A team of scientists have found a particle that travels at a speed great that that of light, raising fundamental questions on the principles of modern physics.

Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity has stated that there is not particle that travels faster than the speed of light. However, neutrinos haven been recorded traveling at a comparatively faster rate.

In the experiment named Opera, the muon neutrinos were found to be travelling a few billionths of a second quicker than light. The experiment was conducted more than 15,000 times over three years in which these neutrinos were fired in a beam 454 miles between the Cern facility in Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy.

Even as the gap between the sped of light and the speed at which the neutrinos was found to be raveling is very small, it is potentially significant in the field of modern physics as it challenges certain principles.

Before emphaising on the findings, the researchers want the results to be properly scrutinized and have thus asked their colleagues around the world to carry out checks to determine its accuracy.

"The feeling that most people have is this can't be right; this can't be real. "They are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they've done and really scrutinise it in great detail and ideally for someone elsewhere in the world to repeat the measurements," said James Gillies, a spokesman for Cern.