All it really means is that classic quantum theory is irrelevant and you are now once again beings of thought and decision.
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Nov. 21, 2011 9:30 a.m. Taiden Dork
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:09 p.m. Salanis SuperDork
A couple of questions I raise about this. Leaving aside errors in procedure, because people have already thought of those:
Is it possible that the speed of light is not a universal constant, but fluctuates based on space and time?
Is it possible that electrons, and other particles we typically measure are not actually traveling at the "speed of light"? Maybe just our understanding of "the speed of light" is incorrect.
I'm not sure this throws all quantum physics out the window, but it raises some interesting questions.
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:37 p.m. griffin729 HalfDork
The speed of light is not a constant. c is defined as the speed of light in vacuum. The speed of light in liquid helium for example is around 60mph. Speed of light through air is ~90kps slower than c.
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:38 p.m. griffin729 HalfDork
In reply to Salanis:
As to your other questions, I could get into a discussion, but I would quickly get over my head other than to say it is indeed possible our understand of the universal speed limit is flawed.
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:46 p.m. Jay SuperDork
Assuming this pans out as a real result (it's gonna be YEARS before we see the end of this one folks!), I'd be more tempted to say "we missed something" than "we should rewrite general relativity"... Neutrinos are REALLY strange anyway, they already "break" a whole ton of physical laws that apply to normal matter, so what's one more? ...
...on the other hand, if neutrinos really can travel FTL, that means information in general can travel FTL, and that opens up a huge can of worms for physicists no matter how you look at it.
The only indication we have that they are massive is that certain types of neutrinos can decay into other types of neutrinos. I don't believe anyone has ever directly measured the mass of one; there could still be something going on in that process that we don't know about.
I don't want to sound too negative here - hell, I want this result to pan out! - but we've been studying neutrinos for over fifty years now; why didn't we notice earlier that they go faster than freaking light? It could be that the ones from this particular experiment were created in a very-rare-in-nature energy state... Possible, but how likely is that?
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:54 p.m. fasted58 SuperDork
BBQ and Ranch Neutrinos are OK, but Cheddar Neutrinos rock
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:57 p.m. JoeyM SuperDork
If it is legitimate, we may have explained how quantum entanglement works. Seriously, there has to be SOME way they communicate info at faster-than-light speeds
http://calitreview.com/51
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/quantum-entaglement -
Nov. 21, 2011 12:58 p.m. Jay SuperDork
Meh, I'll take the salt & vinegar any day.
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Nov. 21, 2011 12:58 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Jay wrote:
~ stuff ~
I think we are in need of an Archimedes type "Ureka!" moment from someone with a completely alternate perspective. We reached human-kinds limits to use our own inputs for observation long ago. The technology we use to try to see beyond our limits is all derived from our own perspective.
We need a new Copernicus to simplify the model by moving that perspective. I am not sure where the answer is but I am sure that from the right viewpoint it is both simple and elegant.
I can't recall who said... "The things you know prevent you from knowing the things you cannot know".
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Nov. 23, 2011 9:24 p.m. 4eyes HalfDork
They don't look very fast.
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Nov. 24, 2011 8:45 a.m. 1988RedT2 SuperDork
griffin729 wrote:
The speed of light is not a constant. c is defined as the speed of light in vacuum. The speed of light in liquid helium for example is around 60mph. Speed of light through air is ~90kps slower than c.
Wow. That's cool. So if I filled my living room with liquid helium and turned on a lamp, I could see the leading edge of the lamplight as it moved across the room?
I'm guessing liquid helium is kind of cold. Not sure my heat pump could lower the room temperature to -454 deg. F.
