Benjamin Packisch
Benjamin Packisch | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Critique of the OPERA neutrino-anomaly result and of relativity theory |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Benjamin Packisch is a German critic of the theory of relativity who has written analyses questioning the official interpretation of the 2011 OPERA "superluminal neutrino" measurement at CERN. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
Packisch authored papers hosted on the German relativity-criticism website Kritische Stimmen zur Relativitätstheorie (kritik-relativitaetstheorie.de), including an investigation of the neutrino-timing anomaly reported by the OPERA experiment ("„Anomalien" der Neutrino-Anomalie am CERN im September 2011"). In this work he argues that the officially published explanation for the anomaly — that a loose fibre-optic connector ("loser Stecker") accounted for the apparent faster-than-light result — is not adequately documented, noting that the technical account referred to non-public papers that he says he was unable to obtain. He characterizes the "loose plug" conclusion as an assertion that is not independently verifiable by outsiders.
His writing focuses on the synchronization of clocks in the CERN-to-Gran-Sasso timing measurement and on methodological and transparency questions surrounding the experiment. These positions fall outside the scientific mainstream, which regards the OPERA anomaly as a resolved instrumental artifact.