Professors Skeptical of Faster-Than-Light Particle

The results of a recent physics experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research may pose the most direct challenge to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity since its inception, holding the fate of modern physics in the balance.

Last Thursday, the OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) experiment revealed the discovery of neutrinos, neutral subatomic particles, measured at speeds faster than the speed of light.

The scientists emitted a beam of approximately 15,000 neutrinos 454 miles underground, and according to the team’s measurements, the beam went 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.

The discovery conflicts with the premises of Einstein’s theory of relativity, which suggests that no object can move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. The calculated difference of a few billionths of a second could thus have startling implications on developments in physics, potentially even allowing for previously forbidden possibilities such as time travel.

Irwin I. Shapiro, a Harvard physics professor, points out the careful scrutiny needed when reviewing these results.

“I would have to know a lot more about how the team measured the distance between its two sites, especially the geodetic connections between the surface and the underground sites, before I would even begin to take this claim seriously,” he said.

Indeed, the results have been met with great skepticism in the scientific community, with many physicists pointing out the myriad potential sources of error. Among them is the historically well-known difficulty of measuring the speed of neutrinos due to the weakness of their interactions.

Harvard Professor of Physics Emeritus Gerald Holton also suggests that the reason for the small difference might lie with the original accepted value of the speed of light.

“The new experiments compare themselves with the old, internationally accepted value of the speed of light ‘c,’” Holton said. “But it is little known outside the profession that the international agreement of the speed of light was not the result of a specific experiment [but] rather a decision of an international body.”

Despite its significant ramifications, the acceptance of the experiment’s results may not completely undercut Einstein’s theories in their entirety.

“It’s not about disproving the theory, but rather looking into its scope.” said physics professor Lisa J. Randall ’84. According to Randall, Einstein’s theory may be valid in certain contexts but built on assumptions that have not been completely confirmed.

“The question is whether it breaks down under different parameters and conditions,” she added.

In any case, the physics community seems to have reached a consensus that much further testing and experimentation lies ahead before Einstein’s theories will be debunked.

—Staff writer Akua F. Abu can be reached at aabu@college.harvard.edu.