Read more: Click here to see the original, longer version of this article
SO LONG, superluminal neutrinos. In September, an electrifying result suggested that these particles can travel faster than light. A second experiment now contradicts that claim.
The original result, from the OPERA team at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, flew in the face of Einstein’s theory of relativity. It triggered speculation about what exotic physics could be involved.
Advertisement
Most physicists remained sceptical, and last month the OPERA collaboration announced that it had found flaws in the experiment: a leaky fibre-optic cable and a malfunctioning clock. Now the ICARUS experiment has also measured how long it takes for neutrinos to fly from CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, to Gran Sasso. The verdict: neutrinos do obey Einstein’s speed limit. Physicist Matthew Strassler at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, writes in his blog: “barring a big mistake by ICARUS, it’s over.”
“The ICARUS experiment has measured neutrino flight – they do obey Einstein’s speed limit”