3 neutrino experiment review superluminal phenomenon

Physicists reviewed the phenomenon of neutrino superluminal discovered before. This is a remarkable review, which confirms an amazing experimental result, but most scientists in this field are still skeptical about whether the cosmic speed limit has really been broken.

In September this year, researchers of the OPERA project (neutrino oscillation experiment project of latex tracer equipment) said that the neutrino beam emitted by CERN was 730 kilometers faster than the speed of light. This experimental result, which made headlines, challenged Einstein's theory of relativity, because relativity thought it was impossible.

This result is statistically significant, but according to the famous saying of carl sagan, a writer and astrophysicist, "Extraordinary discoveries need extraordinary evidence", most physicists are skeptical.

Therefore, in June 5438+10/October this year, the researchers of the OPERA project asked CERN to generate a shorter proton beam with a duration of only 3 nanoseconds (1 nanosecond is equal to one billionth of a second), which is about 1/3000 of the proton beam in the last experiment. At present, they have recorded 20 neutrino cases in the new data operation process, reaching a level of statistical significance similar to the results of the first experiment.

Neutrinos once again arrived at Gransasso National Laboratory in Italy 60 nanoseconds ahead of the beam. This latest result was published on the arXiv pre-release server on June 165438+ 10/7, 2007.

Dario Otero of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Lyon said: "This is slightly better than the previous results." He also said that most members of the OPERA project refused to sign the original paper because they wanted to spend more time testing the experimental results, but now they all signed it.

Karen Haagner of the University of Hamburg is one of them. She said that not only the accuracy of proton beam has improved, but also the statistical analysis has become stronger, and it has been obtained.

Review of members outside the original research group in the OPERA project. Haagner said: "We have gained more confidence than before."

The researchers of the OPERA project hope that the new results can eliminate the uncertainty caused by the proton beam duration. However, some people worry that the experiment uses Global Positioning System (GPS) to calibrate the departure and arrival time of neutrino beams, which is not so easy to eliminate.

The GPS used in the two experiments has not been tested in the field of high-energy particle physics before. Haagner said that she hopes to use another part of the OPERA detector to check the time measurement results of the experiment.

For the latest experimental results of the OPERA project, the M INOS project of Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois (the main injector neutrino oscillation search project) issued a statement saying that it is upgrading its timing system to achieve the accuracy of the OPERA project. Minios may use the existing system to complete the preliminary examination of OPERA experimental results as early as 20 12.