Here, a remnant of supernova 1987A encircled by a glowing gas ring known as the'String of Pearls.') (Image credit: NASA) If they traveled a shorter distance in the measured time, then their actual speed may not have been faster than light. Perhaps, some physicists have suggested, the neutrinos are not traveling along the straight line we thought they were, but instead were hopping into one of the extra dimensions predicted by string theory, and taking a shortcut to their destination.

But if the neutrino measurements are correct, some physicists say string theory may offer the best bet of explaining them. String theory is incredibly difficult to test, and there is no proof that it's correct. This assumption turns out to have broad-ranging implications, including the possibility that our universe has more dimensions than the known three dimensions of space and one of time. String theory is the cutting-edge idea that all fundamental particles are actually tiny vibrating loops of string. (Image credit: Robert Spriggs (opens in new tab) | Shutterstock (opens in new tab))

'As I understand it if you have anything traveling faster than the speed of light you can have things happening before their causes.' E=mc^2 'Most of the theoretical structure that's been erected in the 20th century has relied on this concept that things have to go slower than the speed of light,' Plunkett said. Such a result would be scientific heresy, surely requiring some hasty rewriting of laws to make sure causality is preserved. In this case, an 'effect' could travel back to a point before its 'cause' had occurred - for instance, a baby swinging before he gets a push. This was accepted in classical physics, and the special theory of relativity took pains to preserve the rule, despite the relativity of an object's motion.īut if something can travel faster than light, it can travel backward in time, according to the theory. What would happen if causality rules were broken and this baby started swinging before the push? (Image credit: Kim Ruoff (opens in new tab) | Shutterstock (opens in new tab))Ī fundamental law of physics, indeed of all science, is causality: that cause always precedes effect.

Particle playground reverse