(November 24, 2011 at 3:47 pm)little_monkey Wrote:(November 22, 2011 at 8:48 am)IATIA Wrote:(November 22, 2011 at 7:57 am)little_monkey Wrote: Particles, massive or massless, don't age.A subatomic particle known as a pion has a lifespan of 000000026 seconds.
Yes, that is the time it would take for a pion to decay (btw, there's a decimal point missing), usually into a muon and a muon neutrino -- there are other modes of decay but less likely to occur. However it doesn't refer to its "age". There are no "young" pions or "old" pions. By some principles in QFT, all pions are indistinguishable, similarly for all the elementary particles of the Standard Model such as electrons, quarks, neutrino, etc...
Of course it refers to it's age. Granted it's 'age' is indeterminable, but it only exists as a pion for .000000026 seconds then it is no longer a pion. I will attempt restate the question in order to satisfy the 'semantics nazi'. Would the lifespan/existence of a short-lived particle traveling faster than light change? As it's clock is running backwards, it would suggest so. Perhaps it becomes 'unborn'? Depending on the speed and other factors, it would be quite difficult to detect, observe and/or confirm.
And I fail to understand the reasoning for attacking the semantics of this hypothetical thought experiment. It is not as though we are writing our Doctorate thesis at this time or even being graded.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
