Faster-than-c Neutrinos and the Alternative Lorentz Transformation

Recent evidence for neutrinos moving faster than light in free space is consistent with earlier measurements of the speed of light in condensed media in wavelength regions of anomalous dispersion. Both findings are widely assumed to be ruled out theoretically because they would violate Einstein causality, that is, the principle that the time-order of events must be the same for all observers. The latter conclusion is based on the Lorentz transformation (LT) of special relativity (SR). A review of the assumptions made in Einstein s original derivation of the LT in 1905 shows that it is possible to avoid this conflict between theory and experiment while still satisfying his two postulates of relativity. An amended version of relativity theory is presented which is based on an alternative Lorentz transformation (ALT) that remains consistent with Einstein’s velocity addition theorem (VT), which is compatible with super-luminal motion. At the same time, it is argued that faster-than-c neutrinos must have null rest mass, the same as photons, in order to satisfy other requirements of the original theory.