The Big Bang, the LHC and the God Particle

Cormac O’Raifeartaigh (WIT)

Faster than the speed of light

Was Einstein wrong?

Cormac O’Raifeartaigh (WIT)

Maths Week, CALMAST

Overview

I The experiment

What, why, how

II Skepticism from theory

Special relativity

General relativity

III Skepticism from experiment

Particle experiments

Astronomy

Supernova observations

IV Skepticism in scienceCoda: what if..?

The OPERA experiment

Result early by 60 nanoseconds

Beam of neutrinos at CERN

Detector under Gran Sasso

Distance of 732 km

Time of flight 2.43 ms

0.003% faster than light!

Highly respected group

Neutrinos

• Suggested by Pauli (1930)

• Conservation of energy

• Zero charge, ‘zero’ mass

• Weak interaction

• Skepticism (non-physicists)

Detected in 1956

Standard Model

Higgs boson outstanding

Neutrinos today

• Three different types

• Tiny mass

• Dark matter? • The solar neutrino paradox

Missing neutrinos

• Gran Sasso experiment

• Unexpected result

Neutrino oscillation

The OPERA experiment

OPERA: the numbers

Time of flight: +/- 10ns

2.43006 +/- 0.00001 ms

Velocity = distance/time Δv/v = 2.5 x 10-5 or .003%

Measurement of distance (GPS)

732 km +/- 20 cm (18 m?)

Note: neutrinos in pulses .01 ms long (10,000 ns)

Snags

Not direct comparison Light does not travel through mountain

Accurate measurement of distance Relies on GPS

Accurate measurement of time-of-flight Relies on GPS and statistics (pulses)

Relatively short distanceNeed to direct beam at the moon

Expect: systematic error

II Skepticism from theory (SR)

• Laws of physics identical for observers in uniform motion• Speed of light in vacuum a universal constant

Distance not absolute

Time not absolute

Mass increases with velocity

220 /1)( cvLvL

220 /1/)( cvtvt

220 /1/)( cvmvm

E = mc2Reception: skepticism

The special theory of relativity (1905)

Early experiments Kaufmann, Bucherer

Modern particle accelerators Length contraction

Time dilation Mass increase

Particle acceleratorsSpeed limitAntimatter E = mc2

Evidence for relativity

2

2

0

1c

v

mm

• 9 accelerators

• velocity increase?

K.E = 1/2mv2

Relativity ‘skepticism’

• Extraordinary concept• Counter-intuitive • Only observable at tremendous speeds• Only observable for subatomic particles

• Simple maths• Time and distance calculations • Personalization• Confusion of discovery and justification

Compare: quantum physics

Speed of light plays role of ∞

Dr Al Kelly ‘Einstein wrong’ The Irish Times

Skepticism from theory (GR)

Gravity = curvature of space and time

• Laws of physics identical for all observers• Speed of light in vacuum a universal constant• Principle of equivalence

• New view of gravity• Revolution• Cosmological implications Matter warps space and time

General Relativity (1915)

General relativity

Predictions• Bending of starlight by sun• Black holes• Expanding universe• Time dilation by gravity• Geodesic effect

Evidence• Eddington experiment• Astronomy • GPS• Everett experiment

Breakdown at quantum scales

III Skepticism from supernovas

Supernova• Huge implosion of massive star• Neutrinos released• Light delayed by debris

Supernova 1987a• Neutrinos detected• Ahead of light by 5 min

Not by 5 years !

IV Skepticism in science

Many years for new result to be accepted

Must be reproducible

Must fit known experiments

• Paradigm shift• Slow, gradual process (DJ)• Consensus process

If so

Compare: accelerating universe

Thomas Kuhn

The OPERA viewpoint

‘Despite the large significance of the measurement reported here and the stability of the analysis, the potentially great impact of the result motivates the continuation of our studies in order to investigate possible still unknown systematic effects that could explain the observed anomaly. We deliberately do not attempt any theoretical or phenomenological interpretation of the results’ ‘Up to half of the members of the OPERA project are opposed to immediately publishing the result in a peer-reviewed journal. They do not believe any known mistakes are being hidden by other members of the group, but are worried about the significant impact to physics of the results.’ Physics World

‘Skepticism’ in the media

Scientific skepticism misunderstood

Attributed to conservatism

Role of evidence misunderstood

‘Balanced’ debate unweighted

Climate ‘skepticism’ is not scientific

Science journalism: news driven Bjorn Lomborg

contrarian

SummaryExtraordinary result Indirect measurement

Contradicts theorySpecial and general relativity

Contradicts experimentParticle experimentsAstronomy experiments

Extraordinary evidence? X

Further reading: ANTIMATTER

What if.... ?

What if result stands?

First evidence of string theory ?

• Extra dimensionsShortcut?

Doesn’t violate relativity

• Unification theory 7 dimensions curled up?

• High energy Lightest particlesDoesn’t contradict previous results