J. Appl. Phys. 54, 1179 (1983). R. W. Ziolkowski, J. Math. Phys. 26, 861 (1985). J. Durnin, J. Opt. Soc. 4, 651 (1987). A. O. Barut et al., Phys. Lett. A 143, 349 (1990); Found. Phys. Lett. 3, 303 (1990); Found. Phys. 22, 1267 (1992).
J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory (McGraw–Hill, New York, 1941), p. 356. A. O. Barut et al., Phys. Lett. A 180, 5 (1993); 189, 277 (1994).
R. Donnelly and R. W. Ziolkowski, Proc. Roy. Soc. London A 440, 541 (1993). I. M. Besieris, A. M. Shaarawi, and R. W. Ziolkowski, J. Math. Phys. 30, 1254 (1989). S. Esposito, Phys. Lett. A 225, 203 (1997). J. Vaz and W. A. Rodrigues, Adv. Appl. Cliff. Alg. S-7, 457 (1997). 1134 Recami
See also E. Recami and W. A. Rodrigues Jr., “A model theory for tachyons in two dimen-sions,” in Gravitational Radiation and Relativity, J. Weber and T. M. Karade, eds. (World Scientific, Singapore, 1985), pp. 151–203, and references therein.
A. M. Shaarawi, I. M. Besieris, and R. W. Ziolkowski, J. Math. Phys. 31, 2511 (1990), Sec. VI; Nucl Phys. (Proc. Suppl.) B 6, 255 (1989); Phys. Lett. A 188, 218 (1994). See also: V. K. Ignatovich, Found. Phys. 8, 565 (1978) and A. O. Barut, Phys. Lett. A 171, 1 (1992); 189, 277 (1994); Ann. Fond. L. de Broglie, Jan. 1994; and “Quantum theory of single events, Localized de Broglie-wavelets, Schroedinger waves and classical trajectories,” preprint IC/90/99 (ICTP, Trieste, 1990).
A. O. Barut, G. D. Maccarrone, and E. Recami, Nuovo Cimento A 71, 509 (1982). P. Caldirola, G. D. Maccarrone, and E. Recami, Lett. Nuovo Cim. 29, 241 (1980). E. Recami and G. D. Maccarrone, Lett. Nuovo Cim. 28, 151 (1980).
J.-Y. Lu and J. F. Greenleaf, IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 39, 19 (1992).
J.-Y. Lu and J. F. Greenleaf, IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 39, 441 (1992).
E. Recami, Physica A 252, 586 (1998). J.-Y. Lu, J. F. Greenleaf, and E. Recami, “Limited diffraction solutions to Maxwell (and Schroedinger) equations” [Lanl Archives #physics/9610012], Report INFN/FM-96/01 (INFN, Frascati, Oct. 1996). See also R. W. Ziolkowski, I. M. Besieris, and A. M. Shaarawi, J. Opt. Soc. Am., A 10, 75 (1993); J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 33, 7227–7254 (2000).
P. Saari and K. Reivelt, “Evidence of X-shaped propagation-invariant localized light waves,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4135–4138 (1997).
D. Mugnai, A. Ranfagni, and R. Ruggeri, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4830 (2000).
M. Z. Rached, E. Recami, and H. E. Hernández-Figueroa, in preparation. M. Z. Rached, E. Recami, and F. Fontana, “Localized Superluminal solutions to Maxwell equations propagating along a normal-sized waveguide” [Lanl Archives #physics/0001039], submitted for publication. I. M. Besieris, M. Abdel-Rahman, A. Shaarawi, and A. Chatzipetros, Progress in Electromagnetic Research (PIER) 19, 1–48 (1998).
J.-Y. Lu, H.-H. Zou, and J. F. Greenleaf, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 20, 403 (1994); Ultrasonic Imaging 15, 134 (1993).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Recami, E. Superluminal Motions? A Bird's-Eye View of the Experimental Situation. Foundations of Physics 31, 1119–1135 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017582525039
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017582525039