arXiv:1109.4897hep-ex2011-09-22

Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam

The OPERA Collaboration, T. Adam, N. Agafonova, A. Aleksandrov, O. Altinok, P. Alvarez Sanchez, A. Anokhina, S. Aoki, A. Ariga, T. Ariga, D. Autiero, A. Badertscher, A. Ben Dhahbi, A. Bertolin, C. Bozza, T. Brugiere, R. Brugnera, F. Brunet, G. Brunetti, S. Buontempo, B. Carlus, F. Cavanna, A. Cazes, L. Chaussard, M. Chernyavsky, V. Chiarella, A. Chukanov, G. Colosimo, M. Crespi, N. D'Ambrosio, G. De Lellis, M. De Serio, Y. Declais, P. del Amo Sanchez, F. Di Capua, A. Di Crescenzo, D. Di Ferdinando, N. Di Marco, S. Dmitrievsky, M. Dracos, D. Duchesneau, S. Dusini, T. Dzhatdoev, J. Ebert, I. Efthymiopoulos, O. Egorov, A. Ereditato, L. S. Esposito, J. Favier, T. Ferber, R. A. Fini, T. Fukuda, A. Garfagnini, G. Giacomelli, M. Giorgini, M. Giovannozzi, C. Girerd, J. Goldberg, C. Gollnitz, D. Golubkov, L. Goncharova, Y. Gornushkin, G. Grella, F. Grianti, E. Gschwendtner, C. Guerin, A. M. Guler, C. Gustavino, C. Hagner, K. Hamada, T. Hara, R. Enikeev, M. Hierholzer, A. Hollnagel, M. Ieva, H. Ishida, K. Ishiguro, K. Jakovcic, C. Jollet, M. Jones, F. Juget, M. Kamiscioglu, J. Kawada, S. H. Kim, M. Kimura, E. Kiritsis, N. Kitagawa, B. Klicek, J. Knuesel, K. Kodama, M. Komatsu, U. Kose, I. Kreslo, C. Lazzaro, J. Lenkeit, A. Ljubicic, A. Longhin, A. Malgin, G. Mandrioli, J. Marteau, T. Matsuo, V. Matveev, N. Mauri, A. Mazzoni, E. Medinaceli, F. Meisel, A. Meregaglia, P. Migliozzi, S. Mikado, D. Missiaen, P. Monacelli, K. Morishima, U. Moser, M. T. Muciaccia, N. Naganawa, T. Naka, M. Nakamura, T. Nakano, Y. Nakatsuka, D. Naumov, V. Nikitina, F. Nitti, S. Ogawa, N. Okateva, A. Olchevsky, O. Palamara, A. Paoloni, B. D. Park, I. G. Park, A. Pastore, L. Patrizii, E. Pennacchio, H. Pessard, C. Pistillo, N. Polukhina, M. Pozzato, K. Pretzl, F. Pupilli, R. Rescigno, F. Riguzzi, T. Roganova, H. Rokujo, G. Rosa, I. Rostovtseva, A. Rubbia, A. Russo, V. Ryasny, O. Ryazhskaya, O. Sato, Y. Sato, Z. Sahnoun, A. Schembri, J. Schuler, L. Scotto Lavina, J. Serrano, I. Shakiryanova, A. Sheshukov, H. Shibuya, G. Shoziyoev, S. Simone, M. Sioli, C. Sirignano, G. Sirri, J. S. Song, M. Spinetti, L. Stanco, N. Starkov, S. Stellacci, M. Stipcevic, T. Strauss, S. Takahashi, M. Tenti, F. Terranova, I. Tezuka, V. Tioukov, P. Tolun, N. T. Tran, S. Tufanli, P. Vilain, M. Vladimirov, L. Votano, J. -L. Vuilleumier, G. Wilquet, B. Wonsak, J. Wurtz, V. Yakushev, C. S. Yoon, J. Yoshida, Y. Zaitsev, S. Zemskova, A. Zghiche

Abstract

The OPERA neutrino experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory has measured the velocity of neutrinos from the CERN CNGS beam over a baseline of about 730 km. The measurement is based on data taken by OPERA in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Dedicated upgrades of the CNGS timing system and of the OPERA detector, as well as a high precision geodesy campaign for the measurement of the neutrino baseline, allowed reaching comparable systematic and statistical accuracies. An arrival time of CNGS muon neutrinos with respect to the one computed assuming the speed of light in vacuum of (6.5 +/- 7.4(stat.)((+8.3)(-8.0)sys.))ns was measured corresponding to a relative difference of the muon neutrino velocity with respect to the speed of light (v-c)/c =(2.7 +/-3.1(stat.)((+3.4)(-3.3)(sys.))x10^(-6). The above result, obtained by comparing the time distributions of neutrino interactions and of protons hitting the CNGS target in 10.5 microseconds long extractions, was confirmed by a test performed at the end of 2011 using a short bunch beam allowing to measure the neutrino time of flight at the single interaction level.

arXiv comments: 34 pages, 22 figures This version replaces all previous ones
Journal reference
DOI: doi:10.1007/JHEP10(2012)093
Subjects: hep-exHigh Energy Physics, Experiment hep-phHigh Energy Physics, Phenomenology

On Hacker News

Linked by 9 identifiable commenters in 9 comments across 6 threads, from Sep 2011 to Jul 2012. Found in 3 HN submissions from Sep 2011 to Sep 2011. Open submission discussions.

Comments linking this paper, per year.

Discussed in comments6 threads

Higgs Boson: Physicists See Best Proof Yet of 'The God Particle' Jul 20121 comment
- Let's hope they learned the "Faster than light neutrino" lesson... EDIT: In reply to comments: 1. The speed of the neutrino had already been measure experimentally before. It was unlikely that a new experiment would produce different results. 2. Requests for help from the…
  
  Anon84Jul 3, 2012View on HN Parent context
CERN Confirms Neutrinos Not Faster Than Light Jun 20121 comment
- The original paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897) had some 188 authors. I doubt they didn't double-check or 100-check the results. After some point the data just had to be considered believable or worthy of publication. You really think it would be better if they didn't let…
  
  zerostar07Jun 12, 2012View on HN Parent context
Neutrino experiment affirms faster-than-light claim Nov 20111 comment
- While it may have been checked it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897v2
  
  AvshalomNov 18, 2011View on HN Parent context
Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Puzzle Claimed Solved by Special Relativity Oct 20111 comment
- I'm super-skeptical about this paper - I agree that more info on the GPS stuff is needed (this author seems to be making assumptions about how the correction procedures work that I couldn't find documentation for), but on its face, this just seems way like a way too obvious…
  
  bermanoidOct 14, 2011View on HN Parent context
CERN press release regarding neutrino experiment Sep 20113 comments
- I so LOL'd when someone in the webinar pointed out that their measurement wasn't a vector so their paper should be titled neutrino speed not velocity. http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897
  
  jasonkeeneSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context
- My SWAG: the relativist effect of time being slowed down in Earth's gravity was not taken into account. (Time is slowed down, therefore neutrinos appear to arrive 60ns "early".) They spent a lot of time triple checking the accuracy of their instruments without seemingly thinking…
  
  mrbSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context
- I've read the article[1] and what they do is compare the proton flux as measured in Geneva with the neutrino signal measured in Gran Sasso. The proton signal is timeshifted a small amount until the curves overlap maximally. Where the leading and trailing edge are is irrelevant…
  
  kmmSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context
Speed-of-light experiments yield baffling result at LHC Sep 20112 comments
- The paper is now up: http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897
  
  splatSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context
- The research preprint is now available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897
  
  gluejarSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

Let's hope they learned the "Faster than light neutrino" lesson... EDIT: In reply to comments: 1. The speed of the neutrino had already been measure experimentally before. It was unlikely that a new experiment would produce different results. 2. Requests for help from the…

Anon84Jul 3, 2012View on HN Parent context

The original paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897) had some 188 authors. I doubt they didn't double-check or 100-check the results. After some point the data just had to be considered believable or worthy of publication. You really think it would be better if they didn't let…

zerostar07Jun 12, 2012View on HN Parent context

I'm super-skeptical about this paper - I agree that more info on the GPS stuff is needed (this author seems to be making assumptions about how the correction procedures work that I couldn't find documentation for), but on its face, this just seems way like a way too obvious…

bermanoidOct 14, 2011View on HN Parent context

I so LOL'd when someone in the webinar pointed out that their measurement wasn't a vector so their paper should be titled neutrino speed not velocity. http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897

jasonkeeneSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

My SWAG: the relativist effect of time being slowed down in Earth's gravity was not taken into account. (Time is slowed down, therefore neutrinos appear to arrive 60ns "early".) They spent a lot of time triple checking the accuracy of their instruments without seemingly thinking…

mrbSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

I've read the article[1] and what they do is compare the proton flux as measured in Geneva with the neutrino signal measured in Gran Sasso. The proton signal is timeshifted a small amount until the curves overlap maximally. Where the leading and trailing edge are is irrelevant…

kmmSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

The paper is now up: http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897

splatSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

The research preprint is now available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897

gluejarSep 23, 2011View on HN Parent context

Abstract

On Hacker News

Discussed in comments6 threads

Submitted to Hacker News

Also discussed alongside