• Question: how do you feel about the experiments being completed to try and prove that neutrinos are faster than light? do you feel that einstein has been wrong all of these years?

    Asked by sare13 to Ben, Jony, Katharine, Mark, Peter on 21 Nov 2011. This question was also asked by sarahtimp.
    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 21 Nov 2011:

      The experiment I work on, T2K, is one of the experiments that will test the results presented by the OPERA experiment. I personally think that there is something a miss in the calculations of the experimental error somewhere. They have started to re-check the errors carfully using different techniques but only new experiments will say for sure. I don’t think Einstein is wrong – there is too much evidence in his favour – but I’d like to be proven wrong.

    • Photo: Mark Basham

      Mark Basham answered on 21 Nov 2011:

      hi sare13,

      I like the fact that we have found an experiment we cant explain. That’s always when the best science gets done trying to figure it out. For me, if it is true that would be the perfect result, it would give us a new insight into how the universe around us works, and hopefully let us in on some secrets.

      However working with this type of equipment means I do agree with Ben that its probably just an experimental error.

    • Photo: Peter Williams

      Peter Williams answered on 21 Nov 2011:

      I feel excited – it’s these kind of results that spur real understanding of a problem.

      Einstein is right though. Just as Newton was right – but later it became apparent that Newton’s laws are an approximation to something more complicated. Perhaps this is the same process, although i would put money on the result being explained by some systematic error.

    • Photo: Jony Hudson

      Jony Hudson answered on 21 Nov 2011:

      I’ve got my fingers crossed that they do find that the neutrinos are going faster than the speed of light. It would be so exciting if it’s true.

      I can’t say whether Einstein has been wrong all these years. We need to do more experiments to answer that!

    • Photo: Katharine Schofield

      Katharine Schofield answered on 21 Nov 2011:

      It’s all very exciting, especially seeing fundamental physics hitting the headlines! I don’t know any better than anyone else, but I have a hunch that they will find some glitch in the way that the measurement was done. It might take a while, it’s important that they don’t rush to conclusions on something this big. I don’t envy them trying to figure it all out under the glare of the media, but I think it’s very important that the results are communicated to the general public.

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