Researchers at the CERN physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, claimed recently to have clocked a subatomic particle, known as a neutrino, traveling in excesss of the speed of light. If true, the event would violate a core tenet of physics and undermine some parts of Albert Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity. But scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago, Illinois, also known as Fermilab, remain skeptical.

Einstein's special theory of relativity is fundamental to physics for scientist Patrick Fox. “I have been studying that for years. It is something you use day-to-day, " Fox said. “And it basically boils down to the statement that physics should be independent of how fast you are moving.”

That includes traveling at the speed of light. “The only objects that can travel at the speed of light are massless things, like light, " he said.

Scientist Robert Plunkett explains that the prevailing wisdom about subatomic particles such as neutrinos is that they are able to travel up to nearly light speed, but not faster. “The speed of light is the absolute cosmic speed limit for the travel of particles, " he said.

Still, European researchers report they have measured a neutrino particle that has broken this “cosmic speed limit. ” If the results are valid, the finding would transform almost a hundred years of physical knowledge and force researchers to re-formulate the laws about matter and physical interactions.

But Plunkett says it is very easy to make a mistake when trying to clock an object as small as a neutrino. He suggests that the MINOS facility, after some upgrades, could produce a more precise measurement of the CERN results. However, if MINOS also measures some neutrinos flying faster than the speed of light, researchers like Patrick Fox will have their work cut out for them, designing the next apparatus for physics research in the future.