Einstein suffers a new blow
Source: Agencies |
November 21, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE chances have risen that Einstein was wrong about a fundamental law of the universe.
Scientists at the world's biggest physics lab have ruled out one possible error that could have distorted their startling measurements that appeared to show certain particles traveling faster than light.
Many physicists reacted with skepticism in September when measurements by French and Italian researchers seemed to show subatomic neutrino particles breaking what Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein considered the ultimate speed barrier.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research said more precise testing has now confirmed the accuracy of at least one part of the experiment.
"One key test was to repeat the measurement with very short beam pulses," the Geneva-based organization, known by its French acronym CERN, said.
The test allowed scientists to check if the starting time for the neutrinos was being measured correctly before they were fired 730 kilometers underground from Geneva to a lab in Italy.
Scientists, however, stressed that only independent measurements by labs elsewhere would allow them to declare that the results of their experiment were a genuine finding.
Fernando Ferroni, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, said: "A measurement so delicate and carrying a profound implication for physics requires an extraordinary level of scrutiny.
The positive outcome of the test makes us more confident in the result, although a final word can only be said by analogous measurements performed elsewhere."
Scientists at the world's biggest physics lab have ruled out one possible error that could have distorted their startling measurements that appeared to show certain particles traveling faster than light.
Many physicists reacted with skepticism in September when measurements by French and Italian researchers seemed to show subatomic neutrino particles breaking what Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein considered the ultimate speed barrier.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research said more precise testing has now confirmed the accuracy of at least one part of the experiment.
"One key test was to repeat the measurement with very short beam pulses," the Geneva-based organization, known by its French acronym CERN, said.
The test allowed scientists to check if the starting time for the neutrinos was being measured correctly before they were fired 730 kilometers underground from Geneva to a lab in Italy.
Scientists, however, stressed that only independent measurements by labs elsewhere would allow them to declare that the results of their experiment were a genuine finding.
Fernando Ferroni, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, said: "A measurement so delicate and carrying a profound implication for physics requires an extraordinary level of scrutiny.
The positive outcome of the test makes us more confident in the result, although a final word can only be said by analogous measurements performed elsewhere."
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