From The Big Think, June 28, 2022: Fermilab’s Don Lincoln explores the possible existence of a fourth neutrino known as “sterile neutrinos.” With the LSND, Mini BooNE and MicroBooNE experiments displaying anomalies from the Standard Model of physics, could this fourth neutrino really exist?
MiniBooNE
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.
From Yale University, Jan. 22, 2021: For his new piece of music, “MicroBooNE,” David Ibbett, Fermilab’s first composer-in-residence, collaborated with physics professor Bonnie Fleming through a series of discussions about the science behind the experiment that inspired the composition. The neutrino-inspired piece premiered on Dec. 8, 2020, as part of the Fermilab Arts and Lectures Series.
From Sci News, Oct. 2, 2020: A research team from four national laboratories, including Fermilab and Argonne, have undertaken work at two Fermilab neutrino experiments — MiniBooNE and NOvA — to construct a model of how neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei. This knowledge is essential to unravel an even bigger mystery: why during their journey through space or matter neutrinos magically morph from one into another of three possible types or flavors.
From Argonne National Laboratory, Sept. 28, 2020: A research team from four national laboratories, including Fermilab and Argonne, have undertaken work at two Fermilab neutrino experiments — MiniBooNE and NOvA — to construct a model of how neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei. This knowledge is essential to unravel an even bigger mystery: why during their journey through space or matter neutrinos magically morph from one into another of three possible types or flavors.
From Spektrum, Sept. 16, 2020: Mit neuen Experimenten wollen Forscher herausfinden, ob es eine vierte Variante des Neutrinos gibt. Sollte sie existieren, könnte das Einblicke in den rätselhaften dunklen Sektor des Universums erlauben.
From Pour la Science, Aug. 24, 2020: Les neutrinos existent en trois variétés, mais certains indices suggèrent l’existence d’une quatrième, qui pourrait jouer un rôle important en cosmologie. Des expériences sont en cours afin de détecter ces hypothétiques particules. Les données de MiniBooNE n’ont fait qu’appuyer davantage les arguments en faveur de cette quatrième saveur de neutrino.
From CERN Courier, July 7, 2020: A new generation of accelerator and reactor experiments is opening an era of high-precision neutrino measurements to tackle questions such as leptonic CP violation, the mass hierarchy and the possibility of a fourth “sterile” neutrino. These include the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, and Fermilab’s NOvA and Short-Baseline Neutrino programs.
From Scientific American, July 2020: Evidence for the existence of a sterile neutrino is compelling, but the idea that certain experiments might be detecting a fourth neutrino remains controversial. Projects around the world seek to settle the matter, including Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino program.
From Science, Aug. 8, 2019: Fermilab physicists are resurrecting a massive particle detector by lowering it into a tomblike pit and embalming it with a chilly fluid. In August, workers eased two gleaming silver tanks bigger than shipping containers, the two halves of the detector, into a concrete-lined hole. Hauled from Europe two years ago, ICARUS will soon start a second life seeking perhaps the strangest particles physicists have dreamed up, oddballs called sterile neutrinos.