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Speed of light 'broken' by
scientists
It is the most famous scientific equation of them all but last
night it emerged Einstein's theory of relativity may be
wrong.
The science world was left in shock when workers at the world's largest
physics lab announced they had recorded subatomic particles travelling faster
than the speed of light – a feat that Einstein said was impossible.
If the findings are proven to be accurate, they would overturn one of the
pillars of the Standard Model of physics, which explains the way the
universe and everything within it works.
Einstein's theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing
in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.
But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claim they have recorded
neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of
186,282 miles (299,792 kilometres) per second.
The results have so astounded researchers that American and Japanese
scientists have been asked to verify the results before they are confirmed
as a discovery.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, said: "We have high
confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything
that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing.
"We now want colleagues to check them independently."
A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years
from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where
they were picked up by giant detectors.
Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a
second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds – or 60 billionths of a
second – less than light beams would have taken.
Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a
fundamental rethink of the laws of physics.
John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear
Research who was not involved in the experiment, said Einstein's theory
underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics".
The theory, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big
Bang, "has worked perfectly up to now", he said.
According to the law that energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed
of light squared, or E=mc2, firing an object faster than light would require
an infinite amount of energy.
Proof that something had travelled faster would pose major questions
about our understanding of the laws of nature because, for example,
something that travels faster than light would in theory arrive before it
left.
Speed of light 'broken' by scientists - Telegraph
scientists
It is the most famous scientific equation of them all but last
night it emerged Einstein's theory of relativity may be
wrong.
The science world was left in shock when workers at the world's largest
physics lab announced they had recorded subatomic particles travelling faster
than the speed of light – a feat that Einstein said was impossible.
If the findings are proven to be accurate, they would overturn one of the
pillars of the Standard Model of physics, which explains the way the
universe and everything within it works.
Einstein's theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing
in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.
But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claim they have recorded
neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of
186,282 miles (299,792 kilometres) per second.
The results have so astounded researchers that American and Japanese
scientists have been asked to verify the results before they are confirmed
as a discovery.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, said: "We have high
confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything
that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing.
"We now want colleagues to check them independently."
A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years
from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where
they were picked up by giant detectors.
Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a
second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds – or 60 billionths of a
second – less than light beams would have taken.
Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a
fundamental rethink of the laws of physics.
John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear
Research who was not involved in the experiment, said Einstein's theory
underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics".
The theory, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big
Bang, "has worked perfectly up to now", he said.
According to the law that energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed
of light squared, or E=mc2, firing an object faster than light would require
an infinite amount of energy.
Proof that something had travelled faster would pose major questions
about our understanding of the laws of nature because, for example,
something that travels faster than light would in theory arrive before it
left.
Speed of light 'broken' by scientists - Telegraph
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