The gravitational energy-momentum tensor and the gravitational pressure

Abstract

The observation of superluminal transmission of photons created discussions of their reality and significance. To analyze the possibility of such phenomena in general, the most general method is employed based on the covariant theory of dispersion relations. It is shown that superluminal phenomena can only be realized as tunneling of excitations within the near field zone. On this basis, the main experimental data can be described as sequential processes of single photon scattering. Their temporal distribution is estimated by taking into account the scattering time. Thus, the difference is explained between the advance of the superluminal part of the light pulse (i.e., the transition time of single photons) and the signal velocity of the macroscopic pulse of light.