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Antarctic Experiment Reveals Strange 'Ghost' Particles That Physicists Can't Explain "It's commonly said that neutrinos are 'elusive' or 'ghostly' particles because of their remarkable ability to pass through material without smashing into something," https://t.co/o9TPsfqOwI
Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica Still Baffle The Scientists
Chin Cullin January 26, 2020
Chin Cullin January 26, 2020
Scientists had been left in awe after some studies on the Standard Model of particle physics. Such a thing helped them also perform many significant discoveries. On the other hand, it can’t explain the noticed mass of dark matter in the universe, the gravity as detailed by standard relativity, or the Higgs mechanism.
Currently, though, researchers decided to look after another intriguing thing that appears to crash an even massive hole in the Standard Model.
Deeply sensitive tools in Antarctica have been identifying a lot of energetic particles coming from the icy ground, and the Standard Model shows how such a fact shouldn’t occur at all.
It is known as very challenging to identify neutrinos due to their considerably low volume. They’re also known for their non-interaction with most encountered forces.
Physics-Defying Particles in Antarctica Still Baffle The Scientists
Antarctica seems to be a one-of-a-kind place for researchers. Its grounds are perfect for hunting one of the most intriguing phenomenons, such as those particles. Above Antarctica, researchers got a floating instrument on a ballon, to scan every radio waves.
The device has been dubbed ANITA, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, and it is in a permanent quest for finding the most amazing things. As for those radio waves, they are resulted by an encountering of neutrons with the ice layer. ANITA had been succeeding in capturing three events of ultra-high-energy neutrinos resurfacing from the ice.
The particles appear to have massive cross-parts that make them meet with some regular matter. While approximately all standard neutrinos will pass right through our planet without any issues, that should rarely occur wit ultra-high-energy neutrinos.
Such an event left researchers in awe, mainly because it happened three times/year. Also, new insights suggest that those occurrences couldn’t be part of the Standard Model.
The powers that be at CERN turned on and off and on again the Large Hydron Collider LHC which opened up the Quantum Universe (of everything) allowing Phenomena and events like this to happen. It began with the faster than light neutrinos that could not exist but did the first time they turned it on to find that Goddamn Particle the Higgs Boson. They covered it up by claiming the janitor, unplugged a computer system. That's right the highly paid white collar scientists blamed the janitor, who by profession is trained not to do that.
The Standard Model of particle physics has led scientists to many important discoveries, but this framework has strained under the weight of recent discoveries. It can’t explain the observed amount of dark matter in the universe, the Higgs mechanism, or gravity as described by general relativity. Now, scientists are puzzling over a phenomenon that seems to blow an even bigger hole in the Standard Model. Highly sensitive instruments in Antarctica have been detecting extremely energetic particles emerging from the icy surface, and the Standard Model says that shouldn’t happen.
It is notoriously difficult to detect neutrinos because they have extremely low mass and don’t interact with most known forces. Antarctica happens to be an ideal place to hunt for these particles, though. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) instrument floats above the continent on a balloon, scanning for radio pulses caused by the interaction of neutrinos with the ice sheet.
Three times since 2016, ANITA has spotted ultra-high-energy neutrinos emerging from the ice. Unlike regular neutrinos, these particles have large cross-sections that cause them to interact with ordinary matter. While almost all regular neutrinos will pass right through the Earth without a problem, that should almost never happen with ultra-high-energy neutrinos. Scientists liken it to winning the lottery, and it’s happened three times in three years. A new study claims these events fall outside the Standard Model.
Scientists know how many ultra-high-energy neutrinos fill the sky because most of them come from cosmic rays interacting with the cosmic microwave background. So, there would have to be some other mechanism at work if there are so many of these particles hitting Earth that we can see them coming out the other side. The best explanation we have for this within the confines of the Standard Model involves “cosmic accelerators,” sometimes known as “neutrino guns.” An accelerator can be a blazar, a fast-spinning neutron star, or even merging galaxies. One or more neutrino guns “above” Earth firing downward could cause some ultra-high-energy neutrinos to emerge from Antarctica… maybe.
According to the new analysis, there aren’t any cosmic accelerators pointed at Earth to explain the particle detections. If the ultra-high-energy neutrinos were coming from such an object, there should also be a shower of lower-energy particles coinciding with each detection. Scientists used both ANITA and an underground neutrino observatory called IceCube to scan for these spikes, but there are none in more than seven years of data.
The team believes we don’t have the technological means to fully understand what’s happening with these mystery particles. A new generation of neutrino detectors may shed light on the phenomenon and also put the final nail in the Standard Model’s coffin.
Top image credit: The surface facility of the underground IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.
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