If the studies done by Lene V. Hau and by Ronald Walsworth and Mikhail Lukin are correct, then are we saying that our current interpretation of space and time can be misinterpreted? For example, if light passes through cold sodium gas, the speed of light can be greatly slowed. If this is so, then can we be making the wrong calculations as to distance and age of objects in space as well as to the calculation of the universe’s speed of expansion?
Larry Stenger
Franklin, N.C.To slow light, cold atom gases are excited by lasers of certain wavelengths–an unlikely if not impossible circumstance in interstellar space.–P. Weiss
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.