OMG Nothing is true anymore
You've probably heard about it by now but the CERN OPERA experiment with neutrinos registered some that apparently seem to travel faster then light.
The experiment sends neutrinos generated by the LHC in Switzerland to a detector at Gran Sasso in Italy. Neutrinos have almost no mass so they travel practically at the speed of light and they almost don't interact with other matter so they go through it as if it isn't there. They should have arrived in Italy in 3 ms. Instead they've been detected 60 ns too early. 15 000 times.
This is not something they expected to see. It's not even something they belive int. It's just something they see in the data. And now they are asking the other physicist if they can find what they did wrong.
Becsuse if they are right then the current mantra of nothing can go faster then light is wrong and our understanding of the rules the universe operates on will have to be reevaluated. However, as most (including the researchers who observed this) point out, it is probably some kind of mistake and even we shouldn't get to excited and run off redefining physics until some independent experiments can replicate the results. Preferably many, many independent experiments.
Or this is proof that the LHC will destroy the universe. Whatever you find to be more likely.
This is big enough to show up in the news everywhere (even the newest xkcd is about this) and CERN is to hold a conference in few minutes (16:00 CEST) that we can all watch live.
The experiment sends neutrinos generated by the LHC in Switzerland to a detector at Gran Sasso in Italy. Neutrinos have almost no mass so they travel practically at the speed of light and they almost don't interact with other matter so they go through it as if it isn't there. They should have arrived in Italy in 3 ms. Instead they've been detected 60 ns too early. 15 000 times.
This is not something they expected to see. It's not even something they belive int. It's just something they see in the data. And now they are asking the other physicist if they can find what they did wrong.
Becsuse if they are right then the current mantra of nothing can go faster then light is wrong and our understanding of the rules the universe operates on will have to be reevaluated. However, as most (including the researchers who observed this) point out, it is probably some kind of mistake and even we shouldn't get to excited and run off redefining physics until some independent experiments can replicate the results. Preferably many, many independent experiments.
Or this is proof that the LHC will destroy the universe. Whatever you find to be more likely.
This is big enough to show up in the news everywhere (even the newest xkcd is about this) and CERN is to hold a conference in few minutes (16:00 CEST) that we can all watch live.