Why does Daven Laurie ask his computer "'...about coherent radiation from natural sources...'"?
- Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 761.
"Coherent" is a scientific term that does not mean artificial or information-bearing but I do not find it easy to understand either what it does mean or why it matters. I have yet to finish rereading "Starfog", the story about Laure. This story is packed with hard sf background material about the Cloud Universe and I will continue to analyze this information before deciding what to read or reread next.
4 comments:
Dear Paul,
"Coherent light" is laser light, with the light all of the same wavelength, and in phase, as opposed to typical sunlight, firelight, etc., where the light comes in a variety of wavelengths, and even photons of the same wavelength are not in phase with each other. I don't recall the context in which Daven Laure asked the question.
Best Regards,
Nicholas Rosen
Nicholas,
FLANDRY'S LEGACY (New York, 2012), p. 761:
Jaccavrie has explained the impossibility of navigating in the Cloud Universe. Then, Laure asks, "Now what about coherent radiation from natural sources?"
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
As you know, Subterranean Press has assured me they will soon mail out pre ordered copies of MULTIVERSE. I hope very much it's shipped this coming week!
I too am still reading works by other authors. I've recently finished Taylor Anderson's DISTANT THUNDERS, the fourth volume of his "Destroyermen" series. Good reading, if you like military and political SF. And I've started THE BROKEN WHEEL, vol. 7 of David Wingrove's CHUNG KUO series. I have some reservations and criticisms, as you may recall, of that series, but worth reading.
Nicholas, very interesting, how you explained coherent light/radiation. Reminds me of how the Moties used it as a source for interplanetary travel to a "nearby" star in THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.
Sean
"'...about coherent radiation from natural sources...'"
That reminds a bit of something people are working on now for interplanetary & even interstellar navigation.
Some pulsars emit x-ray pulses & the timing can be used to locate a spacecraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar-based_navigation
I wonder if the conditions of the cloud universe would confuse that.
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