Scientists catch first ghostly neutrino particle at Large Hadron Collider

Scientists have been able to capture neutrinos since the middle of the last century, but recently they managed to do so at the Large Hadron Collider. The FASERnu detector helped.

Here's What We Know

For some time, scientists believed that neutrinos were dark matter. This was because the subatomic particles had virtually no interaction with matter, although they were second only to photons in terms of quantity.

In 2022, researchers conducted several experiments in which they managed to catch the first ghostly particle at the Large Hadron Collider. They used the FASERnu detector (pictured below). Remarkably, the instrument was assembled from leftovers of components that were not useful in previous experiments.

Scientists were able to detect neutrinos of exceptionally low energies. At the same time, high-energy particles were being flown to Earth from outer space. And now, the collider in Switzerland has managed to catch high-energy neutrinos. This is expected to allow researchers to learn more about the nature of astrophysical processes.

The statistical significance of the discovery reaches 16 sigma, while the required level is 5 sigma. In simple terms, the probability of error that high-energy neutrinos were detected at the Large Hadron Collider tends towards zero.

Previously, scientists could pick up the ghostly particles using special detectors beneath the Earth's surface. They capture the faint flashes of light that occur when a neutrino comes in contact with other particles.

The Large Hadron Collider, which has recently been upgraded, can now reproduce each of the elementary particles. This includes the Higgs boson, for which the accelerator of charged particles was built.

Source: Science Alert