No rewrite of the laws of physics

[Duns]

Apparently there is no need to rewrite the laws of physics - neutrinos do not travel faster than light. There seems to have been a faulty connection in a fibre optic cable that caused a systematic error in the experiment

Reported yesterday in the US Journal of Science :-

"60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos' flight and an electronic card in a computer.

"After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed,"

Well thats a relief - I struggle enough with the current theories:confused:

[symesie04]

Shame it would of been fun to learn that Einsteins great theory was in need of some serious modification. Thats what science is all about isnt it?

[Shibby]

Don't worry, still plenty of unexplained phenomena out there! Dark energy springs to mind.

[Gloris]

I thought something like this might crop up eventually. Although it was quite exciting to think that we might have to have a complete overhaul of our understanding of space-time...and to be honest, I'm sure that we still will do at some point...there is still much that we don't understand, but it would be a very bland world if we understood everything there was to know

[barkis]

Taken from AFP

"Scientists who last year found particles that appeared to break the Universe's speed limit are looking at two technical issues that could have skewed the controversial finding, CERN said on Thursday.

The European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) confirmed a report by the US journal Science on Wednesday that the team were verifying a cable connection.

"It may have caused a slight discrepancy (in the results), and they are checking to see if this is the case," CERN press officer Arnaud Marsollier told AFP by phone.

They are also verifying a timing instrument called an oscillator, he said.

"This is a complicated experiment with a multitude of cables and equipment," said Marsollier.

"The physicists have checked things out, are continuing to make checks and will check again. It (a technical flaw) is always possible, but they have been saying this from the very beginning."

The fuss began in September when scientists from a team known as OPERA cautiously announced that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos had been found to travel some six kilometres (3.75 miles) per second faster than the velocity of light.

The neutrinos were timed at their departure from CERN's giant underground lab near Geneva and again, after travelling 732 kms (454 miles) through Earth's crust, at their arrival at the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.

To do the trip, the neutrinos should have taken 0.0024 seconds. Instead, the particles hit the detectors in Italy 0.00000006 seconds sooner than expected.

The findings sparked widespread scepticism because they attacked Einstein's theory of relativity, which says the maximum velocity in the Universe is the speed of light.

The report on the Science Insider website of the prestigious US journal said the "60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos' flight and an electronic card in a computer.

"After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fibre, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed," it added.

"Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos. New data, however, will be needed to confirm this hypothesis."

The oscillator, also being verified by the OPERA team, is designed to synchronise the timing of each neutrino at their points of departure and landing.

Marsollier said the OPERA team are scheduled to report back in May, and there were no immediate plans to bring forward any announcement in the light of the checks.

The OPERA team went over their results again and again for six months before going public with their announcement, where they sounded a loud word of caution.

"Their findings were a shock to them, which is why they have asked others to replicate the experiment and to carry out the same measurements," Marsollier noted."

[Citizen]

Watched a very good episode of Horizon the other day about Black Holes and the singularity that lies within. Basically Einstein's general relativity just doesn't work at such a tiny level and his theory is flawed whilst the Quantum mechanic theorists (who can explain things at such a small scale) are struggling to make sense of the massive scale of a black hole (mostly the supermassive type).

These two arms of Physics just won't work in tandem. They have a name for the theory that will combine the two; "Quantum Gravity" it's just that no one has actually come up with a theory yet. At least they have the name ready!

[Parus major]

Out of these events one this that come out is how science works. You see theists claiming science is a religious belief system but here in the last wee while we've seen the entire scientific community are willing to coldly cast aside a large section of it's central knowledge if it turns out to be wrong without emotion or rage.

Meanwhile, provide inarguable data that the world isn't the center of the universe, Evolution exists and the universe is 14 Billion years old and theists will try to burn you alive or cut your head off.

A point to Team Science, I think.

[symesie04]

Watched a very good episode of Horizon the other day about Black Holes and the singularity that lies within. Basically Einstein's general relativity just doesn't work at such a tiny level and his theory is flawed whilst the Quantum mechanic theorists (who can explain things at such a small scale) are struggling to make sense of the massive scale of a black hole (mostly the supermassive type).

These two arms of Physics just won't work in tandem. They have a name for the theory that will combine the two; "Quantum Gravity" it's just that no one has actually come up with a theory yet. At least they have the name ready!

Indeed I believe Einsteins theory just breakdowns to ifinities when explaining a blakc hole. On the other hand gravity just doesnt work in the strange world of quantum physics. My understanding is that "string theory" is about the closest we have to a unified theory. But that might just be that no one understands it

[Dave Dubya]

Watched a very good episode of Horizon the other day about Black Holes and the singularity that lies within. Basically Einstein's general relativity just doesn't work at such a tiny level and his theory is flawed whilst the Quantum mechanic theorists (who can explain things at such a small scale) are struggling to make sense of the massive scale of a black hole (mostly the supermassive type).

These two arms of Physics just won't work in tandem. They have a name for the theory that will combine the two; "Quantum Gravity" it's just that no one has actually come up with a theory yet. At least they have the name ready!

Indeed, there are all kinds of new methods to describe the internal mechanics of black hole and a whole new set of thermodynamic principle. Quantum Gravity being the next step they're aiming for.

General relativity predicts them, but struggles to deal with them beyond a certain point. Current quantum mechanics has predicted some of the effects of black holes, but it apparently "unsatisfying" and again struggles to cope.