[ad_1]
An object with Extratristial origin on February 13th 2023 was screaming from the Sicilian coast through the Mediterranean Sea. A single, super-angetic sub-atomic particle left a sparkling trail of light in depth. And it did this in the midst of a strange binoculars that was part through the construction. In a paper published in Nature this week, scientists in charge of KM3NET discussed how they discovered the signature of the most powerful neutrino that science has ever seen.
KM3NET is not a traditional telescope. This visual does not depend on light, as astronomers have long, nor on other bits of electromagnetic spectrum, such as radio waves or gamma rays, which were added to their arsenal in the 20th century. Instead it examines the universe with neutrino, ghostly but ubiquitous sub -quantity particles that arise in nuclear reactions. Scientists gave the principle that very high energy neutrinos built by violent astronomical processes such as gamma-raw burst or falling into a huge black hole should exist. Now they have evidence that they were right.
Nutrino is difficult to detect. They are different particles that are rarely deign to interact with the universe. They feel only two of the four fundamental forces: weak nuclear force, which works at a very short distance, and gravity; They are immune for electromagnetism and strong atomic force. The trillions of neutrino, mostly produced by the sun, receives rain on each square meter of the Earth’s surface every second. The vast majority is the correct sail through the planet.
Sometimes, however, there will be a straight slam in another sub -quantity of a atom. This will produce a shower of secondary particles that are very easy to spot. A neutrino telescope, therefore, is a huge practice in figures. Observe a lot of atoms for a long time and sooner or later, you will see a collision. Delector, such as super Kamioconde, or ice cube in Japan in Antarctica, use huge amounts of ultra-pure water and ice. The secondary particles produced by neutrino collisions create the characteristic glow of light as they pass through the detector. KM3NET uses the Mediterranean Sea instead. Two groups of detectors sit in France several kilometers deep in water away from Sicily and Tololan. (A third plan is made near Pilos in Greece.)
Since 2023, Neutrino came from the west, traveling almost horizontally. It passes through more than 100 km rock before colliding with something and produces a very energetic muon – a heavy cousin for electrons that surrounds the nuclear nucleus. It was that Muon, instead of neutrino, shone through the detector. But by working backwards, researchers were temporarily able to conclude that what neutrino produced was packing something like 220 Petteron-Wolts of Energy-in the terms of the manner man, more than a ping-pong ball from one meter height.
The big question is what its production can be. Fortunately, the reluctance of neutrino means interacting with anything that they chart directly through the space, unaffected by magnetic fields or clouds of gas. When the researchers of the KM3NET were looking through the stored comments of the patch of the space, from which neutrino had arrived, he saw a dozen “blazers”, who indicate the energy jets generated from the energy jet directly to the Earth by falling into the black hole. Any of them could be a source.
But they are not sure: KM3NET was only 10% full, and others, less exciting, potential explanations. In the future, scientists will be prepared better. An automated system, designed to alert to other telescopes to alert neutrino detection, was not working in 2023. It was, scientists could quickly train all other types of devices on the relevant patches of the sky, expecting additional clues. That system should be done soon. Now what can be done is waiting and hope that something similar happens.
© 2025, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under license. The original material can be found on www.economist.com
[ad_2]
