ForumsWEPRTiny Neutrinos May Have Broken Cosmic Speed Limit - Roll over, Einstein?

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partydevil
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partydevil
5,129 posts
Jester

CERN in geneva has published it's 1st big results.
do you think this can be true? and what are your ideas about of this news?

NY Times article

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EmperorPalpatine
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EmperorPalpatine
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According to the source, the other end in Sasso had a wall that was ultrasensitive to them. Could it have been too sensitive (like a pressure sensor reacting to the air pressure increasing before the object hits it)?

Kyouzou
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Kyouzou
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I'm fairly sure that moving at such speeds they would've anticipated that, and calibrated for actual impact, the effects of the pressure wave of an onrushing force are going to be completely different from the actual object, I would think.


Orion's probably right, with science progressing as it does, at some point we're bound to either transcend past the current laws, or simply disprove them.

HydromiTad
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HydromiTad
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What if their instruments were off? I thought I'd throw that idea into the discussion.

But, if they can duplicate the results, then Einstein's theory is wrong. That would be a pretty big deal!

grimml
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grimml
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[quote]The concept of neutrinos moving faster than light isn't new.


actualy it is. until now scientists thought they were going near the speed of light. so a bit slower then lightspeed.[/quote]

Nope, it isn't new. 1967 there was a paper called "Possibility of Faster-Than-Light Particle". 1997 there was a paper called "Neutrinos Must be Tachyons". There were several speculations.

But, if they can duplicate the results, then Einstein's theory is wrong.

Not necessarily. I read that the STR only applies to particles that have a speed lower than the speed of light when they start to exist. When a particle comes into existence with a speed above the speed of light then this is something totally else. Neutrinos might be tachyons and actually lose energy while they speed up. Pretty strange idea.
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