Update: CERN's "Faster-than-Speed-of-Light" Claim Get's a Second Look
Scientists who challenged current models of physics by reporting particles that broke the Universe's speed-of-light limit said on Friday they were taking a second look at their hotly debated experiment.
"The new test began two or three days ago," said Stavros Kasavenas, deputy head of France's National Institute for Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics, also called the IN2P3. "The criticism is that the results we had were a statistical quirk. The test should help (us) address this," he told AFP.
On September 23, the team stunned the particle physics world by saying they had measured neutrinos that traveled around six kilometres (3.75 miles) per second faster than the velocity of light, determined by Einstein to be the highest speed possible.
The neutrinos had been measured along a 732-kilometre (454-mile) trajectory between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy.
Through a complex transformation, a few of the protons arrive at their destination as neutrinos, travelling through Earth's crust.
The scientists at CERN and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy scrutinised the results of the so-called Opera experiment for nearly six months before making the announcement. They admitted they were baffled by the results and put out asked for peer review help. The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Since then, an open-access online physics review, Arxiv, has had scores of papers submitted to it.
Some point to perceived technical glitches, noting that only a minute flaw in measurement would have had the neutrinos busting the speed of light.
Kasavenas said CERN was making available a special form of proton beam until November 6.
The idea is to assess a modified measurement technique. If this works, the technique will be used in a bigger, "highly important" experiment that will be carried out in April, he said.
"The idea with the new beam is to have protons that are generated in packets lasting one or two nanoseconds with a gap between each packet of 500 nanoseconds," he said. "We will be able to measure the neutrinos one by one, but to do this we need a beam that is a hundred times less intense than the previous one."
The Daily Galaxy via AFP
On September 23, the team stunned the particle physics world by saying they had measured neutrinos that traveled around six kilometres (3.75 miles) per second faster than the velocity of light, determined by Einstein to be the highest speed possible.
The neutrinos had been measured along a 732-kilometre (454-mile) trajectory between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy.
Through a complex transformation, a few of the protons arrive at their destination as neutrinos, travelling through Earth's crust.
The scientists at CERN and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy scrutinised the results of the so-called Opera experiment for nearly six months before making the announcement. They admitted they were baffled by the results and put out asked for peer review help. The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Since then, an open-access online physics review, Arxiv, has had scores of papers submitted to it.
Some point to perceived technical glitches, noting that only a minute flaw in measurement would have had the neutrinos busting the speed of light.
Kasavenas said CERN was making available a special form of proton beam until November 6.
The idea is to assess a modified measurement technique. If this works, the technique will be used in a bigger, "highly important" experiment that will be carried out in April, he said.
"The idea with the new beam is to have protons that are generated in packets lasting one or two nanoseconds with a gap between each packet of 500 nanoseconds," he said. "We will be able to measure the neutrinos one by one, but to do this we need a beam that is a hundred times less intense than the previous one."
The Daily Galaxy via AFP
Image credit: uva.co.uk
Comments
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Hope cern" is right but i do think that any thing is possible so if aliens can fly that fast why cant we...or maybe we are not smart enough. I think its fair to say humans are lazy .
Posted by: Mark | October 31, 2011 at 08:13 AM
we just need to wait. in another 1000 years we will have a lot more answers than we have now.
Posted by: Bill Nye "The Science Guy" | October 31, 2011 at 10:12 AM
bull shxt!
Posted by: todd dalton | October 31, 2011 at 06:21 PM
todd dalton is a ball licker
Posted by: Payner | October 31, 2011 at 07:48 PM
Why bother testing this scenario when we can look in the bible for answers? What does it say about the speed of light?
Posted by: Luciano | November 01, 2011 at 07:39 AM
I hope that was sarcasm Luciano. all the bible says about the sun is that it was made by god.
I really hope they did it. if they broke the lightspeed barrier than we could send out signals to other star systems and maybe finally answer the original question.
plus, faster internet.
Posted by: dmarx | November 01, 2011 at 11:41 AM
I hope the repeat experiment will eliminate the errors in estimating both the statistical and systematic ones. The lower intensity bunch of 1/2 nanoseconds should not be serious problem and the burst gap should be sufficient to permit the neutrino speed detection through a wider range than employed earlier. May be a detector on moon and earth may become feasable!
Posted by: Narendra Nath | November 01, 2011 at 04:54 PM
The idea with the new beam is to have protons that are generated in packets lasting one or two nanoseconds with a gap between each packet of 500 nanoseconds," he said. "We will be able to measure the neutrinos one by one, but to do this we need a beam that is a hundred times less intense than the previous one."
Posted by: Solar Traffic Sign | November 30, 2011 at 12:38 AM