Neutrino
Why In News?
- Recently a giant telescope is being constructed by China in the western Pacific Ocean. Its task will be to detect “ghost particles”, also known as neutrinos.
- China has said that its new telescope, called Trident, will cover 7.5 cubic km in the South China Sea. According to experts, its size will allow it to detect more neutrinos and be 10,000 times more sensitive than existing underwater telescopes.
In Terms of Neutrinos:
- Neutrinos are mysterious particles, produced in abundance in nuclear reactions in the Sun, stars and elsewhere. Because He is so omnipresent, His qualities permeate even the microscopic structure of the universe.
- The neutrino is a fermion that interacts only through the weak interaction and gravity.
- Investigating neutrino oscillations and their relationship with mass is important in studying the origin of the universe.
- Sources of Neutrinos: Neutrinos are produced by various radioactive decays; During a supernova, atoms etc. are hit by cosmic rays.
About Anti-Particles:
- In quantum theory, each type of particle is associated with an antiparticle of the same mass but opposite physical charge. For example, the antiparticle of the electron is the positron. Similarly, neutrinos have anti-neutrinos.
- Neither neutrinos nor anti-neutrinos have an electric charge, nor do they really have any other properties to distinguish them.
How do Scientists Detect Ghost Particles?
- Ghost particles rarely interact with other particles. Sometimes they interact with water molecules, which is why China is building its own underwater Ghost Molecule Telescope.
- Currently, the largest neutrino-detecting telescope is the “IceCube” telescope at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.
- Located in the depths of the Antarctic, the telescope’s sensors span approximately 1 cubic kilometer.
Source – Indian Express
