…if it’s really been established that some particles are traveling faster than light — and I very much doubt that that’s the case — then how much of the rest what Einstein had to tell us about the workings of the universe still holds?
Specifically, are these particles actually traveling backward in time? I mean, isn’t that what’s supposed to happen when you exceed the speed of light?
One possibility: (as mentioned in the linked article) the particles are engaged in some kind of quantum tunneling which allows them to get from point A to point B at faster than light speed without ever actually going faster than light. This is a cool possibility because it does away with worries about time travel and (more importantly) because it’s in line with warp drive and hyperspace and other science fiction methodologies for achieving FTL travel.
Another possibility: these particles are tachyons. If so,they must be in a highly energized state to be moving so slowly. There is no evidence that tachyons actually exist — unless this discovery is the first such evidence. But if they were tachyons, we would have to contend with living in a universe that contains particles that can never go slower than the speed of light and that have an imaginary number for their mass.
Now that’s a weird universe, folks.
Again, the smart money says that this is an observational or measurement error,and at the end of the day the speed of light will be upheld.
But sometimes the smart money is wrong. Sometimes our well-established assumptions falter. Sometimes the universe throws a genuine surprise our way, and we become momentarily aware of how little we truly know.
Moments such as these — right now, when we don’t know for sure what the facts are – present a tremendous opportunity. Either we will get a glimpse of how different the world is than we thought it was, or (I’m betting) we realize that we were right all along.
It’s a good lesson either way.
(Hat-tip: Chris Twyman.)