In experiments conducted between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy, the tiny particles were clocked at 300,006 kilometres per second, slightly faster that the speed of light, the researchers said.
"This result comes as a complete surprise," said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the experiment, known as OPERA. "We wanted to measure the speed of neutrinos, but we didn't expect to find anything special."
Scientists spent nearly six months "checking, testing, controlling and rechecking everything" before making an announcement, he said.
Researchers involved in the experiments were cautious in describing its implications, and called on physicists around the world to scrutinize their data, to be made available online overnight.
But the findings, they said, could potentially reshape our understanding of the physical world.
"If this measurement is confirmed, it might change our view of physics," said CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci, a view echoed by several independent physicist contacted by AFP.
In the experiments, scientists blasted a laser-like beam producing billions upon billions of neutrinos from CERN, which straddles the French-Swiss border Geneva, to the Gran Sasso Laboratory 730 kilometres (453 miles) away in Italy.
Read more at Discovery News
No comments:
Post a Comment