Among the things that draws many scientists to their profession is the thrill of discovering
something completely new.
You can imagine the enthusiasm in the scientific community when a Large Hadron Collider recently
discovered something completely new.
The discovered object is so elusive that certain scientists have referred to it as a ghost.
What has the collider uncovered recently?
Why was it kept concealed for so long?
In this video about the wonders of the cosmos, scientists just claimed that the Large Hadron
Collider has discovered something for the first time ever.
Many people go about their daily lives without knowing about the Large Hadron Collider, but
the discoveries made by the massive apparatus have an impact on everyone in the world.
Take, for example, the most recent particle that scientists discovered for the first time
with the assistance of the LHC.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest and most powerful particle accelerator ever
built, encompassing an underground circular tunnel approximately 17 miles in circumference
and costing several billions of dollars.
It is located in Switzerland at the European particle physics laboratory CERN.
But what is a particle accelerator and why is it considered necessary?
It is a device that accelerates subatomic particles to huge energy in a controlled setting,
allowing scientists to investigate the subsequent interaction.
Essentially, the LHC allows scientists to test theoretical predictions and determine
if they have any flaws.
The LHC can be used to recreate situations such as the circumstances that occurred within
a billionth of a second of the big bang, including ones that have never existed naturally since
a few microseconds after the big bang.
This facility is so important to modern scientific study that if there is a story involving subatomic
particles, the LHC will almost certainly be included.
So, when headlines around the world announced that scientists had discovered ghost particles
for the first time inside an atom smasher, it was clear what equipment they were using.
Because neutrinos are notoriously difficult to detect, the finding grabbed headlines.
The neutrino particle in question offers up an entirely new perspective for scientists
doing subatomic research, bringing them one step closer to understanding the functions
neutrinos play in the cosmos.
While neutrinos are difficult to detect or capture, they are abundant in the universe.
For example, as you watch this video, approximately 100 billion neutrinos will pass through each
square centimeter of your body, but you will not feel their entry or exit.
These tiny particles originate in nuclear fires produced by stars, supernova explosions,
cosmic ray radioactive decay, and other sources.
Neutrinos can go unnoticed because they have no electrical charges and almost no mass.
Because they are six million times lighter than an electron, they practically never interact
with matter and travel at almost the speed of light.
It is because neutrinos are elusive that many compare them to ghosts.
Of course, if you try hard enough, you can capture neutrinos, but you must try very hard.
Several previous experiments, including Japan's Super-Kamiokande detector, Fermilab's MiniBooNE,
and the Antarctic Ice Cube detector, have detected neutrinos.
They all employed a technique known as Cherenkov radiation, which is an indirect method for
detecting neutrinos.
This is the basic idea behind employing the Cherenkov method for detecting neutrinos.
A sonic boom is produced when a jet flies faster than the speed of sound.
Similarly, when a particle travels at the speed of light through a light slowing medium
such as water, it leaves behind a faint blue glow.
Scientists detect the light produced when a neutrino directly collides with an atomic
nucleus.
However, this approach only detects the traces of neutrinos as they pass through the Earth
as they come from the Sun; it does not, for example, provide any information into the
sort of high energy Neutron generated when particles collide, as seen in particle accelerators
like as the LHC.
The LHC cannot detect neutrinos on its own.
This is due in part to the fact that the collider uses magnets to drive particles around a circular
Collision path, with detectors placed along these curves.
Because these magnetic signals do not interact with chargeless particles like neutrinos,
they shoot over the edge of the detector path.
To examine this, scientists from the phaser cooperation developed the FASERnu, a revolutionary
neutrino detecting technique.
This FASERnu is built of strong metal plates of lead and tungsten sandwiched between certain
light-detecting layers known as an Emulsion.
The first stage is to get neutrinos to collide with the atomic nuclei on the metal plates,
resulting in particle byproducts.
The following stage will be known to experienced photographers.
As the particles move through the Emulsion layers, the Emulsion byproducts react with
the neutrino byproducts, imprinting the shapes of the particles.
When the researchers developed the Emulsion and examined the particle Trails Left Behind,
they discovered that some of the markings were caused by neutrinos.
In fact, they were able to distinguish which of the three neutrino particle flavors they
had discovered.
The flavors are Tau, Muon, and Electron.
This discovery confirmed that they had chosen the proper position within the massive LHC
ring to catch neutrinos and that their innovative detector was capable of detecting them.
FASERnu outperforms the previous experiment in various aspects.
For example, the Super-Kamiokande requires 50 000 Tonnes of water, but FASERnu weighs
just 29 kilos.
Remember how we stated there are three types of neutrinos?
Tau neutrinos are the most rare and difficult to detect.
In fact, before to the arrival of FASERnu, Tau neutrinos were only observed 10 times,
the first time around 20 years ago.
FASERnu is strong enough to detect many types of neutrinos, but it can also differentiate
between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, which is where things become interesting.
Anti-neutrinos are just neutrinos with the opposite charge.
As you may recall, neutrinos do not have a charge.
Although this information appears to be contradictory, both neutrinos and anti-neutrinos are electromagnetically
chargeless.
The opposing charge represents a Neutron's lepton number, which is a type of quantum
number used to explain the characteristics of subatomic particles.
There are many questions concerning neutrinos that scientists do not yet have answers to,
such as the distinction between a neutrino and an anti-neutrino, but FASERnu will help
them learn more about neutrinos.
FASERnu's team stated that they want to spend 2022 hunting and catching 10,000 or more neutrinos.
Some of these answers will aid in explaining problems such as where matter originates from
and why so much of it is dark.
You'd think that when scientists are looking at supernovas, they'd be looking up into the
sky.
You'll be surprised to learn that astronomers have recently examined trees for clues in
their quest to learn more about supernovas.
They're looking for evidence of prior supernovas in tree rings.
But what is the link between trees on Earth and supernovas that occurred billions of kilometers
distant and billions of years ago?
When a star dies, it usually happens in a dramatic way, with an explosion and the star's
outer materials dispersed throughout the cosmos.
As a result, for several years, space is assaulted with high-energy gamma radiation.
What scientists are attempting to do is extract evidence of star death from trees.
Even though there are billions of stars in the cosmos, supernovas are extremely rare.
While it is impossible to predict how frequently a star may explode.
According to certain measurements, our own Milky Way galaxy might experience one to three
supernovas every century.
However, the most recent one in history occurred more than 400 years ago.
Robert Brakenridge, a geoscientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, and his colleagues
discovered what seems to be the imprint of nearby old supernovae tree rings stretching
back 40 000 years.
According to the study, four supernovae have passed close enough to Earth in the previous
15 000 years to leave their imprint on the trees.
So, how exactly does this work?
The amount of a radioactive isotope of carbon known as carbon-14, or radiocarbon, provides
the key.
Radiocarbon occurs in trace amounts on Earth in comparison to the other naturally occurring
carbon isotopes.
Radiocarbon is generated in the upper atmosphere as a result of cosmic ray bombardment.
When cosmic rays penetrate the atmosphere, they mix with local nitrogen atoms, causing
a nuclear reaction that produces radiocarbon.
Because cosmic rays are continually streaming across space, Earth obtains a more or less
consistent supply of radiocarbon.
And if you know where to look, you may discover radiocarbon.
For example, some of this can be found naturally in tree rings, and every now and then, a significant
radiocarbon spike appears in the tree rings, decreasing over time.
Considering solar activity is a well-known source of cosmic rays, these surges are commonly
interpreted as evidence of solar flares and storms.
Every year, trees that are not near the equator grow during the temperate months but fall
dormant in the winter.
This cycle of growth and non-growth develops a ring inside the wood that makes up the tree,
which can be felt.
The rings closest to the tree's surface are the newest, and they mature as the ring gets
closer to the center.
A tree's age may be determined by counting the rings.
Archaeologists can use the pattern of tree rings in wood discovered in ancient constructions
to identify when they were formed.
Breckenridge used this information to predict what would happen to tree rings in the event
of a supernova.
He argued that a nearby Supernova would emit massive amounts of gamma radiation.
To verify the validity of the Supernova theory, radiocarbon ingested by a tree will make the
Rings more radioactive than one another.
Brakenridge and his colleagues combed through the records, compiling a list of known supernovae
during the previous 40 000 years.
They were able to track the Supernova through the nebula Supernova remnants it left behind,
and then compared this list to the record of radiocarbon spikes and tree rings from
the same time period.
What did they learn?
Well, the times of surges in radiocarbon appear to have coincided for all eight supernovas
nearest to Earth.
The Vela Supernova, which blew up around 12300 years ago at a distance of 800 light years
from Earth, corresponded with a 3% increase in radiocarbon, while the G114.3+00.3 Supernova,
which exploded around 7700 years ago at a distance of around 2300 light years from Earth,
corresponded with a 2% increase.
There is also the Vela Junior, which is thought to have happened around 2 800 years ago, at
which time the Earth saw a 1.4% radiocarbon spike.
They also uncovered Supernova Hb9, which occurred 5400 years ago at a distance of between 1000
and 4000 light years and corresponded to a 0.8% increase in radiocarbon levels.
Scientists are now attempting to validate Brakenridge's discovery.
They are expecting that the tree rings approach will assist them in determining the timing
of numerous difficult-to-date supernovas.
They will also learn more about how stars die.
Let us know what you think of the Universe's Mysteries in the comments box below.