Much has been made of recent experimental evidence that the neutrino particle, under certain circumstances, travels at a rate of speed measurably faster than that of a photon.
While the experimental evidence itself is necessarily slim, being the product of an almost unique facility,which was designed to generate anomalous data,the counter evidence is even weaker - Scholastic Theology:
It is held as certain,that nothing can travel faster than a photon, because a photon has no mass.How are we to be certain that a photon has no mass?Because nothing can travel faster than a photon!
Einstein's equations have been demonstrated over and over again throughout the last century, and any substantial revisions in his understanding of Space,Time,Matter and Energy will require enormous experimental and experiential evidence - but the assumption that light itself travels at the proverbial C is ,exactly, an assumption.That is,while the speed at which photons tend to travel is known,and it is known that relativity's predictions are testable with that value,a different speed for C,higher than that of photons,may also yield predictions consistent with the known results of experiment.If photons have 'negligible' mass,then any particle with less mass would more closely approach the speed C - which,in relativity, is the speed of a truly massless particle.Not 'negligible'.Utterly Massless.
Given that the purpose of the CERN facility is to generate data which the so-called Standard Model of physics can not predict - that is, to perform experiments the outcome of which is not known - it is gratifying to see unexpected information being published.It is disturbing, even horrifying, however, to see so many voices raised, and so quickly,to defend Einstein's Ghost.
IF Einstein's theories, in any particular, turn out to be incorrect, then he and God will have a great deal to talk about.Our job will be to follow the data, wherever it leads, and to never stop looking for more.On this score, our recent performance is,at best, a C.
2 comments:
I know this will seem scientifically blasphemous but from what I've studied, Einstein's original premises were flawed. Looks like the experimental data is proving my intuition. Look for more of the doctrine that physicists swallowed hook, line and sinker almost a century ago to be continually debunked.
Please do blaspheme.The maths in Einstein's theory do largely check out, but like any theory, they are based on assumptions - like light having no mass.
The danger we face in physics today is,as it has always been, ceasing to change our theories to fit our facts, and expecting that our facts must fit our existing theories.
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