CERN scientists 'break the speed of light'

"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...-of-light.html

On Sep 22, 5:19*pm, wrote:
"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...sts-break-the-...

Find a way to communicate faster than light will make robotic
exploration of mars and beyond much easier

might also let us eavesdrop on ETs thru out the universe

wrote in message news:937c0c90-0b65-498c-9e5e-
...
"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...-of-light.html

I'm not that surprised. About a decade ago I remember IBM scientists
also seeing effects of a collision BEFORE it happened, a kind of time-
travel effect.

Note also that the exceeding of the light speed in this CERN experiment
is very small, about .003%. It's not that we can suddenly transmit
particles at 100 times the light speed. Let's just wait how this turns
out since the effects could still turn out to be experimental errors.

What I keep stressing is that we can't know for sure whether FTL
(faster than light) travel is possible until we have an accurate and
complete picture of the physical laws of the Universe. Until that time
everything is pure speculation.

In article ,
says...

bob haller wrote:

On Sep 22, 5:19*pm, wrote:
"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...sts-break-the-...

Find a way to communicate faster than light will make robotic
exploration of mars and beyond much easier


Of course, the universe prohibits this sort of thing

CERN confirmed that neutrinos traveled faster than light, so your
statement that "the universe prohibits this sort of thing" may not be
completely accurate.

Not that Bob's assertion has much value. In the CERN experiments, the
neutrinos didn't travel much faster than light.

Jeff
--
" Ares 1 is a prime example of the fact that NASA just can't get it
up anymore... and when they can, it doesn't stay up long. "
- tinker

Of course, the universe prohibits this sort of thing

CERN confirmed that neutrinos traveled faster than light, so your
statement that "the universe prohibits this sort of thing" may not be
completely accurate. *

Not that Bob's assertion has much value. *In the CERN experiments, the
neutrinos didn't travel much faster than light.

Jeff

It proves it isnt impossible, which in itself opens many opportunities
for the future

On 23/09/2011 7:27 PM, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:

I'm not that surprised. About a decade ago I remember IBM scientists
also seeing effects of a collision BEFORE it happened, a kind of time-
travel effect.

Coward

Jeff Findley wrote:

In article ,
says...

bob haller wrote:

On Sep 22, 5:19 pm, wrote:
"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...sts-break-the-...

Find a way to communicate faster than light will make robotic
exploration of mars and beyond much easier


Of course, the universe prohibits this sort of thing

CERN confirmed that neutrinos traveled faster than light, so your
statement that "the universe prohibits this sort of thing" may not be
completely accurate.


But can they carry any information when they do so, or is this just
another odd corner of particle physics like Bell's Inequality? It's
the FTL information transmission that is prohibited, not mere particle
travel. Theory has said for half a century that there is (in theory)
at least one particle (tachyon) that travels FTL.

I would say this is a case though where communications probably is possible
simply based on modulating the beam.

That said, I suspect we'll find that it's really not FTL and simply
something else.

I think Einstein can rest easy on this one.



--
* I promise I will format my posts properly in the future.
* Windows Live Mail just can't quote! Luckily, I have found this:
* http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/wlmquote/

Jeff Findley wrote:

In article ,
says...

bob haller wrote:

On Sep 22, 5:19 pm, wrote:
"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."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8...sts-break-the-...

Find a way to communicate faster than light will make robotic
exploration of mars and beyond much easier


Of course, the universe prohibits this sort of thing

CERN confirmed that neutrinos traveled faster than light, so your
statement that "the universe prohibits this sort of thing" may not be
completely accurate.


But can they carry any information when they do so, or is this just
another odd corner of particle physics like Bell's Inequality? It's
the FTL information transmission that is prohibited, not mere particle
travel. Theory has said for half a century that there is (in theory)
at least one particle (tachyon) that travels FTL.


Most likely this is just a fluke and not truly FTL. Though if it is, simple
modulation should be able to provide communications.

But, even if it's true, getting our signals to Mars 1/10 second faster
really isn't worth the trouble. ;-)

Einstein can rest easy.



--

Jeff Findley wrote:

CERN confirmed that neutrinos traveled faster than light, so your
statement that "the universe prohibits this sort of thing" may not be
completely accurate.

In special relativity what is prohibitted is a particle accelerating all
the way to C. It is also prohibited to accelerate past C at that point.
Both not because they are forbidden but because both take infinite
energy.

But ... Photons can and do decay into particles that travel under C and
that does not take infinite energy. There's no prohibition that I know
of that says photons can't decay into particles that start their lives
going above C.

Any particle above C that was created at the start of the universe is
long gone. But that does not mean new ones are impossible.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. These particles are
extraordinary but not impossible the way I learned special relativity in
Physics 1b/c at Caltech.

Special relativity says magnetism works with or without monopoles but it
does not say monopoles are not possible or do not exist. The equations
work just fine for moving monopoles generating electric fields. But no
one has ever detected a monopole. If anyone ever does - Extraordinary
claims require extraordinary proof.

Special relatiivity says much the same about tachyons as monopoles.
They don't need to exist but they can exist. They just can't be created
from regular sub-C particles.

Conservation of mass and energy in studies of decaying high energy
photons has always shown showers of sub-C particles, right? It's pretty
strong evidence.

: Doug Freyburger
: In special relativity what is prohibitted is a particle accelerating
: all the way to C. It is also prohibited to accelerate past C at that
: point. Both not because they are forbidden but because both take
: infinite energy.

That's a common misconception. The "can't accelerate to c" result
comes from simple kinematics, before dynamics even enters into it.

And also, if you willy nilly consider a scenario where you're at c,
and accelerate further, you get energy back. Tachyons is peculiar beasts.