New deep-sea detector measures highest-energy neutrino from space to date
The ultra-high-energy neutrino was discovered by deep-sea detectors and could indicate a significant cosmic event.
Neutrinos are charge-free subatomic entities that hardly interact with matter.
(Image: CGDREAM KI / Symbolbild)
At the Neutrino 2024 conference in Milan, Italy, physicist João Coelho unveiled the most important discovery of the new underwater observatory ARCA (Astroparticle Research with Cosmics). The neutrino "really stands out, very far away from everything else," said Coelho, who works at the AstroParticle and Cosmology Laboratory in Paris.
As reported by DerStandard, this discovery is the first success of the new giant detector at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite their electrical neutrality and low mass, neutrinos occur frequently in the universe. Scientists have great difficulty in detecting their interaction with conventional matter, so the identification of ultra-high-energy neutrinos is considered a rare stroke of luck.
Origin of the particle still unknown
At the conference, Coelho remained silent on the details of the observation, to the regret of many participants. He did not reveal the exact direction from which the particle had come, nor when the observation took place. These details could reveal clues about the possible origin of the neutrino, researchers told the scientific journal Nature at the conference. Coelho promised to publish these details at a later date. "It would be really interesting to see where in the sky the neutrino originated," says Nepomuk Otte, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
Such a rare event is a cause for celebration in itself, according to many conference participants. Despite Coelho's guarded report, many scientists were excited by the news. Francis Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, enthused that the neutrino detection was "a fantastic event".
Despite the large amount of neutrinos present, scientists only occasionally record a single neutrino and describe it like a newly discovered living being. The large detectors do not measure solar neutrinos, but neutrinos from the vastness of space. These neutrinos have extremely high energies and originate from extraordinary cosmic events. The researchers are now concentrating on which major event is the basis for the discovered super neutrino.
In their search for neutrinos and their origins, the scientists hope to continue using the still unfinished ARCA in the future. The deep-sea observatory is located 3500 meters below sea level and forms part of a network of telescopes and detectors that scientists have designed as neutrino telescopes. It consists of several Plexiglas spheres, each of which is about half a meter wide. These are attached to strings and anchored to the seabed south-east of Sicily. The deep-sea observatory has been collecting data since the mid-2010s and is being continuously expanded. It currently consists of 28 so-called strings, which the team plans to expand to a total of 230 by 2028.
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