Light is sooooo fast
There's still problems with the concept. It doesn't seem to hold up to real-world examples, such as supernova.
When a star goes supernova, there's an immediate burst of neutrinos that escapes into the universe. The light (and radio and other photons) from the explosion takes longer to get going because it gets reabsorbed and readmitted and whatnot for a bit. Enough so that when a burst of neutrinos is seen in the sky, telescopes are pointed that way because they're very likely to see a supernova in action in a few minutes. This is how they've caught the few they've seen at the time of initial explosion of light.
But, if the measurements these guys are making are accurate and consistent with all neutrinos everywhere, then it wouldn't be a matter of minutes between the neutrino burst and the light, it would be months or even years depending on how far away it is and how long the neutrinos have to speed ahead of the light. And that doesn't match up with the observed phenomenon.
So, either 1) they're still making some sort of crucial error, 2) there's something special about how neutrinos travel through the Earth that makes them faster than light while they are still stuck at light speed out in mostly empty space, or 3) the laws of physics on Earth are just subtly different from those elsewhere in the universe. Until I see better proof I have to believe it's probably option 1, because option 2 is a bit fantastical and option 3 would undermine every part of astrophysics and cosmology to the point that they almost become meaningless without interstellar travel to go see in person what is true and what isn't.
Although, option 2 would have some pretty interesting implications. It would suggest that neutrinos travel faster when in the vicinity of relatively dense matter. That would be weird and intriguing, and I wonder if it would have some interesting implications in terms of dark energy theories. I never have liked the whole dark energy stuff; it seems too much like a kludge of an idea to get around an unexplained problem with an older theory instead of trying again from scratch.
Still, for now option 1 seems best.
When a star goes supernova, there's an immediate burst of neutrinos that escapes into the universe. The light (and radio and other photons) from the explosion takes longer to get going because it gets reabsorbed and readmitted and whatnot for a bit. Enough so that when a burst of neutrinos is seen in the sky, telescopes are pointed that way because they're very likely to see a supernova in action in a few minutes. This is how they've caught the few they've seen at the time of initial explosion of light.
But, if the measurements these guys are making are accurate and consistent with all neutrinos everywhere, then it wouldn't be a matter of minutes between the neutrino burst and the light, it would be months or even years depending on how far away it is and how long the neutrinos have to speed ahead of the light. And that doesn't match up with the observed phenomenon.
So, either 1) they're still making some sort of crucial error, 2) there's something special about how neutrinos travel through the Earth that makes them faster than light while they are still stuck at light speed out in mostly empty space, or 3) the laws of physics on Earth are just subtly different from those elsewhere in the universe. Until I see better proof I have to believe it's probably option 1, because option 2 is a bit fantastical and option 3 would undermine every part of astrophysics and cosmology to the point that they almost become meaningless without interstellar travel to go see in person what is true and what isn't.
Although, option 2 would have some pretty interesting implications. It would suggest that neutrinos travel faster when in the vicinity of relatively dense matter. That would be weird and intriguing, and I wonder if it would have some interesting implications in terms of dark energy theories. I never have liked the whole dark energy stuff; it seems too much like a kludge of an idea to get around an unexplained problem with an older theory instead of trying again from scratch.
Still, for now option 1 seems best.
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