Thus in regions of space that are below the critical potential, light cannot propagate. This (as well as many other relativistic effects) suggests a deep connection between the coordinate speed of light and the flow of time.
This is a diagram of one of the simplest clocks I can imagine, a light pulse bouncing between two mirrors. In a timeless region with no motion of photons, this clock would stop. Simple mechanical clocks depend on c the same way. The speed of light appears to affect all physical processes we understand in the same way. For example, in the relativistic generalization of classical electrodynamics, electric and magnetic forces are proportional to the coordinate speed of light. thus becoming zero or imaginary when the speed becomes zero or imaginary. Or, if you prefer the quantum-mechanical description of electromagnetic forces, particles in an achronous region could not exchange ‘virtual’ photons (the photons being unable to propagate), so they could not interact. No interaction and no forces mean no physical processes and no activity—no time. Thus the coordinate speed of light controls time.
This is a diagram of one of the simplest clocks I can imagine, a light pulse bouncing between two mirrors. In a timeless region with no motion of photons, this clock would stop. Simple mechanical clocks depend on c the same way. The speed of light appears to affect all physical processes we understand in the same way. For example, in the relativistic generalization of classical electrodynamics, electric and magnetic forces are proportional to the coordinate speed of light. thus becoming zero or imaginary when the speed becomes zero or imaginary. Or, if you prefer the quantum-mechanical description of electromagnetic forces, particles in an achronous region could not exchange ‘virtual’ photons (the photons being unable to propagate), so they could not interact. No interaction and no forces mean no physical processes and no activity—no time. Thus the coordinate speed of light controls time.
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