中评社北京9月23日电/国际研究团队今天表示,名为微中子的亚原子粒子移动速度比光速还快,若此发现证实为真,可能将推翻爱因斯坦相对论中“宇宙中没有任何物体可以快过光速”的基本定律。 中央社报道,研究员在瑞士欧洲核子研究中心(EuropeanCentre for Nuclear Research, CERN)和意大利实验室之间进行研究,发现“微中子”(neutrinos)移动速度为每秒30万6公里,比光速快每秒6公里。 OPERA实验发言人艾瑞迪塔多(Antonio Ereditato)说:“这个结果完全出乎意料,我们希望测量微中子的速度,但我们没想到会发现特别的事物。” 他说:“我们对研究结果具有高度信心,我们不断检查和复查任何可能扭曲测量的因素,但什么也没找到。我们现在希望研究同仁独立检验。” 科学家在实验中利用光束产生无数中微子,使其从CERN横跨日内瓦附近的法国和瑞士边界,到730公里外的意大利格兰沙索(Gran Sasso)实验室。 艾瑞迪塔多表示,微中子抵达时间比光速早了60奈秒(nanoseconds,十亿分之一秒),误差不到10奈秒。 若获证实,此发现将动摇爱因斯坦1905年狭义相对论(special relativity),颠覆光速是一个“宇宙常数”,宇宙中没有任何物体速度比光速快的说法。 艾瑞迪塔多也说:“速度差异极小,但概念上极其重要,这项发现非常惊人,就目前而言,每人都应该非常审慎看待。” An Italian experiment has unveiled evidence that fundamental particles known as neutrinos can travel faster than light. Other researchers are cautious about the result, but if it stands further scrutiny, the finding would overturn the most fundamental rule of modern physics — that nothing travels faster than 299,792,458 metres per second. The experiment is called OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus), and lies 1,400 metres underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. It is designed to study a beam of neutrinos coming from CERN, Europe's premier high-energy physics laboratory located 730 kilometres away near Geneva, Switzerland. Neutrinos are fundamental particles that are electrically neutral, rarely interact with other matter, and have a vanishingly small mass. But they are all around us — the Sun produces so many neutrinos as a by-product of nuclear reactions that many billions pass through your eye every second. The 1,800-tonne OPERA detector is a complex array of electronics and photographic emulsion plates, but the new result is simple — the neutrinos are arriving 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light allows. "We are shocked," says Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern in Switzerland and OPERA's spokesman. Breaking the law The idea that nothing can travel faster than light in a vacuum is the cornerstone of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, which itself forms the foundation of modern physics. If neutrinos are travelling faster than light speed, then one of the most fundamental assumptions of science — that the rules of physics are the same for all observers — would be invalidated. "If it's true, then it's truly extraordinary," says John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN. Ereditato says that he is confident enough in the new result to make it public. The researchers claim to have measured the 730-kilometre trip between CERN and its detector to within 20 centimetres. They can measure the time of the trip to within 10 nanoseconds, and they have seen the effect in more than 16,000 events measured over the past two years. Given all this, they believe the result has a significance of six-sigma — the physicists' way of saying it is certainly correct. The group will present their results tomorrow at CERN, and a preprint of their results will be posted on the physics website ArXiv.org. At least one other experiment has seen a similar effect before, albeit with a much lower confidence level. In 2007, the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment in Minnesota saw neutrinos from the particle-physics facility Fermilab in Illinois arriving slightly ahead of schedule. At the time, the MINOS team downplayed the result, in part because there was too much uncertainty in the detector's exact position to be sure of its significance, says Jenny Thomas, a spokeswoman for the experiment. Thomas says that MINOS was already planning more accurate follow-up experiments before the latest OPERA result. "I'm hoping that we could get that going and make a measurement in a year or two," she says. Reasonable doubt If MINOS were to confirm OPERA's find, the consequences would be enormous. "If you give up the speed of light, then the construction of special relativity falls down," says Antonino Zichichi, a theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Bologna, Italy. Zichichi speculates that the 'superluminal' neutrinos detected by OPERA could be slipping through extra dimensions in space, as predicted by theories such as string theory. Ellis, however, remains sceptical. Many experiments have looked for particles travelling faster than light speed in the past and have come up empty-handed, he says. Most troubling for OPERA is a separate analysis of a pulse of neutrinos from a nearby supernova known as 1987a. If the speeds seen by OPERA were achievable by all neutrinos, then the pulse from the supernova would have shown up years earlier than the exploding star's flash of light; instead, they arrived within hours of each other. "It's difficult to reconcile with what OPERA is seeing," Ellis says. Ereditato says that he welcomes scepticism from outsiders, but adds that the researchers have been unable to find any other explanation for their remarkable result. "Whenever you are in these conditions, then you have to go to the community," he says. Comments If you find something abusive or inappropriate or which does not otherwise comply with our Terms or Community Guidelines , please select the relevant 'Report this comment' link. Comments on this thread are vetted after posting.
【博主:一條有科技含量的信息,貼出來給有關人士分享】 The sixth Fully Networked Car@Geneva Motor Show will take place 2-3 March 2011. A call for abstracts has been issued with authors encouraged to submit presentations on a variety of topics including the environmental impact of electric vehicles; wireless systems and, a key focus this year, managing driver distraction. Texting, making calls, and other interaction with in-vehicle information and communication systems while driving is a serious source of driver distraction and increases the risk of traffic accidents. Standards and design guidelines for these systems and devices, whether portable or fixed in the vehicle, can contribute to decreasing driver distraction, allowing the driver to focus on the road ahead. Held during the Geneva International Motor Show, The Fully Networked Car is in a unique position to engage the ICT sector with the motor industry. For the sixth year running, the event will bring together key players involved in the development of technologies and standards, as well as other major industry representatives. International standards organizations, ITU, ISO and IEC host the event bringing together key players involved in the development of technologies and standards, as well as other major industry representatives. Today s communications capabilities give the potential for cars to foresee and avoid collisions, navigate the quickest route to their destination, make use of up-to-the-minute traffic reports, identify the nearest available parking slot, minimize their carbon emissions and provide multimedia communications.