An international team of collaboration scientists Km3net It has detected the signal of the highest cosmic neutrino to date, about 30 times higher than those of previously detected. The result, published on Tuesday In the magazine Naturesuggests that the particle came from beyond the Milky Way, although its precise origin is still to be determined.
Neutrinos are elementary particles, sometimes known as ‘ghost’ particles because they rarely interact with the subatomic components of matter, such as protons and neutrons. Therefore, the detection of cosmic neutrinos is difficult and requires the use of thousands of cameras of high sensitivity embedded in large bodies of transparent matter, such as ice or water.
He Cubic kilometers neutrin telescope (Km3net) is made up of two detectors, ark and orca, submerged at depths of 3,450 and 2,450 meters at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, near Sicily (Italy) and Provence (France), which registered the reactions waterfall that allows to rebuild the impact of the neutrino. On February 13, 2023, the ARCA detector observed the signal of a high -energy muon, of about 120 Petaelectronvolts (PEV; a PEV is equivalent to an electronvol four -member). The authors propose that the neutrino that generated this muón had an even greater energy, of about 220 PEV.
Cosmic messengers
“To put this in perspective, it is 10,000 times above what the LHC accelerator is reaching in the CERN in terms of energy of the accelerated particles,” he explains Aart Heijboerof the Nikhef National Institute of Subatomical Physics, in the Netherlands, in a meeting with journalists. “We know that there are objects that can accelerate particles to extreme energies and neutrinos are a very good way to study them, because they are not absorbed or diverted by magnetic fields and offer a unique perspective. In a way, a new regime opens to study the cosmos. ”
“We have detected, by far, the most energetic neutrino ever observed,” he adds Paschal Coylefrom the Marseille Particle Physics Center (CPPM) and co -author of the discovery. “Its energy is such that it is in a completely unexplored range, 30 times above any previous observation. We just opened a completely new window to the universe. ”
Neutrinos are cosmic messengers that allow us to explore the most distant confines of the universe
Rosa Coniglione
– Km3net attached spokesman
“Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious elementary particles,” he explains Rosa ConiglioneKM3net attached spokesman at the time of detection and researcher at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) of Italy. “They have no electric charge, they hardly have mass and interact weakly with matter. They are special cosmic messengers, which provide us with unique information about the mechanisms involved in the most energy phenomena and allow us to explore the farthest confines of the universe. ”
A mysterious origin
Given the depth of the detector and the almost horizontal direction of the muón, the researchers conclude that most likely the neutrino outside cosmic origin. For the moment they have identified twelve Blázares Potential (bright nuclei of active galaxies) that are compatible with the estimated direction from which the neutrino traveled, but none can be clearly identified as the astrophysical source of the neutrino. The authors have also proposed the possibility that it could be a “cosmogenic” neutrino, resulting from the interaction of cosmic rays with photons from the cosmic microwave background.
“This observation involves the first evidence of the existence of neutrinos with extremely high energies in nature,” he says Mariam Tortolatitular professor in the Department of Theoretical Physics of the University of Valencia and at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), to the SMC. In his opinion, the main limitation of this work lies in the difficulty of identifying the origin of the signal, especially when there is a single neutrino. “The complete installation of km3net/ark will significantly increase the sensitivity of the detector to very high energies, thus improving their ability to identify the sources of these cosmic neutrinos.”
“It could be the first detection of a cosmogenic neutrino,” he says Valentina de RomeriCidegent researcher at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC). “Nor are other possible origins rule out, for example, related to new physics, such as a very massive dark matter candidate.”
Carlos Pobesresearcher at the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon (INMA), considers that the finding is surprising. “It is exciting, but it is so exceptional that it forces us to be cautious,” he tells SMC. It is possible, he points out, that several intermediate elements of the detector have been ‘aligned to produce an abnormally high signal even when the original neutrino was of a significantly lower energy and therefore less exceptional. In any case, he says, “we are living live the birth of a new way of looking at the universe, and this event confirms that KM3net is already a reality.”
We are living live the birth of a new way of looking at the universe
Carlos Pobes
– Researcher at the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon (INMA)
Several Spanish scientific groups participate in the KM3net, including the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC-CSIC) and the University of Valencia, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the Polytechnic University of Valencia. “The groups that are part of KM3net, in addition to participating in the construction of several elements of the telescope, cover various lines of research,” explains UV professor Juan de Dios Zornoza GómezCoordinator of Spanish groups in KM3net. “We also work on the implications of this extraordinary event and in its deepest knowledge.”
#detector #bottom #Mediterranean #captures #observed #neutrino #cosmic #messenger
