Hughesair (Inflection Point)

Retired physician and air taxi operator, science writer and part time assistant professor, these editorials cover a wide range of topics. Mostly non political, mostly true, I write more from a lifetime of experience and from research, more science than convention. Subjects cover medicine, Alaska aviation, economics, technology and an occasional book review. Globalization or Democracy documents the historical roots of Oligarchy, the road to colonialism and tyranny

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Location: Homer, Alaska, United States

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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Neutrinos Beat the Speed of Light

The Light Barrier

As a pilot experiencing the progress of aviation for my 66 years of flying, I am convinced that it is only a matter of time [SIC] until we break the Light Barrier. First of all, doing so is a matter of necessity if we are to robotically explore our Galaxy and beyond. Secondly, speed limits are made to be broken as was the speed of sound in aviation.

The National Laboratory in L'Aquila, Italy measured the time for neutrinos to travel from CERN in  Switzerland through the earth to the Gran Sasso Laboratory in L'Aquila faster than the speed of light. The surprise finding was reported by OPRA, Oscillating Project with Emulsion-tracking Apparatus, 22 September.

The neutrinos were generated by the, LHC, collider at CERN, traveling 730 Km, 60 nanoseconds faster than light would be clocked over the same distance in a vacuum.

Thy will repeat the experiment, checking and rechecking. There are doubts. The announcement may be premature, If the claim proves true, however, it will upset a lot of physics equations and maybe add another clue about the nature of light's speed limit.
This is physics today but may lead someday to breaking the light barrier.

Retraction until further notice, all of the above. Quotation beloow from "Scientific American" says it all -- for now.

"Astrophysicist and cosmologist Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I think it will be perceived in retrospect as an embarrassment that this claim received so much publicity—the inevitable consequence of posting a preprint on the Web. Neutrinos were observed from SN 1987A more or less coincidentally with the explosion—not four years earlier, as would have been the case if the velocity difference had been the same as is now claimed (though, of course, the energies of the supernova neutrinos are much lower)."

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