On July 12, 2018, scientists announced that IceCube observatory sensors had detected the presence of a high-energy, minuscule “ghost” particle called a neutrino. Neutrinos don’t interact with their surroundings making them difficult for scientists to spot. So this breakthrough in multi-messenger astrophysics has scientists going crazy because its a clue to a question more than a century old.
In 1912, scientists discovered that the Earth was being hit with subatomic particles. They were puzzled when they realized that the amount of energy that the particles were hitting Earth with was greater than any man-made particle accelerators. So the question arose: What was powerful enough to create these?
But, first, what exactly are neutrinos?
Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in the universe and are, also, one of the fundamental particles that make up the universe. They are incredibly tiny subatomic particles produced by the decay of radioactive elements and high-energy collisions. Neutrinos are elementary particles that lack an electric charge so they are related to a charged particle. There are only three that we know of: vₑ(electron), vµ(muon), and vτ(Tau).
Neutrinos basically travel at the speed of light and are unaffected by magnetic fields. Also, because they are only affected by the weakest forces, they are essentially unabsorbed when traveling great distances from their origin, so their path is a straight line. This unique property, along with the fact that these particles are not charged, has made it possible for scientists to trace the path back to where the neutrino originated. Which brings us back to our first question: Where did they come from?
The scientists traced the origin of the cosmic rays to a general area and then found a blazar in around the same place, making them pretty confident that it was the neutrino’s birthplace. But this discovery is just the beginning.
Scientists have been excited for more reasons than answering an old question. This breakthrough could spell a whole range of other questions and answers. This is only one of the discoveries that could be made in the rising field of multi-messenger astrophysics. These particles could reveal things that revolutionize our understanding of the universe and change astrophysics forever.
Works Cited:
“All About Neutrinos.” IceCube, icecube.wisc.edu/info/neutrinos. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Bartel, Meghan. “Here’s Why Today’s Neutrino Discovery Is a Big Deal.” Space.com, Purch, 12 July 2018, www.space.com/41142-what-are-neutrinos-why-they-matter.html. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Kaplan, Sarah. “In a cosmic first, scientists detect ‘ghost particles’ from a distant galaxy.” Washington Post, 12 July 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/07/12/in-a-cosmic-first-scientists-detect-ghostly-neutrinos-from-a-distant-galaxy/?utm_term=.5bfb205aa32e. Accessed 12 July 2018.
“Neutrino observation points to one source of high-energy cosmic rays.” National Science Foundation, 12 July 2018, www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=295955. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Resnick, Brian. “How a single neutrino just helped crack a 100-year-old cosmic ray mystery.” Vox, 12 July 2018, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/7/12/17552586/neutrino-cosmic-ray-ice-cube-multimessenger-astronomy-astrophysics-nsf. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Scientific American. www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-a-neutrino/. Accessed 12 July 2018.
“What’s a Neutrino?” UCI, www.ps.uci.edu/~superk/neutrino.html. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Written by: Mahathi Somula
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