Faster than Light?
Insights into life & research at CERN
Ally Caldecote & Daniel Scully
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Albert Einstein
1905
The Photoelectric Effect
Brownian motion
Special Relativity
Matter-Energy Equivalence
1907 – 1915
General Relativity
1879 – 1955
Dyslexic
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Special Relativity
Physics is the same for all observers,
regardless of their relative speeds
The speed of light is the same for all
observers
Nothing can go faster than the speed of light
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x LIGHT
t
EVENT
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x LIGHT
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Special Relativity
Has changed our understanding of the
Universe
Has been experimentally verified
But...
It's our job as scientists to always keep
checking... and checking...
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We need big facilities to do this checking...
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Faster than the speed of light?
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Switzerland
Geneva
CERN
Italy
Perugia
Gran Sasso
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Result
Δt = 61 ± 10 ns
0.0025% Faster
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Consequences
If correct:
Special Relativity is a cornerstone of modern
physics...
…neutrinos are breaking that cornerstone.
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Consequences
Causality could be broken
– cause does not have to precede effect
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Consequences
Causality could be broken
– cause does not have to precede effect
Energy and Momentum could be broken
- Comes from the same rules
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Consequences
Causality could be broken
– cause does not have to precede effect
Energy and Momentum could be broken
- comes from the same rules
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
- we don't know