Findings about neutrinos could defy Einstein’s theory of relativity
Professor Paul Walter discussed what new information about neutrinos’ speed could mean for science.
Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) recently discovered that neutrinos may travel faster than the speed of light.
Einstein’s theory of relativity states that no particle can travel faster than the speed of light—300,000 kilometers per second—in space. Should CERN’s findings be correct, they violate Einstein’s theory of relativity, opening it to rigorous scientific evaluation.
St. Edward’s University Professor Paul Walter, who has a Ph. D. in physics and relativity, gave some background behind neutrinos and discussed their significance for the science community.
Walter said neutrinos are subatomic particles that carry no electrical charge and weakly interact with other forces and particles. Electrons and protons have negative and positive charges respectively, but unlike neutrinos they are affected by electromagnetism. Electromagnetism, one of the four primary forces, causes attraction between oppositely charged particles.
According to Walter, when a “neutron beta decays, it forms a proton, electron, and an electron antineutrino. Three interchangeable families of neutrinos exist: electron, muon, and tua, and [CERN] has only observed muon
