FTL Neutrinos?

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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/47427

Laura Patrizii, who is leader of OPERA's Bologna group and who did sign the preprint, clarifies the motivation of the dissenters. "It is not that people think there is a mistake that is being hidden," she says. "But since something going faster than light would kill modern physics as we know it, some researchers would feel more at ease with these independent checks."
If the data is correct what might explain it. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1109.5445v5

Thus, we make the ansatz that
the only cause of a possible superluminal propagation of
neutrinos could be due by their interaction with matter
and we verify this hypothesis by assuming that a simi-
lar behavior could have occurred to νe’s only inside the
matter of the exploding supernova SN1987a. In this case,
OPERA, MINOS and SN1987a datasets would follow the
same distribution, within the experimental errors.
FTL sources for EM radiation.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0405062v1
http://public.lanl.gov/astroflash/pdf/pstlk27.pdf

Maybe a similar thing (superluminal polarization current) is happening with OPERA with a neutrino wave-function that is superluminal in origin but can't actually transmit energy/information faster than light.
 
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Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
According to sources familiar with the experiment, the 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos' flight and an electronic card in a computer. After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed. Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos. New data, however, will be needed to confirm this hypothesis.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/breaking-news-error-undoes-faster.html
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
This is why experiments need verification. You watch, the media will want to blame someone, where there is no blame to be attached. The people reported the results in good faith

Would have been nice if it were true. Usually it is most interesting when science has anomolies.
 

Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
Slightly better article about the problem. http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/0...rino-measurement-has-two-possible-errors.html

I wonder if the loose optic cable was causing the bit trigger point to be nearer the trailing edge of the time signal encoding pulses instead of the leading edge on the timing detector receiver. The air gap could have slowed the step response.



The second point is related to the connection of the optical fiber bringing the external GPS signal to the OPERA master clock.
 
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