The uniquely different speeds of light and the skewness of energy quanta
There is a generally accepted notion that there is a maximum, constant speed of light (in vacuum) that governs motions in the universe. Its exact value is defined as 299792458 meters per second, and we assume that nothing can travel faster than this limit.
However, a pure vacuum does not exist. Molecular and gravitational densities vary uniquely along the path that each individual photon takes; therefore, each would have its own unique speed, in a wide spectrum of possible values slightly less than (but never equal to) the ultimate constant. What would the spectrum of possible velocities look like?
Just because we cannot see a difference, does not mean that things are the same. Equivalence and equality are relative to our own frame of mind and the resolution at which we observe; consider the possibility that ultimately and fundamentally, everything is different
Skewness of energy quanta distribution
In his famous 1905 paper on “A heuristic point of view concerning the production and transformation of light” Einstein introduced the notion that the energy distribution of light is not continuous.
According to Maxwell’s theory, energy is to be considered as a continuous spatial function for all purely electromagnetic phenomena, hence also for light, while according to the current conceptions of physicists the energy of a ponderable body is to be described as a sum extending over the atoms and electrons.
The wording as formulated and terms like “finite quanta” suggests that Einstein considered atoms and quanta as indivisible, elementary units. However, what if the distribution of energy in photons is not divided into equal quanta, but rather skewed around certain peaks, with certain probabilities of occurrence?
Consider a recent article in Science about the skewed distribution in body sizes of carnivorous dinosaurs. Could the equivalence of “low adult survivorship” in light waves be the elimination of certain characteristic energy levels, leaving a non-uniformly-distributed energy beam?
I am no theoretical scientist and I certainly don’t claim to know or understand any of this, and I may very well be wrong — but I do wonder…