Time travel possible if speed of light broken: SFU physicist

Time travel possible if speed of light broken: SFU physicist
Many scientists doubtful of shock CERN finding
Shane Bigham Sep 23, 2011 17:09:13 PM
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GENEVA (NEWS1130) - Sixty nano-seconds could change our current understanding of physics. The results need to be verified, but it appears scientists in Europe have broken the light barrier.

Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light inside of a vacuum. But a neutrino beam sent from CERN in Switzerland to the Gran Sasso lab in Italy has apparently done just that, arriving by the tiniest fraction of a second sooner than expected.

SFU particle physicist Dugan O'Neil tries to explain the possible implication of the discovery, if it proves to be true.

"A part of special relativity that gets very strange is that causality breaks down. So in essence, the neutrinos travel in time," he says.

Like many of his peers in the scientific community, he is urging caution because the test needs to be verified.

Many scientists are doubtful, including one on the UK who has been quoted as saying he would eat his boxer shorts on live TV if the light barrier has been broken.