| These are some of the physics questions my friend Jonathan and I came up with and the answers we received. Click the names to read the answers. If you have any questions or comments...e mail Andys wife Dorie. | |||
| Dear Sir, Is it predictable that higher frequency light, as compared to low frequency light, is slowed by the increased likelihood of more energetic photons existing as virtual electron/positron pairs? Our thinking suggests that since matter is forbidden to go c, light propagation must slow down for the duration of virtual processes. Andy Gordon |
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Mitchell Golden Fermilab MS 106 P.O. Box 500. Batavia. Illinois .60510 |
Russel
Kauffman SLAC, Bin 81 P.O. Box 4349 Stanford, CA 94309 (415) 926-2266 |
Robert
K. Adair BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC. Upton Long Island, New York 11973 | David
Mermin CORNELL UNIVERSITY LABORATORY OF ATOMIC AND SOLID STATE PHYSICS CLARK HALL Ithica, New York 148~3 Office of the Director |
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An email question and answer to and from Gerard tHooft Dear Prof t' Hooft, The way gravitons couple is dictated by what we know about General Relativity.
Both GR and Quantum Mechanics have been tested in great detail and are
therefore usually assumed to be right. |
| Peter Guzzardi Bantam Books 666 5th Avenue NYC, NY 10103 Dear Editor Guzzardi, We were quite excited to read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and noted with what respect your help was acknowledged, We hope, therefore, that you have a continuing interest in the book's clarity and effectiveness, because we would greatly appreciate your answering our questions with pages 106 and 107.' In the model where a virtual pair has separated at the Event Horizon, does the negative energy particle have negative gravity and inertia? What would happen to the negative energy particle if its antimatter partner "fell in" first? Would it have to follow, "seeking out its annihilation?" Would it seek an annihilation partner outside the E.H.? With reference to the line,"... even a real particle can have negative energy there" (inside a black hole) why don't ALL particles have negative energy there? How can the gravity of a singularity exert any influence outside its Event Horizon? Isn't the EH an "information barrier" that even gravity (be it graviton or geometry) cannot penetrate? Thank you for helping us, and for making this wonderful book possible that has brought us so much pleasure. Andy |
| 23 May 1988 Dear Mr. Gordon, Thank you for your letter of May 5th regarding A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME. As a lay person with no science background, I'm not able to answer your questions. However, I've sent your letter on to Professor Hawking, and I hope he will be able to respond directly. Peter Guzzardi Editorial Director |
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW Telephone: Cambridge (0223) 337900. Direct Line: (0223) 337844 S. W. Hawking, C.B.E. F.R.S. Lucasian Professor of Mathematics |