# Can neutrinos travel Faster Than Light **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-neutrinos-travel-faster-than-light/597266 "2011-09-22T22:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 97
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-neutrinos-travel-faster-than-light/597266/97 "2011-09-24T13:55:59Z")
How about the [Scharnhorst effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scharnhorst_effect) as a possible explanation? It would essentially amount to photons travelling slower than c in vacuum because of a small vacuum refractive index due to vacuum polarization, which the neutrinos wouldn’t see, so even with a small rest mass, they could conceivably travel faster than photons in vacuum; this would also be in line with the 1987A neutrinos being slower, i.e. closer to the photon speed, due to their lower energy… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-neutrinos-travel-faster-than-light/597266)._