BREAKING NEWS: Error Undoes Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Results
According to sources familiar with the experiment, the 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos’ flight and an electronic card in a computer. After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed. Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos. New data, however, will be needed to confirm this hypothesis.
That somebody was a little sloppy with connector snuggles happens. That they manned up and admitted it happened is ethical and laudible – as opposed to economics. The very sad part is the remarkable number of hack theorists who jumped the impossible on arXiv, lubricated by oozing credulity. When theory can predict anything, theory predicts nothing. Oh, wait… that’s string theory.
“When all you have is BNC feedthroughs, all of your electrical problems look coaxial.”