Symmetry features Archives - Page 9 of 31

The search for the sterile neutrino

Cartoon of three balls in different shades of pink popping out of doors marked for the three different kinds of neutrinos: tau, muon and electron. To the right of them, three tiny scientists in white lab coats on scaffolding.

Back when it was theorized, scientists weren’t sure they would ever detect the neutrino. Now scientists, including some at Fermilab, are searching for a version of the particle that could be even more elusive.

Homebound astrophysicists miss mountaintops

Photo of a dome-shaped building, likely an observatory, atop a mountain, which gold mist surrounds. Blue sky and silhouette of birds above.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, travel bans and stay-at-home orders meant astrophysicists collaborating on the Dark Energy Survey needed to find a new way to conduct their observations using the Dark Energy Camera.

The odd(eron) couple

Two hockey players that resemble rock-em-sock-em robot toys shake hands on a rink. The one on the left is red and has a dome for a torso with the number 18 on the sleeve. On the right, the player is blue, with Fermilab's Wilson Hall as the torso and 87 on the sleeve. It holds a hockey stick.

Scientists discovered a new particle by comparing data recorded at the Large Hadron Collider and the Tevatron.

What is a photon?

An illustration of lots of yellow dots on a light pink background. Some have rainbows or smiley faces on them. One has lines coming out it that make it look star-like. One dot is shiny and red. In the center, there is a white dot. Some glare appears to emanate from the white dot.

Quanta of light called photons are the smallest possible packets of electromagnetic energy. Learn the history behind how scientists came to understand photons — and what these particles have shown us (and might show us) they can do.

Argonaut project launches design effort for super-cold robotics

A person wearing a hardhat stands inside a bright yellow honeycomb-like box that appears to be two or three times their height.

Fermilab scientists are developing one of the most cold-tolerant robots ever made so they can monitor the interiors of particle detectors. The project has already garnered some interest from engineers at other research institutions, including NASA.

Which neutrino is the heaviest?

Three factoid cards, which look similar to playing cards or a baseball card, appear on a background of stars in a night sky (or in outer space) in a cartoon rendering. On each of the cards is a circle adjusted its sunglasses, presumably each a type of neutrino. Underneath these images on the cards are scribbles representing text and a question mark. In the upper left corner, the abbreviations for electron neutrino, a muon neutrino or a tau neutrino appear.

Figuring out which type of neutrino is heaviest, or solving the puzzle of neutrino mass hierarchy, would be a huge leap in our understanding of both neutrinos and the physics that govern our universe. The NoVA experiment or DUNE could help physicists do just that.

Seeing through walls and breaking down barriers

A cartoon-style illustration of a gray outdoor staircase with ornate serpents, tongues out, as the bannisters. Green grass in front, red and purple lightning shapes striking down all over the illustration.

Physicists and archaeologists are teaming up to provide research opportunities for Black and Hispanic undergraduates to image an archaeological site in Mexico using muon tomography. Fermilab personnel will help with the project, and Fermilab will also produce the scintillators for use in the muon detector.