Posted on 02/29/2012 4:45:22 PM PST by neverdem
The CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva has confirmed Wednesday's report that a loose fiber-optic cable may be behind measurements that seemed to show neutrinos outpacing the speed of light. But the lab also says another glitch could have caused the experiment to underestimate the particles' speed.
In a statement based on an earlier press release from the OPERA collaboration, CERN said two possible "effects" may have influenced the anomalous measurements. One of them, due to a possible faulty connection between the fiber-optic cable bringing the GPS signals to OPERA and the detector's master clock, would have caused the experiment to underestimate the neutrinos' flight time, as described in the original story. The other effect concerns an oscillator, part of OPERA's particle detector that gives its readings time stamps synchronized to GPS signals. Researchers think correcting for an error in this device would actually increase the anomaly in neutrino velocity, making the particles even speedier than the earlier measurements seemed to show.
CERN's statement says OPERA scientists are studying the "potential extent of these two effects" but doesn't indicate which source of error (if either) is likely to outweigh the other. However, Lucia Votano, director of the Gran Sasso laboratory, says the "main suspicion" focuses on the optical-fiber connection. She adds that OPERA researchers deserve credit for "having tenaciously followed this particular evidence via checks completed in the last few days."
The two effects will get a new round of tests in May, when the two labs are scheduled to make velocity measurements with short-pulsed beams designed to give readings much more precise than scientists have achieved so far.
Ping
Anyway, we just need to make sure the hot engine designer includes a facility for bleeding off the matter as it accumulates.
Or just weaponizes it.
For crying out loud....what does the title have to do with the article?
Can we please, at least pretend to be serious about science?
No Extra Benefits Are Seen in Stents for Coronary Artery Disease (Stable Coronary Artery Disease)
Safety Alerts Cite Cholesterol Drugs’ Side Effects
Scientists Use Stem Cells to Generate Human Eggs
Researchers Create Single-Atom Transistor The Nature article is linked at the source.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
I had a loose throttle cable on my motorcycle and it wouldn’t go fast either.
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Warp fields bend space to connect two points very far away, it’s not like the ship flies ftl across a vast distance. They couldn’t even get that right.
OPERA scientists:
Uhhhhhh, this is the thing, we had two screw ups, we don't know which screw up is the biggest and which direction the sum of the screw ups will go in concerning the speed of neutrinos, Uhhhhhh..............Never mind.
Yes, they found the error. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2782478/posts?page=91#91
I consider the most likely situation is that a low-probability error (5% chance or so) ended up yielding a result that yields the super-luminal velocity. These guys went through a huge amount of effort before their announcement in an attempt to eliminate such a chance, but the complexity of the experiment makes it possible they missed something. Like all physicists with a sense of adventure, I hope that is not the case, though, that this result somehow stands, and is confirmed in subsequent experiments.
bflr
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