Faster than Light Particles within the Frame Work of Relativity


  A. Yahalom  
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ariel University Center of Samaria, Ariel, Israel

In a recent experiment performed in CERN a faster than light muon neutrino was reported [1]. In particular the authors measured a velocity v such that  = (2.48 ± 0.28(stat.) ± 0.30(sys.)) 10−5. Although the result seems to be in contradiction with the theory of relativity [2]: ”The strong constraints arising from these observations makes an interpretation of the OPERA measurement in terms of modification of Einstein's theory unlikely”. In truth the result may only represent a difficulty to the special theory of relativity, the general theory of relativity allows in addition to the Lorentzian metric of the type  = diag (1,−1,−1,−1) also other flat metrics such as the Euclidian metric: diag (1, 1, 1, 1). Naturally an Euclidian metric does not restrict the speed at which a particle propagates. Although only the Lorentzian metric is stable [3], it can not be precluded that an Euclidian metric can be created under special circumstances and persist in a limited region of space-time.