Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: hamza on 23/09/2011 11:58:14

Title: Why is the new neutrino discovery stirring controversy
Post by: hamza on 23/09/2011 11:58:14

Ok, so all this talk going on about this, might be, discovery of neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light. My question is why is it so enthralling. Correct me on this but didnt quantum physicists already know about quantum particles breaching the speed of light barrier. Isn't it already a consensus among scientists that the quantum world is altogether different from the Einsteinian relativity laws.  

Title: Why is the new neutrino discovery stirring controversy
Post by: imatfaal on 23/09/2011 12:48:15

Not really no.  If these neutrinos are travelling a distance 700+km faster than light speed, it is a pretty big deal.  These are not massless particles, nor guide waves, nor non-information bearing virtual entities - neutrinos are massive particles travelling through macroscopic space that could carry information.  It would challenge a lot of assumptions and make us rethink many things taken as axiomatic.  we are a long way from that though - at present it is very much a possible discovery that is awaiting scrutiny

Title: Why is the new neutrino discovery stirring controversy
Post by: Phractality on 24/09/2011 15:56:00

Most discussions of special relativity concentrate on time dilation and ignore the fact that time depends also on location along the direction of relative motion. This misleads people into believing that anything traveling faster than light implies time paradoxes. That is not true. It only implies the existence of a preferred frame of reference in which the FTL phenomenon has the same speed in all directions. Special relativity proves that FTL phenomena cannot have the same speed in all directions except in one preferred reference frame.

So, if any FTL phenomenon is proven to exist, it will remove the last object to the existence of an immovable æther, which persuaded Einstein to finally abandon the concept of a substantive æther in his Leyden address (http://www.aetherometry.com/Electronic_Publications/Science/einstein_aether_and_relativity.php). This could result in a resurgence of new æther models, as well as forcing publishers to revise all the textbooks that claim the existence of æther is disproven.