Faster than light neutrinos conundrum solved?

Discussion in 'Physics & Math' started by prometheus, Feb 22, 2012.

  1. prometheus viva voce! Registered Senior Member

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    It's a short article that doesn't cite sources, but this could be the beginning of the end for the ftl neutrino and the associated crackpots.

    link
     
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  3. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, it's at the "rumor" stage. But it's in the category of persistent systemic error that would invalidate the extraordinate OPERA result.
    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...trinos-may-be-due-to-a-faulty-gps-connection/

    //Edit

    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/02/22/neutrinos-and-cables/ (Sean Carroll also wants a better source)

    Some additional fact-checking seems to confirm that there was a GPS issue of some sort:
    http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/wor...er-than-light particles/6442586764/story.html
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/22/technology-faster-than-light-neutrinos.html
    Naturally, this rumor-level story promotes hyperbolic reactions.
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/22/cable_fault_caused_opera_result/

    //Edit:
    As expected, neither CERN nor OPERA has an immediate press release at this time ( 11 PM in Geneva or Rome )
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2012
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  5. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    That would make sense. The results were at such odds with the data from the 1987A supernova event - not to mention relativity!

    It will be a bit more than embarrasing for the OPERA folks if it was just this loose connection - oops.

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  7. AlphaNumeric Fully ionized Registered Senior Member

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    Sylwester will be gutted, he's been saying for certain the neutrinos were moving at that speed. If they indeed fall in line with relativity and the Standard Model he'll have his claims falsified. Again.
     
  8. prometheus viva voce! Registered Senior Member

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    That was exactly my thought.

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  9. Believe Happy medium Valued Senior Member

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    Is it just me, or are people more sad then happy about this? FTL neutrinos would have given us the possiblilty that we could someday manage such thing al la Star Trek. Unforturnely, baring something exotic (I.E. we find that its not actually that hard to make wormholes, which is unlikely) we may never get there, because it may not possible. The stars become closed to us forever. :bawl:
     
  10. Emil Valued Senior Member

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    Be patient, yet is not lost.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2063163/Einstein-speed-light-2nd-set-scientists-particles-CAN-travel-faster-light.html

    http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/repetition-controversial-experiment-neutrinos-beat-light-speed-once-again
     
  11. RJBeery Natural Philosopher Valued Senior Member

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  12. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

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    How can you miss that we are talking about a rumor that this month a problem was found in equipment shared between the two 2011 experiments? Neither of your 2011 news articles casts any additional doubt on this February 2012 rumor.
     
  13. Secret Registered Senior Member

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    Bye bye neutrinos... :bawl::bawl::bawl:
     
  14. Emil Valued Senior Member

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    I noted that you are talking about a rumor.
     
  15. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    Ah yes, the old bad-connection conundrum. Seems like CERN's had a lot of those.
     
  16. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

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  17. OnlyMe Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks for this update.

    I had been wondering how this would affect what I understood would be new tests later this year. Seems we are back to a waiting game. At least at this point if the new experiment confirms an error, other labs won't have to scramble to independently confirm the earlier data.
     
  18. Aqueous Id flat Earth skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    Coming soon, to a thread near you: "Sure they had a loose cable, that's what the science police want us to believe...."
     
  19. Xotica Everyday I’m Shufflin Registered Senior Member

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    Neutrino data from celestial sources have always agreed with the invariance of (c).

    From the outset, many of the 100+ physicists/mathematicians attached to the Opera Collaboration suspected a hardware/GPS ghost in the machine.
     
  20. Farsight

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    Good spot, prometheus. It's by Edwin Cartlidge, former news editor of Physicsworld. His articles pop up there from time to time. I imagine this one or a version of it will be online there later today.
     
  21. prometheus viva voce! Registered Senior Member

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    Why are you not blaming gran sasso?
     
  22. Emil Valued Senior Member

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    More specifically:

    "The collaboration has also checked its original statistical analysis, but today's decision to submit the results to a journal was not unanimous. "About four people" among the group of around 15 who did not sign the preprint have signed the journal submission, according to a source within the collaboration, while "four new people" have decided not to sign. That leaves the number of dissenters at about 15, compared with about 180 who did sign the journal submission."

    http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/faster-than-light-neutrinos-opera.html?ref=hp
     
  23. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks for that old news that has nothing to do with the new information.
     

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