Speed of Light Upset May Be Result of Loose Wire

Posted on Feb 22, 2012

WilliamMarlow (CC-BY)

Remember the announcement that shocked the physics world last September? Scientists claimed to have measured a neutrino traveling faster than the speed of light—a feat that would have undone Einstein, if, that is, the measurement proves not to have been the result of a bad connection between a GPS unit and a computer, as researchers now suspect. —ARK

Science Insider at Science:

According to sources familiar with the experiment, the 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos’ flight and an electronic card in a computer. After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed. Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos. New data, however, will be needed to confirm this hypothesis.

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