OPERA experiment sees neutrinos seem to beat speed of light
September 23, 2011 | 7:02 am
The OPERA experiment began in 2006 with the main goal of studying neutrino oscillation. Image courtesy of OPERA
The OPERA neutrino experiment announced today the kind of result that keeps a physicist up at night.
Scientists revealed that they have observed subatomic particles seeming to travel faster than the speed of light.
Leaders of the collaboration will share OPERA data with the world today at 9 a.m. CDT during a seminar to be broadcast live on the web. They have already posted the relevant paper online.
The OPERA experiment’s study of more than 15,000 neutrino events over the course of three years indicated that the particles reached a velocity 20 parts per million above light speed.
If neutrinos really are breaking the cosmic speed limit, a revolution is at hand in the field of particle physics. Einstein’s law of special relativity as we understand it and a century of experiment tell scientists such a result is impossible.
So, to them, the next step is clear: They will try their best to prove it wrong.
“This result comes as a complete surprise,” said OPERA spokesperson Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern. “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.”
Neutrinos are some of the most mysterious particles studied today. They rarely interact with other matter, so they have the ability to slip quietly through space and entire planets as if they weren’t there. The only way scientists can detect enough of these subatomic ghosts to study their properties is to aim an intense beam of them at a large target.
OPERA is a long-baseline neutrino experiment, meaning that its detector sits far from its neutrino source. For the OPERA experiment, particles stream from their origins at CERN to Gran Sasso, Italy, more than 450 miles away. Long-baseline experiments allow scientists to study a strange trait of the particles. Neutrinos come in three types, called flavors. As they travel, neutrinos oscillate from one flavor to another.
These experiments can also take precision measurements such as the one announced today. Two other long-baseline neutrino experiments, one in the United States and the other in Japan, could double-check OPERA’s results. The MINOS experiment sends a beam of neutrinos from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory into a 6,000-ton detector in a former iron mine about 450 miles away in northern Minnesota. The T2K experiment studies neutrinos that travel more than 180 miles through Japan from Tokai to Kamioka.
Previous results from the MINOS experiment do not contradict OPERA’s findings, but they are less certain. Scientists on the MINOS collaboration plan to improve the accuracy of their measurement with upgrades already underway.
Members of MINOS and T2K, along with scientists from around the world, will scrutinize the OPERA measurement, looking for fatal flaws. Still other scientists will prepare for another possibility: What if the result is right? “In the upcoming weeks, we’ll see a flurry of papers come out with different interpretations of this,” said CERN theoretical physicist John Ellis.
Not all theorists will jump in. Many will wait for confirmation by other experiments before taking on the problem of how to square superluminal neutrinos with the rest of physics.
But those that offer their interpretations will guide experimentalists by giving them new parameters to test, Ellis said. “It’s good to produce a bunch of reactions and see which way nature decides to go.”
Read updates:
Scientists still seek explanation for faster-than-light neutrino result
Faster-than-light neutrino result withstands new test
Kathryn Grim
Posted in intensity frontier, neutrinos, underground science |
14 Comments »
September 23rd, 2011 at 5:44 pm
I read a bunch of this stuff today. They had tons of results which should allow for a statement of statistical measurement under the bell curve, i.e., what’s the “Sigma” rating?
September 23rd, 2011 at 7:13 pm
I guess Opera produces “magical neutrinos” that differ from all other neutrinos in the universe. If neutrinos truly traveled 20 parts per million above c, then we should detect “neutrino storms” far ahead of gamma bursts from supernovae; this would be a great way to catch a jet in the act (by giving us a multi month or year warning) but sadly, this is not the case. I’m betting on malarkey on this one.
September 26th, 2011 at 4:13 am
The velocity of light is 186000 miles per second http://bit.ly/qsvnNe
September 27th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
I assume that papers on the question “what if the result is right” (what if faster than light travel is possible) have been published in the past. Some citations to them would be helpful. I’d also like some idea of the timeline of advances that could be expected in this area, both during the confirmation stage and after, in a worse case scenario, best case, or whatever any qualified commenter has to offer on the theoretical side of this.
September 29th, 2011 at 4:24 am
Would physicists be interested, based on two hypothetical entities and three hypothetical forces, if we could draw a structure of the neutrino that has a stable configuration, no charge, small magnetic moment, and travels in 3 different orientations that behave differently? If we add two other hypothetical entities and a hypothetical force and could describe photons, magnetic fields, charge, electrons, Dirac Spin, strings of 3 types that hold together spheroids of 2 types to form unit pairs that combine in triplets to form quarks that prefer to exist as triplets themselves, protons, neutrons, and muons, and likely explains gravity, and possibly explain dark matter?
September 29th, 2011 at 5:49 am
20 parts per million looks like a miscalculation not an instrumental margin of error. For example, was the distance the neutrinos traversed measured along the earth’s curvature or as a chord? But I guess the scientists have elimated the obvious.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:47 am
I’m amazed at all the hype regarding CERN’S announcement that they measured neutrinos exceeding the speed of light. Even some prominent physicists are saying that if true it means that Einstein’s special theory of relativity which states that the speed of light cannot be exceeded is wrong and the standard model would have to be drastically revised.
However, a little arithmetic shows that the increase in the speed for neutrinos over that of light is exceedingly small and probably due to experimental error.
CERN found that neutrinos traveling a distance of 734 km (454 miles) from source to target took 60 nanoseconds less than the approximately 2.4 milliseconds based on the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). This calculates to an increase in speed for the neutrinos of 4.6 miles per second (0.0025%). Experiments at Fermilab in 2007 over a similar distance also showed a very small increase in speed for neutrinos of 0.005%.
September 29th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Superluminal speeds are ruled out by Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, which has been confirmed by accelerator experiments in which particles such as electrons and protons are accelerated to speeds approaching the speed of light but never beyond.
September 29th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I agree that the increase in speed of neutrinos measured by CERN is so small that it is probably due to experimental or calculation error despite the high statistical significance of the data..
September 30th, 2011 at 7:29 am
Neutrino Speed in the Everlasting Theory
Neutrino speed depends on lifetime of particles which decay due to the weak interactions. Here, within the Everlasting Theory (the ET), I present the physical interpretation and math concerning the results obtained in the MINOS and LHC-OPERA experiments and relating to the supernova SN 1987 A. The calculated neutrino speed for the MINOS experiment is 1.000051(21)c. The maximum neutrino speed is 1.000072c. The calculated time-distance between the fronts of the neutrino and photon beams for the LHC-OPERA experiment is 59.3 ns whereas the neutrino speed is 1.0000172(71)c i.e. maximum neutrino speed is 1.0000243c. The calculated time-distance between the fronts of the neutrino and photon beams, observed on the Earth, for the supernova SN 1987A is 3 hours whereas the neutrino speed is 1.0000000014(6)c.
The Einstein spacetime, i.e. the gas composed of the non-rotating binary systems of neutrinos, behaves as almost ideal gas so the neutrinos from the weak decays also. We should observe a broadening in the spectrum of the neutrino speed. From the ET follows that speed of neutrinos depends on lifetime of particles which decay due to the weak interactions with nucleons. The ET shows that square of a lifetime is inversely proportional to increase in speed in relation to the c. This means that lifetime increases by a half when an increase of neutrino speed in relation to the speed of photons increases by sqrt(2). To obtain the maximum speed of neutrinos, we will multiply the central value by the sqrt(2).
For lower energies, such as in the MINOS experiment, there are mostly the neutrinos from the decays of muons. The ratio of the lifetime of neutron to lifetime of muon is smallest
Sqrt(lifetime-neutron/lifetime-muon) = v/(v-c) = 20,000
so obtained neutrino speed is the upper limit. From the above follows that for the more precise MINOS experiment, for the neutrino speed we should obtain 1.000051(21)c i.e. the maximum neutrino speed should be 1.000072c.
For higher energies, such as in the LHC-OPERA experiment, there are mostly the neutrinos from the weak decays of the relativistic charged pion-antipion pairs produced in the d=2 state (the mass of such relativistic pion is 181.704 MeV) i.e. in the ground state above the Schwarzschild surface for the strong interactions. The Everlasting Theory shows that lifetime is inversely proportional to four powers of mass. This is the conclusion from the theory of stars. This means that lifetime of the relativistic charged pion in the d=2 state which decays due to the weak interactions at once into 3 neutrinos and electron, is 8.74 times shorter than lifetime of muon. This leads to conclusion that the neutrino speed is 1.0000172(71)c i.e. the maximum speed is 1.0000243c so the time-distance between the fronts of the neutrino and photon beams is 59.3 ns.
For highest energies, such as in the explosions of the neutron cores of supernovae, dominate the neutrinos from the decays of the W boson-antiboson pairs produced near the point mass in the core of baryons. The distance of mass between the point mass and the torus in the core of baryons is equal to the mass of muon whereas the mass of the point mass , which is responsible for the weak interactions of baryons, is 4 times greater than the muon. The four neutrino symmetry (the eight gluons lead to two families of neutrinos only) shows that creation of systems containing 4 elements is preferred. This means that the lifetime of the muon is characteristic also for the point mass (i.e.424 MeV = 4*105.7 MeV – each one of the four muons lives 2.2*10^-6 s). This leads to conclusion that lifetime of the W bosons which decay due to the weak interactions is
2.2*10^-6 s/(80,000/424)^4 = 1.74*10^-15 s.
This leads to following neutrino speed 1.0000000014(6)c i.e. maximum speed is 1.000000002c. The time-distance between the fronts of the neutrino and photon beams, measured on the Earth for the SN 1987A, should be
168,000 ly*365 days*24 hours*0.000000002 = 3 hours.
If before the explosion mass of the SN 1987A was close but greater than four masses of the Type Ia supernovae, i.e. greater than 5.6 times the mass of the sun, then due to the four-neutrino symmetry, during the gravitational collapse, there could arise the system containing 4 the Type Ia supernovae. After simultaneous explosion of the 4 supernovae, we should not observe there a remnant i.e. neutron core.
Summary
Neutrino speed depends on lifetime of particles which decay due to the weak interactions. The calculated maximum neutrino speed is 1.000072c. The MINOS and LHC-OPERA experiments and data concerning the supernova SN 1987A, lead to the Everlasting Theory i.e. to the atom-like structure of baryons, to my electroweak theory and to two families of neutrinos only. In MINOS dominated neutrinos from decays of muons, in LHC-OPERA neutrinos from decays of the relativistic charged pions whereas in the supernova SN 1987A explosion, the neutrinos from the decays of the W bosons.
October 1st, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Would physicists be interested if we could draw a structure of the neutrino that had 3 stable configurations based on one hypothetical entity and three hypothetical forces? If we add two other hypothetical entities and can describe photons, magnetic fields, charge, electrons, Dirac Spin, strings of 3 types, gravity, and possibly dark matter?
October 1st, 2011 at 2:01 pm
As the Higgs and neutrino experiments have unfolded I’ve been feverishly building a new Model. The mnp Model went unified this morning when the reason for mass increases in nucleons and electron shells but not neutrinos and free space electrons woke me up.
See http://www.worldlyte.com/physics/mnp (text only and a pdf)
Page 13 and 14 for the unification.
Neutrinos could break the speed limit. Free electrons have a geometry that probably can’t be accelerated.
The mnp Unified Model is only qualitative at this point, but makes measurable predictions about accelerating protons.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Did somebody called Faster Than Light ? Well , this is the dream of every phyisicist who has imaginations of travelling through galaxies. But I have to point something out. We are looking at only one side of the equation. Velocity is simply as we know , travelled distance / elapsed time. Yes , travelled distance is stable , but are we sure about time ? I mean , yeah it looks imaginary. No mathematical proof , no analysis or experimental method which can exacly show us that. But this is the good part of being a theoretical physicist. In deed this particle reminds me about tachyons. And I am wondering if actually neutrinos could used a shortcut , a instant jump in time backwards. Not because it’s acceleration in physical dimensions but because it’s deceleration in temporal dimension. Also we aren’t sure if neutrinos used a shorter way in using extra dimensions. Maybe we may start thinking timeline vector can change oppositely.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I have been following the discussions and controversy surrounding the speed of neutrinos as indicated by Opera.
I have not seen any reference to the fact that as the path of the neutrinos was through the earth’s crust that they would have been travelling through a non-uniform gravitational field i.e. at the “deepest” part of their trajectory (~11km below the surface) the gravitational field is somewhere in the region 0.5% less than it would be at the surface. This would help account for the fact that when measured at the surface, the neutrinos appeared to arrive earlier than expected.