Slow Light

[lienshan]

Scientists said on Thursday they recorded particles travelling faster than light

a finding that could overturn one of Einstein's fundamental laws of the universe.

 

A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of three years

from CERN towards Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away.

 

Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second,

but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds less than light beams would have taken.

[Cat Pillar]

Is it too early to order my starship?

[joeblast]

intriguing...curious to see whether the results will be replicated...

[Cat Pillar]

intriguing...curious to see whether the results will be replicated...

 

Indeed. Too early to draw any conclusions without further experimentation. Hopefully more experiments aren't far away.

[Wells]

Scientists said on Thursday they recorded particles travelling faster than light

a finding that could overturn one of Einstein's fundamental laws of the universe.

 

A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of three years

from CERN towards Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away.

 

Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second,

but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds less than light beams would have taken.

Thanks for the great info!

The most astounding part for me is that neutrinos are in fact particles with mass and not waves!

Edited September 23, 2011 by Dorian Black

[oat1239]

Those are definitely very interesting results. Something like this still has to undergo a lot of scrutiny from the scientific community to see if the results will stand up to inspection, and ideally these results would need to be shown to be independently replicable. It will likely take some time:

 

Antonio Ereditato, a spokesman for Opera, made it clear that while the team had looked hard for any measurement errors or other mistakes that could explain it, and found none, the results still needed careful checking: After many months of studies and cross checks we have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement. While OPERA researchers will continue their studies, we are also looking forward to independent measurements to fully assess the nature of this observation.

 

The Cern research director, Sergio Bertolucci, followed up with a similar comment: When an experiment finds an apparently unbelievable result and can find no artefact of the measurement to account for it, its normal procedure to invite broader scrutiny, and this is exactly what the Opera collaboration is doing, its good scientific practice."

"If this measurement is confirmed, it might change our view of physics, but we need to be sure that there are no other, more mundane, explanations. That will require independent measurements.

 

At least one physicist, John P. Costella, Ph.D. from Melbourne, Australia, is already stating that the result is based on a statistical calculation error (PDF file):

"I explain why today's claim of the OPERA group at CERN for having measured faster-than-light

neutrinos is based on an incorrect statistical calculation."

Why CERNs claims for faster-than-light neutrinos is wrong

 

This will likely remain a hot debate item for quite some time to come. It will be interesting to see if the results can hold up to intense scrutiny from the scientific community.

Edited September 23, 2011 by oat1239

[lienshan]

It has something to do with karma; the law of cause and effect; niyama:

 

Therefore, if causality is to be preserved, one of the consequences of special relativity is

that no information signal or material object can travel faster than light in a vacuum.

 

I think, that most buddhists are chocked by the breaking news

[doc benway]

Intersting stuff. To my knowledge the Bell inequality brought Einstein's conclusions under challenge way back in the early '60's and remains undisputed. Although to see such an effect with a neutrino would be quite different.

[joeblast]

[Protector]

[manitou]

Maybe they've tapped into dark matter and there's no resistance whatsoever, anything beyond 186,000 MPS. Maybe we're on the edge of discovering a separate physical reality. Maybe the upcoming and ongoing planetary alignment is somehow affecting the norm. Maybe we're edging toward a black hole, and we're entering into a phase where we're going to be affected greatly by the black hole in our universe. Maybe this is the beginning of something really wonderful. Man exceeding his own believed limitations and measurements; how exciting is that?? And how niftily exceeding our supposed limitations fits in right now, what with all the other dynamics in the world playing out to the enth degree. We are currently living in one incredible time. The trick is to not fear any of it; let's just sit here on this fence together and watch it all go by.

[C T]

Maybe we're on the edge of discovering a separate physical reality.

Perhaps you might have intuited correctly, Manitou!

 

An article i just picked up today ~ http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/24/worldupdates/2011-09-24T034731Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-595140-4&sec=Worldupdates

 

(could be relevant here.)

 

 

Anyway, its good to see you again after your little hiatus. Its nice to stand back once in a while just to gain a bit of perspective.

Hope all is well with you... :)

[manitou]

 

 

 

Anyway, its good to see you again after your little hiatus. Its nice to stand back once in a while just to gain a bit of perspective.

Hope all is well with you... :)

 

Yes. Standing back. Nicely said.

 

All is very well, thank you

Hope the same is with you.

[manitou]

When we get to discussing things of this nature - the wonderful scientific measurements that mankind is capable of - I so often get a mental image of the universe being as a bellows - an in and outness - much as it says in the Tao. The reversion to the beginning. It just 'feels' to me that the out-ness is about to become the in-ness, or the other way around. The corresponding principle in human beings is the process to enlightenment. It is a reversion to the beginning, a trip inward to back to before the lies started. Back before even the illusion of Time.