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Neutrinos could improve understanding of universe
New measurements of neutrino oscillations, observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole and presented by Michigan State University's Tyce DeYoung and Joshua Hignight, have shed light on outstanding questions regarding fundamental properties of neutrinos.
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New measurements of neutrino oscillations, observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, have shed light on outstanding questions regarding fundamental properties of neutrinos. The new measurements of neutrinos, as they change from one type to another while they travel, were presented at the American Physical Society Meeting in Washington. They could help fill key gaps in the Standard Model, the theory that describes the behavior of fundamental particles at every energy scale scientists have been able to measure.
"While the Standard Model is an accurate theory, it leaves gaping holes, like the nature of dark matter and how a universe filled with matter, rather than anti-matter, arose from the Big Bang. We don’t know how to fill them yet," said Tyce DeYoung, a Michigan State University (MSU) associate professor of physics and astronomy. "We’re hoping that by measuring the properties of neutrinos, such as their masses and how they morph or oscillate from one into another, we may get some clues into these open questions."
IceCube is the world’s largest neutrino detector, using a billion tons of the Antarctic ice cap beneath the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to observe neutrinos. It’s operated by a collaboration of 300 physicists from 48 universities and national laboratories in 12 countries. Construction was made possible by support from the National Science Foundation and other international funding agencies.
To learn more about this research, see the MSU news story 'Ghost particles' could improve understanding the universe. (Date image taken: ; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: March 24, 2017)
Credit: Courtesy of IceCube
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