Scientists baffled after extremely high-energy particle

Gwynston

https://news.sky.com/story/scientists-baffled-after-extremely-high-energy-particle-detected-falling-to-earth-13014658

I'm especially confused about this bit:

"Typically, when ultra-high-energy cosmic rays hit Earth's atmosphere, they cause a cascade of secondary particles and electromagnetic radiation in what is known as an extensive air shower. Some charged particles in the air shower travel faster than the speed of light, producing a type of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by specialised instruments."

I though nothing could go faster than the speed of light???

Breezy_

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/06/28/this-is-how-physicists-trick-particles-into-going-faster-than-light/

Nothing can move faster than the speed of light. When Einstein set forth his theory of relativity, this was his inviolable postulate: that there was an ultimate cosmic speed limit, and that only massless particles could ever attain it. All massive particles could only approach it, but would never reach it. The speed of light, according to Einstein, was the same for all observers in all reference frames, and no form of matter could ever attain it.

But this interpretation of Einstein omits an important caveat: all of this is only true in the vacuum of purely, perfectly empty space. Through a medium of any type — whether that's air, water, glass, acrylic, or any gas, liquid, or solid — light travels at a measurably slower speed. Energetic particles, on the other hand, are only bound to travel slower than light in a vacuum, not light in a medium. By leveraging this property of nature, we truly can go faster than light.

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