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Yet more reactions to the “faster than light” neutrinos: Must be “subtle error”

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File:Proton proton cycle.png
Solar neutrinos (proton-proton chain) in the Standard Solar Model/Dorottya Szam

First, how they calculated the measurements here.

From Frank Close at The Guardian:

“Renowned physicist Frank Close urges caution before we abandon the theory of relativity and prepare for time travel”

Sending a radio signal up to a satellite, at the instant the neutrino leaves Cern, which then passes it on down to the receiver in Rome, and comparing which arrives first, and by how much, has its own difficulties. The speed of radio waves through the atmosphere is affected by magnetic fields, and by other phenomena; it is far from simply a radio beam passing through a vacuum at “the speed of light”. I would bet that a subtle error in the measured distance or time is more likely than that their ratio – the inferred speed – exceeds Einstein’s speed limit. (24 September 2011)

(Note: Here at UD News, we don’t propose making this our lives, but it’s in a pretty interesting phase right now. For one thing, physicists may learn a lot from the error, if that is what it turns out to be. In an age of crackpot cosmologies and political science as the only kind, this proves physics really is a discipline, despite the claims of its most fervid supporters. 😛  )

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