Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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SCIENCE

The Claim

At least one particle can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The claim is not supported by the evidence. The main experimental episode behind it, OPERA's faster-than-light neutrino result, was later explained by measurement errors and superseded by results consistent with the speed of light. The remaining support consists of theoretical speculation about tachyons or misunderstood superluminal effects, not a confirmed observation of any particle traveling faster than light in vacuum.

Caveats

  • The 2011 OPERA neutrino anomaly was overturned after faults in timing and instrumentation were identified.
  • Theoretical discussions of tachyons do not count as evidence that such particles exist in nature.
  • Some phenomena can show superluminal phase or group velocities, but that is not the same as a particle traveling faster than light in vacuum.

The Receipts

  1. Neutrinos not faster than light

    Nature

  2. Particles break light-speed limit

    Nature

  3. Faulty kit explains faster-than-light neutrinos

    Nature

  4. Limits on the Speed of Relativistic Magnetic Monopoles from Astrophysical Observations

    Physical Review Letters

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

    arXiv

  6. Precision measurement of the neutrino velocity with the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso (CNGS) beam

    arXiv

  7. Existence of superluminal neutrinos is excluded by OPERA and other experiments

    Nature Physics

  8. Do tachyons exist?

    UCR Math

  9. Faster than light?

    Nature

  10. Evidence for neutrino being likely a superluminal particle

    Inspire HEP

+ 10 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Special Relativityspeed of lightTachyonVacuum

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