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Can Relativity Explain Faster Than Light Particles?
gbrumfiel writes "Two weeks ago, researchers claimed particles called neutrinos were travelling faster-than-light and violating the laws of special relativity. But now it looks as though general relativity might be behind the experiment's unusual result. An independent analysis claims that the original experiment, known as OPERA, failed to take into account differences in earth's gravitational field between the neutrino source and the OPERA detector. As Nature News reports, gravity can distort time according to Einstein's theory, and the effect could explain why neutrinos appear to arrive 60 nanoseconds ahead of schedule. The OPERA team is now reviewing the new analysis."
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They are reviewing their own paper to make their methods clear. FTFA:
"Dario Autiero of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Lyons (IPNL), France, and physics coordinator for OPERA, counters that Contaldi's challenge is a result of a misunderstanding of how the clocks were synchronized. He says the group will be revising its paper to try to make its method clearer."
Meaning: Contaldi didn't understand how OPERA did it, and thought they had commited a somewhat stupid mistake. OPERA says they didn't make that error, and that they'll rewrite that part of the paper to make this clear. In other words, this is not news at all.
I hate to say this, because I know it's probably painfully obvious to most people, but I have no idea what you're talking about.
He's talking about GPS. In order for the triangulation to work correctly, relativity must be taken into account.
That said, another poster pointed out that the researchers apparently did account for the effects of gravity when synchronizing their clocks. The paper just wasn't sufficiently clear on that point, and they're rewriting that section.