• niktemadur@lemmy.worldOP
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    4 months ago

    in the photon’s frame of reference, time does not progress

    Couldn’t the same be said about black holes/singularities?
    Yet they will evaporate via Hawking Radiation, over the course of eons upon eons of time.

    • count_of_monte_carlo@lemmy.worldM
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      4 months ago

      in the photon’s frame of reference

      There are no valid inertial frames for an object moving at the speed of light. The idea that “a photon doesn’t experience time” is a common, but misleadingly incorrect statement, since we can’t define a reference frame for it. Sometimes this misconception can be useful for conveying some qualitative ideas (photons don’t decay), but often it leads to contradictions like your question about Hawking Radiation for black holes.

      • niktemadur@lemmy.worldOP
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        4 months ago

        There are no valid inertial frames for an object moving at the speed of light.

        Man, that is one weird concept to wrap one’s head around. In fact, I’m not even sure what it means, how to visualize it, my mind trying to “make out the gears that make the contraption work”, how do I make it let go of the classical physics it clings to?