"Neutrinos are often called "ghost particles" because most of the time, they stream through and by us unnoticed. They have no charge and very little mass. They are abundant - generated by fusion reactions in the sun, showering down when cosmic rays interact with Earth's atmosphere and also racing across the cosmos, ejected from the most explosive events."
"Neutrinos may seem like esoteric, subatomic minutiae, but they are connected to some of the most fundamental questions about our existence: They govern how a supernova explodes, they play a role in our understanding of the Big Bang, and they can help answer basic questions about why we are made of matter, not antimatter."
"Because of their ghostlike nature, neutrinos streak across great distances unperturbed and can provide a new kind of telescope into the cataclysms that shape the evolution of galaxies. Until now, IceCube has largely been focused on trying to capture evidence of these extremely high-energy neutrinos. The upgrade expands its capabilities, allowing scientists to ask even more basic questions about these particles."
Scientists completed a seven-year construction project at the South Pole in November, drilling six holes over a mile and a half deep into Antarctic ice to install cables equipped with hundreds of light detectors. This upgrade enhances the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a 15-year-old system containing over 5,000 sensors embedded in ice. Neutrinos are mysterious particles with no charge and minimal mass, generated by solar fusion, cosmic rays, and explosive cosmic events. These ghost particles stream through space largely undetected but hold keys to fundamental physics: supernova explosions, Big Bang understanding, and matter-antimatter asymmetry. The upgraded detector increases sensitivity to capture high-energy neutrinos and study how neutrinos transform between types, particularly the elusive tau neutrino, providing new insights into cosmic cataclysms.
Read at The Washington Post
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