not quite Father Inire's mirrors . . .

DAVID STOCKHOFF · 08 Jun 2011, 17:39 · from 2011-June.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (DAVID STOCKHOFF)
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 10:39:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) not quite Father Inire's mirrors . . .
In-Reply-To: <ED24FF6F77DF4AB9B6C35A54F58E23A7@jill>
Message-ID: <84247.57330.qm at web84103.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

--- On Wed, 6/8/11, Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:

> From: Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie>
> Subject: Re: (urth) not quite Father Inire's mirrors . . .
> To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Date: Wednesday, June 8, 2011, 11:32 AM
> 
> From: "David Stockhoff" <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
> 
> > Nicely put:
> > 
> > "Quantum theory predicts that a vacuum is actually a
> writhing foam of particles flitting in and out of
> existence."
> > 
> > The most apparent limitation of the sails of the Ship
> is that (you would think) they shouldn't generate as much
> "lift" away from a star, when they would want to go very
> fast, as they do very near one, when they would want to go
> very slow.
> > 
> > If they can actually generate a little more pressure
> from space itself, that's less of a problem.
> 
> The mirror experiment described won't help in propulsion
> (it causes accelerated mirrors to emit radiation, which
> would slow them down).? In any case the emissions were
> a function of acceleration rather than velocity.
> 
> Howeer, Severian writes in _Claw_:
> 
> "How foolish to call them mirrors. They are to mirrors as
> the enveloping firmament is to a child's balloon. They
> reflect light indeed; but that, I think, is no part of their
> true function. They reflect reality, the metaphysical
> substance that underlies the material world."
> 
> Perhaps reflected reality generates more pressure than
> reflected light!? (Of course, Inire's mirrors may not
> be identical to Tzadkiel's sails, even if they share some
> properties.)
> 
> - Gerry Quinn

True, the experiment doesn't give much cover for Tzadkiel's sails as quantum propulsion systems. Especially since the effect isn't supposed to show up until the mirror is moving almost at c anyway.

But what is a sail on a ship if not a propulsion system? What good is a mirror that reflects reality without obeying quantum mechanics?

Since starsails have been part of SF for decades, it follows that Izadkiel's sails would or could work that way, but with a twist. Perhaps the twist is simply that with 100% reflectivity---or, if you will, >100% reflectivity, along the lines of "darker than black" and "whiter than white"---you somehow get more reflected out than you thought you were putting in, thus also allowing an amplifying effect between 2 such mirrors.

"Virtual particles" seem to provide a plausible explanation even if they postdate the books: a perfect mirror would "see" the foam that makes up space as well as everything occupying or passing through that space.

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