{"id":263246,"date":"2025-10-31T17:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/263246\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T17:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:08:10","slug":"they-simulated-objects-at-light-speed-and-watched-geometry-bend-like-never-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/263246\/","title":{"rendered":"They simulated objects at light speed\u2014and watched geometry bend like never before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine a cube flying through space at nearly the speed of light. Hard to picture? Not for the physicists at the Vienna University of Technology, who have managed to simulate exactly that in their lab. And what they saw was so surprising, it briefly made them wonder if Einstein\u2019s famous theory of relativity might need a rewrite.<\/p>\n

Was Einstein wrong? Not quite.<\/p>\n

Albert Einstein \u2014 the most iconic physicist of all time \u2014 has a knack for intimidating anyone who prefers the world to make simple sense. His special relativity theory <\/a>tells us that at extreme speeds, time slows down and distances shrink.<\/p>\n

For example, an object travelling at 90% of the speed of light would appear more than twice as short to someone observing from the outside. By that logic, everything moving that fast should look squashed. But recent work at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) paints a far stranger picture \u2014 one that seems to bend the rules of perception.<\/p>\n

Ten years after Einstein\u2019s death, physics laureate Roger Penrose demonstrated that black holes can form and described their properties. Penrose\u2019s ground-breaking article is still regarded as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein. pic.twitter.com\/ki1V5wcl6p<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) August 8, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n

When things move, they change \u2014 or at least appear to<\/p>\n

Before we accuse Einstein of being wrong, it\u2019s worth recalling that this apparent contradiction has been known for decades. In the 1950s, physicists James Terrell (U.S.) and Roger Penrose (U.K.) \u2014 who later won the Nobel Prize for his work on black holes \u2014 offered a twist on relativity\u2019s predictions.<\/p>\n

They proposed that when an object, like a cube, moves close to light speed, it doesn\u2019t just shrink. It appears to change shape. This illusion happens because light from the far edge of the object takes longer to reach us than light from the near edge. The result is a warped view of reality known today as the Terrell\u2013Penrose effect.<\/p>\n

Relativity may seem a concept difficult to grasp, let alone to “see”. But a team from TU Wien and the University of Vienna have managed to reproduce the effect know as the Terrell-Penrose effect using laser pulses and precision cameras\u2014 https:\/\/t.co\/XZD3EFPhog<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/f7HEHPCThN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Communications Physics (@CommsPhys) May 8, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n

Recreating the illusion of light-speed motion<\/p>\n

For decades, physicists could only model this effect theoretically \u2014 because accelerating an actual object to near light speed is impossible. The faster something moves, the heavier it becomes, demanding exponentially more energy to push it further.<\/p>\n

But a team at TU Wien found a clever workaround, detailed in Communications Physics. They didn\u2019t move their cube at light speed \u2014 they made it look like it was. By designing an experiment where the \u201cspeed of light\u201d was effectively slower, they could simulate what happens at relativistic velocities.<\/p>\n

They moved a cube and a sphere inside the lab, illuminating them with ultra-short laser flashes lasting just 300 picoseconds and filming the process with cameras capable of capturing millions of frames per second. This ultra-fast stroboscopic method simulated motion between 80% and 99.9% of the speed of light \u2014 without ever leaving the lab.<\/p>\n

Penrose-Terrell effect\uff1a\u89b3\u6e2c\u8005\u306b\u5bfe\u3057\u3066\u76f4\u89d2\u306b\uff08\u4f8b\u3048\u3070\u5de6\u304b\u3089\u53f3\u306b\uff09\u9ad8\u901f\u3067\u904b\u52d5\u3059\u308b\u7269\u4f53\u306f\u76f8\u5bfe\u8ad6\u52b9\u679c\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u5358\u306b\u7e2e\u3093\u3067\u898b\u3048\u308b\u306e\u306f\u306a\u304f\u56de\u8ee2\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u898b\u3048\u308b<\/p>\n

\u30ce\u30fc\u30d9\u30eb\u8cde\u3092\u53d7\u8cde\u3057\u305f\u30ed\u30b8\u30e3\u30fc\u30fb\u30da\u30f3\u30ed\u30fc\u30ba\u6c0f\u3068\u30b8\u30a7\u30fc\u30e0\u30ba\u30fb\u30bf\u30ec\u30eb\u6c0f\u304c\u72ec\u7acb\u306b\u767a\u898b<\/p>\n

1. https:\/\/t.co\/ghBv4ASM8D<\/a>
2. https:\/\/t.co\/03NKxPs8gH<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/2lOq9GgIMl<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Yusuke Hayashi \u6797\u7950\u8f14 (@hayashiyus) October 13, 2020<\/a> <\/p>\n

A matter of perspective<\/p>\n

For the first time, scientists were able to see the Terrell\u2013Penrose effect in action. The cube appeared warped, and the sphere seemed to twist \u2014 exactly as the models predicted. But it was all an optical illusion.<\/p>\n

So, was Einstein <\/a>wrong? Far from it. His relativity doesn\u2019t fail here \u2014 it shines. The distorted shapes seen in the experiment are precisely what an observer in a relativistic world would perceive. The objects themselves remain unchanged; it\u2019s our point of view that bends reality.<\/p>\n

In truth, an object moving at near light speed is physically shorter along the direction it\u2019s travelling. But when viewed externally \u2014 through a camera, for instance \u2014 it doesn\u2019t look shortened. Instead, it appears to have rotated or changed shape, all due to how light reaches the observer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did the calculations, we were amazed by the sheer beauty of the geometry,\u201d the researchers said. \u201cWatching it come to life on camera was incredibly exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Einstein, as always, stands vindicated. His theory reminds us that the universe doesn\u2019t just behave strangely \u2014 it looks strange too, depending on how fast you\u2019re moving through it.<\/p>\n

\"mayer-nathalie\"<\/p>\n

Nathalie Mayer<\/p>\n

Journalist<\/p>\n

Born in Lorraine on a freezing winter night, storytelling has always inspired me, first through my grandmother’s tales and later Stephen King’s imagination. A physicist turned science communicator, I’ve collaborated with institutions like CEA, Total, Engie, and Futura. Today, I focus on unraveling Earth’s complex environmental and energy challenges, blending science with storytelling to illuminate solutions.<\/p>\n

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