Archive

Neutrinos 101

Learn more about the invisible particles constantly streaming through us all.

Illustration: A scientist studies the forms before her without realizing the forms behind her

03/07/23

Do hidden influences give neutrinos their tiny mass?

The quest to understand the small mass of neutrinos is also a quest to discover new particles.

Illustration of a person measuring a "Supernova" car with a measuring tape

01/24/23

Ways to weigh a neutrino

For decades scientists have tried to find a way to measure the mass of the lightest matter particle known to exist. Three new approaches now have a chance to succeed.

Illustration of a scientist holding a bunch of balloons, one of which is different from the others

08/04/22

Why aren’t neutrinos adding up?

Physicists take on the mystery of the missing (and extra) neutrinos.

Illustration: Neutrinos revealed in particle physics advent calendar with scientists eyeing another possibility

08/17/21

The search for the sterile neutrino

Back when it was theorized, scientists weren’t sure they would ever detect the neutrino; now they’re searching for a version of the particle that could be even more elusive.

05/13/21

Which neutrino is the heaviest?

The question may seem simple, but physicists don’t yet know the answer. New measurements aim to change that.

The LBNF beamline will use a one-megawatt capable focusing horn to direct the charged particles that become neutrinos.

11/13/19

How do you make the world’s most powerful neutrino beam?

DUNE will need lots of neutrinos—and to make them, scientists and engineers will use extreme versions of some common sounding ingredients: magnets and pencil lead.

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11/01/07

Emily Saltijeral-DeMar: An in-depth look at a deep place

Our tour guide encouraged us to look at our destination, the NuMI tunnel, some 300 feet below. Standing next to the rail, one hand holding my hard hat in place and the other keeping my glasses from flying off, I looked down into what seemed to be a bottomless pit.

09/01/07

Fermilab's path to the future

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois has a challenge: how will it maintain its central role as a place where particle accelerators produce groundbreaking discoveries in physics?

09/01/07

Particles in the sky

What is the universe made of? What are matter, energy, space, and time? How did we get here and where are we going? In particle physics, the classic place to look for answers is in giant accelerators where particles collide. But nature also provides a wealth of data.

05/01/07

Past and future

I've observed an important relationship between David Harris' intro "Appreciating Successes" and Ray Orbach's "Focus on the Future" in the March issue of symmetry.

04/01/07

A quest for balance in Canada

Canadian subatomic physics has a lot going for it: sparkling new hardware, an influx of bright young minds, and key roles in international projects. But only by doubling its operating budget can it live up to that potential, a new report suggests.

04/01/07

No-show neutrino

The first results from the MiniBooNE neutrino experiment, released in April, showed no hints of a fourth neutrino. But they contained a puzzling signal that could lead to new physics.

04/01/07

Nigel Lockyer: TRIUMF in Canada

Canada, affectionately known to Americans as the "Great White North," boasts the world's largest reserve of fresh water and the biggest oil reserves outside the Middle East.

03/01/07

Neutrino invention

Wolfgang Pauli postulated the existence of a neutral, light-weight particle that could save the fundamental law of the conservation of energy.

Photo of spectrometer moving through Karls

03/01/07

KATRIN’s odyssey

People went to great lengths, traveling almost 9000 kilometers over more than 60 days, to deliver an essential, 200-ton component of the KATRIN neutrino experiment.

02/01/07

ANITA takes flight

A one-time visitor to SLAC, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), recently took to the frigid skies over Antarctica on a mission looking for evidence of cosmic-ray neutrinos.

02/01/07

Abe Seiden: The Particle Physics Roadmap

In October 2006, the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) provided a new roadmap for a broad and very exciting science agenda in particle physics research. The roadmap’s destinations are among the most intriguing questions in science.

12/01/06

Record making

Fermilab might not have the world's longest fingernails or the world's oldest man, but, according to Guinness World Records 2007, the lab does have the most powerful beam of neutrinos.

11/01/06

Emerging particle physics in China

Traditionally, the big five particle physics laboratories have been Fermilab and SLAC in the United States, CERN in Switzerland, DESY in Germany, and KEK in Japan. However, a changing world economy is bringing new players into the game.

11/01/06

Catching neutrinos in China

Buried deep in the mountains of southern China, a new neutrino experiment would rely on a series of Chinese nuclear reactors and the brains of scientists from several countries.

09/01/06

Shop-vacs to the rescue

In creating neutrinos for the MINOS experiment at Fermilab, the NuMI focusing horn delivers batches of protons using intense magnetic fields generated by 200,000-ampere pulses of electric current.

09/01/06

Antarctica, California

When researchers at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center realized their distance from Antarctica was a scientific inconvenience, they set about crafting an icy world of their own in Menlo Park, California.