Another bites the dust

[Gremlinzzz]

First no dark matter in space now this:popcorn:

subatomic particles traveling faster than light

Nothing is supposed to move faster than light, at least according to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity: The famous E (equals) mc2 equation. That stands for energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

But neutrinos - one of the strangest well-known particles in physics - have now been observed smashing past this cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers). :popcorn:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/22/scitech/main20110236.shtml?tag=stack

[whiskeylover]

:popcorn:

[fatality_uk]

Wouldn't surprise me!

[thatguruguy]

Even before this, the action of neutrinos raised questions about relativity.

It was already understood that neutrinos moved at least very close to the speed of light. As we know from relativity, the closer that a particle gets to the speed of light, the more massive it becomes, until it gains infinite mass at the speed of light. As it happens, that's one of the reasons that matter can't travel at the speed of light. Based upon the speed of the neutrino, it was assumed that it must be a massless particle. Within the past few years, however, it has been shown that neutrinos do indeed have mass, although they have a very small mass. Since particles moving close to the speed of light should either have no mass or very high (approaching infinite) mass, neutrinos shouldn't behave the way they do.

[3Miro]

Theoretical Quantum Physics is in many ways in direct contradiction with Theoretical Einstein Relativity. This has been the case for quite some time and now we seem to have the experimental result to show that. While significant, this is in no way surprising or shocking or turning the world upside down. It just means that now we have more data and we will improve both theories (and hopefully merge them into a new and better one).

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Theoretical Quantum Physics is in many ways in direct contradiction with Theoretical Einstein Relativity. This has been the case for quite some time and now we seem to have the experimental result to show that. While significant, this is in no way surprising or shocking or turning the world upside down. It just means that now we have more data and we will improve both theories (and hopefully merge them into a new and better one).

+1

Or we simply have a new definition of the constant used in the equations based on experimental evidence :)

However, we will have to wait for confirmation of the finding.

[WinterMadness]

Stuff like this makes me love science.

[Lucradia]

Captain, the ship can't take much more of this!

: Don't worry, keep on going up until we hit warp nine!

[JDShu]

Before we get to crazy, we should note that the scientists at CERN are making every effort to verify their results, including publishing their data for the wider community to examine. For now, there's still a good chance that there were some mistakes in the calculations.

[NovaAesa]

While interesting, it doesn't really mean anything yet. I'd take any scientific claim with a massive grain of salt until it's in a peer-reviewed publication.

[alphacrucis2]

First no dark matter in space now this:popcorn:

subatomic particles traveling faster than light

Nothing is supposed to move faster than light, at least according to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity: The famous E (equals) mc2 equation. That stands for energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

But neutrinos - one of the strangest well-known particles in physics - have now been observed smashing past this cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers). :popcorn:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/22/scitech/main20110236.shtml?tag=stack


This hasn't been before any peer review so I'm quite suspicious of it.

[drawkcab]

What's not to like? This phenomenon may be consistent with M-Theory, or at least evidence that we need to begin thinking in terms of a new paradgim.

[alphacrucis2]

If anyone is interested the paper regarding this is now up on the preprint archive.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897


Note that this has not yet been refereed. Very interesting if it turns out to be correct.

[Ji Ruo]

This has stunning implications, not least of which is the possibility of my ping improving when I play Urban Terror on US servers. Take that, speed of light latency!

[Erik1984]

While interesting, it doesn't really mean anything yet. I'd take any scientific claim with a massive grain of salt until it's in a peer-reviewed publication.

There is no claim, just a group of researchers showing their measurements and asking the scientific community for help.