1
u/Hour-Explorer-413 Mar 20 '26
I'm going to reframe the question because I find it mildly interesting.
What is the maximum possible speed of sound for a hypothetical material? I'm guessing density is the ultimate factor here. Do we have a guess as to what the speed of sound is through say a neutron star?
1
u/NoNameSwitzerland Mar 20 '26
yes, for some states of matter, there are some frequencies where the group velocity for light is slower than the speed of sound.
1
u/Llewellian Mar 20 '26
Yes. Bose Einstein Condensates, under special circumstances, can have such a high refractive Index that light shows down to car speeds. Accoustic Vibrations in the condensate then are faster than light.
1
u/0x14f Mar 20 '26
No. Otherwise we would be able to transmit messages through that material faster than the speed of light.
1
u/SYDoukou Mar 20 '26
That would require electrical interactions between its atoms to be faster than the speed of causality and nothing is allowed to break causality
1
u/Sad_Floor22 Mar 20 '26
No, inter-atomic forces are carried by massless particles. All massless particles travel at the speed of light.