Physicists find sub-atomic particles travel faster than light

• Lan wrote on 2011-09-23 20:58

  Scientists have found in an experiment that a beam of neutrinos travel faster than light threatening to invalidate Albert Einstein’s theory that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light.
  
  
  The experiment clocked the speed of some 16,000 neutrinos launched from the laboratory of the European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN to the subterranean facilities of Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory.
  
  The beam, passing through Earth, arrived 2.43 milliseconds later as timed by the underground OPERA particle detector.The neutrino beam’s travel time is 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.
  
  A neutrino is defined as an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle that travels close to the speed of sound. With the result of the OPERA experiment, this definition might change.
  
  “Neutrinos are created as a result of certain types of radioactive decay or nuclear reactions such as those that take place in the Sun, in nuclear reactors, or when cosmic rays hit atoms,” according to Wikipedia.
  
  University of Bern's Antonio Ereditato, spokesman of the OPERA team, colleagues should do their tests to confirm their extraordinary finding.
  
  An initial reaction from peers was that an error occurred in the experiment.

  
  
  Time travel.
  
  http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90060867?Physicists%20find%20sub-atomic%20particles%20travel%20faster%20than%20light
• Blassreiter wrote on 2011-09-23 21:11
  Next stop, future.
  
  Won't be surprising if a much faster particle is found by the time I reach researching.
• TA wrote on 2011-09-24 09:00
  Yay. Tachyons, ho!
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-09-24 09:03
  They'll probably have to change Einstein's theory a bit to accommodate for these particles.
  
  Or just be like, "OKAY. THIS APPLIES ONLY TO PHOTONS. EVERYTHING ELSE DOESN'T WORK FOR IT." And then come up with a new equation for these things. lmao
• Akemii wrote on 2011-09-24 09:48
  We were talking about this in English class, ironically.
  
  
  Would be soooo cool to have us visiting oither planets in the future.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2011-09-24 10:09
  Oh wow, quantum physics don't work with relativity, I'm so surprised.
  
  
  Strong atomic force is far more mind boggling to me.
• TA wrote on 2011-09-24 11:13

  Quote from Sumpfkraut;597448:

  Oh wow, quantum physics don't work with relativity, I'm so surprised.
  
  Strong atomic force is far more mind boggling to me.

  
  
  The theory made no such implication. It states that there is an asymptote at the speed of light, implying that if an object were to move faster it would have a negative mass, speed up towards infinity as the energy decreased and travel backwards in time. Quantum Mechanical theory would state that there is a finite chance of breaking this barrier (somehow), the same way water can boil below 100C or electrons can escape from the atomic shell. This gave rise to the idea that the theory is incomplete, but of course there's been no measurable way to determine behavior beyond this point.
  
  Oh and here...
  
  

  The OPERA experiment, which observes a neutrino beam from CERN 730 km away at Italy’s INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory, will present new results in a seminar at CERN today.
  
  The OPERA result is based on the observation of over 15000 neutrino events measured at Gran Sasso, and appears to indicate that the neutrinos travel at a velocity 20 parts per million above the speed of light, nature’s cosmic speed limit. Given the potential far-reaching consequences of such a result, independent measurements are needed before the effect can either be refuted or firmly established. This is why the OPERA collaboration has decided to open the result to broader scrutiny.

  
  
  http://public.web.cern.ch/public/
  
  their press release:
  http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2011/PR19.11E.html
  
  And here is a PDF document with all their research results disclosed to the public for scrutiny:
  http://static.arxiv.org/pdf/1109.4897.pdf
• starpaw7 wrote on 2011-09-24 15:03
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]

  [Image: http://i.qkme.me/3546ko.jpg]

  
  
  
  If you don't get it;
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]You need light to take that picture[/SPOILER][/SPOILER]
  
  More tests - there is always the possibility of a misunderstanding
  
  Interesting though, even if it didn't make it, that it could go so fast owo
• Akemii wrote on 2011-09-24 15:19

  Quote from starpaw7;597773:

  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]

  [Image: http://i.qkme.me/3546ko.jpg]

  
  
  
  If you don't get it;
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]You need light to take that picture[/SPOILER][/SPOILER]
  
  More tests - there is always the possibility of a misunderstanding
  
  Interesting though, even if it didn't make it, that it could go so fast owo

  
  
  And even if it didn't, it's a stepping stone to actually achieving it one day.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-24 16:00
  I'm gonna withhold judgment until they do more tests to confirm this. :P
• TA wrote on 2011-09-24 16:49
  Fermilab is going to repeat the experiment but said it will take years to have the exact setup. The Japanese would love to do it too probably. But their facility is shut down because of the earthquake. Fermilab and the Japanese one are the only capable facilities to repeat that experiment.
• Osayidan wrote on 2011-09-24 19:58
  Either I completely missed something, or a whole lot of scientists have been living under a rock...
  I heard theories of neutrinos being faster than the speed of light years ago in various science-y documentaries whose primary subjects I can't recall. All I know is when I read about this earlier this week I was confused as to why this was being treated as brand new.
• UnNormal wrote on 2011-09-25 05:06
  Cern! Time Travel!! Steins Gate!!! Being totally unconstructive.
• Taycat wrote on 2011-09-25 08:54

  Quote from Osayidan;598246:

  Either I completely missed something, or a whole lot of scientists have been living under a rock...
  I heard theories of neutrinos being faster than the speed of light years ago in various science-y documentaries whose primary subjects I can't recall. All I know is when I read about this earlier this week I was confused as to why this was being treated as brand new.

  
  
  Theories are different than actually producing results, aren't they?
• Zid wrote on 2011-09-27 10:10

  Quote from Yoorah;597861:

  I'm gonna withhold judgment until they do more tests to confirm this. :P

  
  
  Same here. There are still some errors to be looked over.