ArgoNeuT

Scientists on the ArgoNeuT experiment have developed a method that enables them to better distinguish the tracks that particles leave behind in liquid argon, as well as a way to better differentiate between signals and background. And thanks to the software’s great performance, ArgoNeuT will aid larger neutrino experiments in their quest to understand the nature of the subtle neutrino.

This is a visual display of an ArgoNeuT event showing a long trail left behind by a high energy particle traveling through the liquid argon accompanied by small blips caused by low energy particles.

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that low-energy neutrinos can be thoroughly identified with a liquid-argon particle detector. The results, obtained with the ArgoNeuT experiment, are promising for experiments that use liquid argon to catch neutrinos, including the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

The neutrino is known for how rarely it interacts with matter. But when it does, the interaction can take place numerous ways, and some interaction types happen more often than others. The ArgoNeuT experiment recently looked at one of the more rare cases — one that comes to only about 1 percent of all the possible ways a neutrino can interact. As one might expect, its infrequency poses a great challenge in our efforts to measure it. This month, the…