Neutrinos beamed from CERN in Switzerland to the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy appear to have travelled faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, known as c, breaking the rules laid down by Einstein's theory of relativity. The discovery has been made as part of the OPERA experiment and is based on the observation of over 15,000 neutrino events measured at Gran Sasso. The neutrinos were clocked travelling at a velocity 20 parts per million above c, hitherto believed to be nature's ultimate speed limit. They completed the journey in roughly three milliseconds, passing straight through the Earth's crust. No measurement artefacts have been found to account for the result, described by CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci as "apparently unbelievable." The implications for this could be enormous: The constant c turns up in many key physics equations - not least of which is the famous statement of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc². Given the potentially far-reaching consequences of the finding, further independent measurements are now being called for before the effect can be either refuted or firmly established, and the OPERA collaboration has therefore decided to open up the result to broader scrutiny from the scientific community.
The man, who has not made a mistake, probably never did anything new! A E.
The man, who has not made a mistake, probably never did anything new! A E.
