https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1304.2821/Collected HN comments and submissions linking this paper.enMon, 02 Nov 2026 11:16:22 GMThttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18437694urn:hackerpapers:mention:1304.2821:18437694Tue, 13 Nov 2018 01:39:53 GMT<p>The 3 years/10^18 figures I used were taken from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1304.2821.pdf : &quot;Using the largest allowed value for the photon mass from other experiments, we find a lower limit of about 3 yr on the photon rest-frame lifetime. For photons in the visible spectrum, this corresponds to a lifetime around 10^18 yrs.&quot; Which does work under the assumption that photons have a non-zero rest mass, and as such, could decay. I probably should have phrased my post better - this is hardly settled science, and the majority of physicists would almost certainly say that photons, with our current…</p><p><a href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1304.2821/">Paper and discussion history</a>. A mention is not an endorsement.</p>hep-ph