How a particle can arrive before it is fired (traveling faster than the speed of light)
Particles can move faster than the speed of light in matter, such as glass. [2] However, nothing can go faster than light in a vacuum. [2]
Anomalous results have been obtained in experiments that seem to suggest that certain subatomic particles can travel faster than light. For example, in a 2011 experiment, scientists of the OPERA collaboration reported that neutrinos they produced at CERN in Geneva and recorded at the OPERA detector in Italy had traveled faster than light. [1, 2] The neutrinos were calculated to have arrived approximately 60.7 nanoseconds (60.7 billionths of a second) sooner than light would have if traversing the same distance in a vacuum. [1] The finding sent the physics world into a frenzy because it appeared to go against Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity. [2] If correct, the finding would overturn the most fundamental rule of modern physics—that nothing can travel faster than 299,792,458 meters per second. [3]