Speedy Neutrinos

Did you read about those neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light? If true, it would undermine Einstein's special theory of relativity, which holds that the speed of light is constant. The exact value is 299792458 meters per second, and nothing in the universe can travel faster.

A team of physicists at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, measured neutrinos created at CERN, shot toward the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, and detected them 731.278 km away (precision of ±20 cm) in an underground detector, traveling faster than light.

The web is a fantastic source of information. I actually spent two hours watching the presentation and discussing the results of those measurements during a seminar at CERN. If you like hearing a strong European accent explain complicated facts in simple English, tune in to the CERN auditorium. 

As it stands, the experimental results show that neutrinos starting at CERN arrive at the detector in Gran Sasso in 2.4382323 milliseconds, i.e., 0.000060 milliseconds faster, i.e., travel at 299799835 meters per second.

The physicists presenting their results and the audience, including me, were, and still are, greatly disturbed. The general tendency is to suspect mistakes in those time measurements. A counter-experiment confirming the results is urgently needed before one dares to throw Einstein's theory, solid up to now, overboard. Physicists at Fermilab near Chicago, running a similar neutrino experiment, are eagerly preparing their detectors to independently measure these speedy neutrinos.

Here are some recent remarks from CERN.

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