Speed of light... Broken!

[rice_pudding]

Hey All,

Quite an astounding bit of news today, scientists have recorded neutrinos travelling faster than light.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... eries.html

This could completely reshuffle modern science and leave Relativity with many holes, providing Einstein's theory its biggest challenge since the advent of quantum science. On a Sci-fi note this could turn time travel from a theoretical oddity into a plausible notion, and deep space exploration may have more practical merit.

Personally I feel a great sense of liberation at this discovery, I get quite annoyed by people who always base their world view on current understanding and never consider progress, there was a time everyone thought the world was flat, this could be another watershed moment.

Rob

[Paul Wolfe]

Sheldon would be impressed...

[Paul Wolfe]

Matt Strassler: “All the great revolutions in science start with an unexpected discrepancy that wouldn’t go away.”

[rice_pudding]

Matt Strassler: “All the great revolutions in science start with an unexpected discrepancy that wouldn’t go away.”

Most intelligent thing i've heard in quite some time

Rob

[RR-ElectricAngel]

I wrote a physics book 6 years ago...



...and I remember hearing a similar argument in 2000.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/200 ... 00720.html

The difference here is that neutrinos are supposed to have non-zero mass. According to Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity no mass can travel faster than the speed of light. My guess is scientists will most likely view it was just an anomaly. It takes another independent experiment to prove whether or not this actually occurred. That takes years...

[rice_pudding]

David,

That's a good observation, and would go some way towards an explanation. Still, an exciting time nonetheless, it's a welcome relief that science can still be surprised.

Rob

[Whipper]

David, that's very impressive!!!!! I have a hard enough time writing a post on a forum, let alone a Physics book!

You might be interested to know I live in Sudbury then, which probably rings a bell for you because of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, which provided the first direct evidence of solar neutrino oscillation on their way from the sun because of it's ability to detect all three "flavors" of neutrinos. The 'Super-K' detector in Japan was first to publish evidence of oscillation, but it was not conclusive and couldn't detect all three flavors.

It was an insane feat of engineering building that thing, and I had the privilege of going underground several times to assist with shooting video footage of the construction and operation. It was built 6800 feet underground in a nickel mine in the largest man-made cavern at such a depth. It had a 20 foot diameter acrylic sphere that was perfectly round and optically pure, which held one million liters of heavy water (worth $300 a liter, on loan from Atomic Energy of Canada). This was completely surrounded by 9,600 photomultiplier tubes capable of detecting the light of a candle from a mile away, and the remaining space filled with regular but ultra clean water. Simply mind-boggling!!

When it came near to becoming operational, it became a clean room environment, so we would have to drop off our camera gear the day before to get meticulously cleaned by them and we would have to shower and change into clothing they provided before going in to shoot. Nothing like getting naked with a bunch of 60-year-old physicists! The observatory is still operational today, but now it's studying dark matter.

Very cool article, thanks for sharing!

[RR-ElectricAngel]

Ric (Whipper), my physics book was a labor of love. I don't speak about it that much because the subject is so intimidating. The lingo is rather longwinded and the math is complex. Still, it fascinated me to at least learn the concepts behind the Theory of Everything. I do have one funny moment to tell...

In 2000, I went to a Superstring Conference at U.C.L.A. Stephen Hawking was there and "motoring" about. Everyone was excited about the new Millenium and wondering where physics was headed. Anyway, I was talking to some other fellow members there when all of a sudden "Wham!!" a wheelchair hits my leg. I turned and I see Mr. Hawking there. My only response was "I'm sorry Mr. Hawking, please forgive me." I then simply limped back to the other side of the conference hall. What else could I do or say?...LOL

[Trigger]

I tried really hard not to think about the speed of light being broken because I thought it would would make my head burst into flames! it really changes everything.

[RR-ElectricAngel]

If it does prove true you can bet there will be some TV shows that will exploit it.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

I think these policemen thought this boy racer coming over the hill had a souped up ford. Doing his best to break the land speed record LOL!!..

[RR-ElectricAngel]

If that story went the other way I wonder how they would explain it? "Police radar captures the big one!" LOL!

[Axeman1956]

wow.. as a young scientist I am astounded by this discovery. It surely is a very historic discovery that may answer many questions about the universe... Hopefully more will come up in the near future

[rice_pudding]

I think these policemen thought this boy racer coming over the hill had a souped up ford. Doing his best to break the land speed record LOL!!..

Brilliant! Pretty aggressive defence system from the tornado. I'm sure some aggro drivers wish they had a sidewinder countermeasure for speed cameras.

Rob

[Paul Wolfe]

Unfortunately a flaw in the original test...