Faster Than Light?

In response to the exciting news from an experiment at CERN that neutrinos may be travelling faster than the speed of light, I presented a Christmas Lecture for a general audience in The University of Warwick's Department of Physics.

It begins by introducing Particle Physics: what it's about and where our current knowledge is. Then we focused in on neutrinos, the particles believed to be travelling fast-than-light, before looking at how the OPERA experiment went about measuring their speed. The final few slides were dedicated to discussing the consequences this has for our current understanding of physics, and some of the places it might lead us in the future.

You can watch the video here: http://vimeo.com/33665154

Transcript

1. Daniel Scully University of Warwick
2. Material World
3. Periodic Table
4. The Atom proton neutron electron
5. Radioactive Decay proton neutron electron (neutrino)
6. Quarks u u d
7. Standard Model
8. Anti-Matter Standard Model
9. Standard Model Matter Anti-Matter
10. Standard Model Gravity Electro-Magnetism Strong Force Weak Force
11. Gravity Standard Model Electro-Magnetism Strong Force Weak Force
12. Neutrinos ν e ν μ ν τ ν e ν μ ν τ
13. 100 billion
15. Supernova 1987a
17. J-PARC p + C →π / K →ν μ
18. The Big Bang
20. Neutrino Oscillations Source Flavours Solar ν e → ν e Atmospheric ν μ → ν τ MINOS ν μ → ν μ Reactor ν e → ν e OPERA ν μ → ν τ T2K ν μ → ν e NOvA ν μ → ν e
21. CERN
23. Switzerland Geneva CERN Italy Abruzzo Gran Sasso 730km
25. OPERA
26. How To Measure Speed Speed = Distance Time
27. CERN Gran Sasso GPS 730km 20 000 km Ionosphere ±2cm
29. CERN Gran Sasso GPS 730km 20 000 km Ionosphere ±2cm
31. OPERA GPS 1 GPS 2 10km Position of OPERA ±20cm
32. Distance 731278.0m ± 0.2m
33. CERN Gran Sasso GPS 730km 20 000 km Ionosphere ±100ns 500km
34. 50ns GPS – Caesium Correction
36. Time Synchronisation ± 2ns ± 0.000 000 002 s
37. Beam Timing CERN Gran Sasso 10.5μs
38. Beam Timing CERN Gran Sasso
39. Beam Timing CERN Gran Sasso
40. Before Fit After Fit
41. The Result Arrived 60.7ns ± 10.1ns Early 0.0025% Faster
42. CERN Beam Timing Target Decay Tube ν μ Protons Focusing Magnet Time
43. CERN Beam Timing Target Decay Tube ν μ Protons Focusing Magnet Time
44. Beam Timing CERN Gran Sasso 3ns
46. The Result Arrived 60.7ns ± 10.1ns Early 0.0025% Faster
48. Special Relativity Physics is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative speeds The speed of light is the same for all observers E = mc2 Nothing can go faster than the speed of light
49. Special Relativity Quantum Mechanics Physics
50. Special Relativity Quantum Mechanics Relativistic Quantum Mechanics Particle Physics Physics
51. Special Relativity Quantum Mechanics Relativistic Quantum Mechanics Particle Physics General Relativity Physics
52. Special Relativity Quantum Mechanics Relativistic Quantum Mechanics Particle Physics General Relativity Astrophysics Cosmology Physics
53. Physics
54. Supernova 1987a Neutrinos arrived 3hours early If OPERA is right, the neutrinos would have arrived 4years early
55. 295km T2K 810km NOvA 730km OPERA 735km MINOS Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
56. Extra Dimensions 5, 6, 7, 8... But if... then how?
57. String Theory But if... then how?
58. Sterile Neutrinos ν e ν μ ν τ ν S But if... then how?
59. Rare Particles Left over from Big Bang Need to be ~10m Only affects neutrinos But if... then how?
60. But if... then how? Your Theory Here
61. But if... then how? 12m of Cable
62. Daniel Scully University of Warwick
63. Image Credits 1, 62. Sandbox Studio 14. CERN Bulletin http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1345733 15, 54. http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/star/supernova/pr1999004e/ 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chooz_-_Centrale_nucléaire_-1.jpg 18. WMAP 19. T2K 21, 22. CERN 24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gran_sasso_italia.jpg 25. INFN 30. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paperfa/2457059915 47. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein_1921_portrait2.jpg 53. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Demolition_Bacinol_2009.JPG