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Neutrinos 101

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

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: 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.

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07/01/05

Boris Kayser: the APS neutrino study: a grass-roots effort

The last seven years have greatly enhanced our understanding of neutrinos. Groundbreaking experimental results have come in at record pace, and neutrino scientists have barely had time to rebuild the conceptual matrix by which we hope to understand them.

07/01/05

Ken Peach: HEP in the UK

Physicist Ken Peach, recently appointed director of the UK's John Adams Institute, discusses the current state of particle physics in Britain -- including a significant change in mood among particle physicists.

Logbook of May 2005
05/01/05

Solar neutrinos

Deep in the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, South Dakota, during the early 1970s, Ray Davis monitored a 100,000-gallon tank of perchloroethylene, a chlorine-rich dry-cleaning chemical.

Illustration of two flautists
05/01/05

Neutrino mixing

Waves describe some of the most extraordinary phenomena in the world. Waves can be simple—the sound of a flute playing a sustained, single note—or they can be complicated mixtures—a musical chord, for example, which is a combination of many sound waves.

05/01/05

Bubble chambers are back

Bubble chambers, once at the forefront of particle detection and then relegated to the history books, are coming back.

05/01/05

Neutrinos

Neutrinos are complicated little beasties--far more so than physicist Wolfgang Pauli could have imagined. He introduced them in 1930 as a theoretical hack to save the law of conservation of energy, which appeared to be violated in some newly observed particle interactions.

05/01/05

The elusive neutrino

Not only are neutrinos hard to catch, but they also change form as they travel through space. New experiments hope to understand their chameleonic nature.

05/01/05

Searching for the neutrino's identity

Neutrinos are like no other particle in the universe. The more we learn about these "little neutral ones," the less we seem to understand them. Physicists do not even yet know what type of particle the neutrino is.

05/01/05

Soudan mural

This mural in the Soudan Underground Laboratory, located in Minnesota half a mile underground, was designed by artist Joseph Giannetti. Its theme is matter and energy, and--more specifically--neutrino physics.

05/01/05

The decade of the neutrino

Speaking experimentally, the past decade has been the "Decade of the Neutrino." It produced neutrino experiments across three continents, going from the lab, to the nuclear reactor, to the atmosphere, to the sun, and back to the nuclear reactor.

Logbook of Oct-Nov 2004
11/01/04

Tau lepton

The discovery of an elementary particle that looked a lot like the electron, but had 3500 times its mass stunned most particle physicists three decades ago.

11/01/04

Extreme neutrinos

Searching for the secrets of the universe in the depths of the earth.

11/01/04

Cigarette Lighter

Some might think it strange that data taken from the Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment, a kilometer-wide neutrino detection system buried in South Pole ice sheets, is analyzed with the help of a cigarette lighter.