Channel Capacity of a Relativistic String

I explore the limitations on the capacity of a relativistic channel to transmit power and information that arise because of the finiteness of the transverse speed of light. As a model system, I consider a rope constructed from a fundamental string, for which relativistic invariance is built in. By wiggling one end of the string, both power and information may be transmitted to the other end. I argue that even though an unbounded amount of power and information may be traveling down the string, there is a bound on how much may be transmitted. Further, I conjecture that the two kinds of channel capacity—power and information—interfere with each other, so that the only way to transmit the maximum amount of power is to send no information, and vice versa. Published by the American Physical Society 2025