Equation 7 · Every Crystal Has Its Own Speed of Light
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constants fixed by the microscopic couplings. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
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where C and are constants fixed by the microscopic couplings and d(x,y) is the distance between the two sites on the lattice [ 1 ] . Outside the cone, where d(x,y) exceeds t , the right-hand side collapses toward zero; inside it, the inequality simply has nothing to say. The velocity plays exactly the causal role the vacuum speed c plays in relativity, with one difference that matters for everything that follows: it is a property of the material, not of empty space, and it changes from one lattice to the next.
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