The Mysteries of Faster-Than-Light Travel: A Physicist's Guide"

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the implications of CERN's neutrino experiments that suggested particles traveling faster than light, raising questions about the validity of special relativity. Participants inquire whether these findings contradict previous experiments and if neutrinos possess mass. The conversation also explores the conditions under which the neutrinos were fired and the definition of the speed of light, denoted as constant c. There is confusion regarding whether c represents a universal speed limit or merely a threshold for massive particles. Overall, the thread seeks clarity on the relationship between these experimental results and established physics principles.
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Dear Physicists,

Do you know why there was a massive fuss made last year about the experiments at CERN which recorded neutrinos traveling faster than light speed?

Do these results contradict any previous experiment?

I hear a lot of talk about said results conflicting with the equations of special relativity. But i thought those equations merely implied a limiting speed for accelerating massive particles and didn't actually imply a universal speed limit.

Do neutrinos have mass?

Were the neutrinos in the CERN experiment fired from rest or were they merely channeled in the direction of the receiver?

What speed does light actually travel at?

Are there any contemporary definitions of the constant c which imply that c is actually a speed limit in the universe?

Im confused.
 
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