digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted September 24, 2011 Team of physicists at CERN, the world's largest physics lab, has addressed results that suggest subatomic particles have gone faster than the speed of light. The tests were done using subatomic particles called Neutrinos. The Cern team prepares a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, and sends them through the Earth to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many show up as a different type, tau neutrinos. In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up 60 billionths of a second earlier than they would have done if they had travelled at the speed of light. This is a tiny fractional change - just 20 parts in a million - but one that occurs consistently. The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 16,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery. The speed of light is widely held to be the Universe's ultimate speed limit, and much of modern physics - as laid out in part by Albert Einstein in his theory of special relativity (E=mc2) - depends on the idea that nothing can exceed it. If these test results are proved correct, one of the pillars of modern science will come tumbling down. References http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-15017484 http://www.guardian....icles-neutrinos http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ni0987 179 Report post Posted September 25, 2011 We have to wait until investigations start and finish. Its the first and only phenomenon that contradicts Einstien's results. Those who observed the new speed, haven't clarified if there were any physical changes in the particles other than expected/calculated. I have read many hurrying to call Einstien's results wrong. Even if this claim of exceeding speed of light, _empirically_, turns out to be correct (there will be many reviews), _theoritically_, Einstien's theory may turn out to be 'incomplete' as against 'incorrect'. I remember a few years back someone proposing that even speed of light varies (perhaps depending upon size of universe or some other factor, don't remember exactly) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
city02 63 Report post Posted September 26, 2011 assuming the speed of light is 299 792 km / sec = 1,079 million km/h then the neutrinos are going at about 21,580 km/h faster = 6 km/sec [20 per million increase mentioned above] so the new speed limit can be set to 299,798 km / s no big deal [unless you are a particle physicist] nothing will change in any other branches of science due to this correction unless they figure out time travel! then its 'back to the future' ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted September 26, 2011 We have to wait until investigations start and finish. Its the first and only phenomenon that contradicts Einstien's results. Those who observed the new speed, haven't clarified if there were any physical changes in the particles other than expected/calculated. I have read many hurrying to call Einstien's results wrong. Even if this claim of exceeding speed of light, _empirically_, turns out to be correct (there will be many reviews), _theoritically_, Einstien's theory may turn out to be 'incomplete' as against 'incorrect'. I remember a few years back someone proposing that even speed of light varies (perhaps depending upon size of universe or some other factor, don't remember exactly) They have not claimed anything or hurrying to call Einstein's results wrong, the test has been done 16000 times but because this is such a big deviation the experiment results have been published for scrutiny and cross verification. There will be repeat experiments by others, that is normal procedure. The neutrinos changed from muon to tau - it is mentioned in the report, please read the last URL for full publication. The concept of variable speed of light already exists however even then it does not say that anything can travel faster than speed of light. The theory of relativity should not be confused with variable speed of light theory. assuming the speed of light is 299 792 km / sec = 1,079 million km/h then the neutrinos are going at about 21,580 km/h faster = 6 km/sec [20 per million increase mentioned above] so the new speed limit can be set to 299,798 km / s no big deal [unless you are a particle physicist] nothing will change in any other branches of science due to this correction unless they figure out time travel! then its 'back to the future' ... The theory of relativity will become redundant or need to be modified, that is a very big change. The theory of relativity has never been experimentally proven wrong before this, but it is well known that empirically it does not fit well with quantum mechanics. Time travel per se is not possible even if this experiment is proved correct, however it will open up the theoretical possibility of it. Multiverse travel is a more plausible theory than time travel in same universe, because effect cannot precede the cause. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Genius 817 Report post Posted September 27, 2011 Was Einstein Wrong? U.S. Accelerator Lab To Test CERN’s Results Details here: http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/was-einstein-wrong-us-accelerator-lab-to-test-cerns-results.php Taptalk on ™iPad 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgiitk 32 Report post Posted September 27, 2011 It is a very small time interval, and let us wait for the confirmation. If true then it will shake the basis of Physics as we know it. Obviously, the current model works, but then there has to be a higher model which has this one as an approximation. It will be like the early 1900's when Quantum and Relativity took over from Galilean/Newtonian Physics. It is not that Galileo was wrong, but it was only an approximation from the 'true' story. Now there may be another truer story. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
