Scientists are testing the components and systems for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, with other liquid-argon particle detectors. One such detector is ICEBERG, which is over 10,000 times smaller than DUNE will be. ICEBERG’s measurements are providing insight for future neutrino experiments.
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.
Particle physics is driven by surprise. Researchers in the 1960s studying tiny but ubiquitous particles called neutrinos found only a fraction of what they expected to be in their detector. That unexpected result eventually led to the discovery that neutrinos are shape-shifters, oscillating between three types as they travel. In this stop-motion video, Symmetry writer Zack Savitsky imagines a painter discovering a similar surprise among his art supplies.
From CERN Courier, Sept. 9, 2020: The first ICHEP meeting since the publication of the update of the European strategy for particle physics covered Higgs and neutrino physics, including results from the CMS collider experiment and the DUNE, NOvA and MicroBooNE neutrino experiments.
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 Futurism, Aug. 19, 2020: When an ambitious new Fermilab-hosted experiment called DUNE begins its work, physicists believe they’ll be able to learn a whole lot more about supernova explosions than ever before. That’s because DUNE is expected to be sensitive to an extremely elusive particle called a neutrino that’s blasted far and wide across the cosmos when a star explodes. According to a new paper shared online on Saturday, physicists expect DUNE to scoop up a never-before-detected kind of neutrino and, in doing so, break down why and how stars die in unprecedented detail.
The international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment collaboration has published a paper about its capability for performing supernova physics. It details the kind of activity DUNE expects in the detector during a supernova burst, how DUNE will know once a supernova occurs and what physics DUNE will extract from the neutrinos. DUNE’s unique strength is its sensitivity to a particular type of neutrino called the electron neutrino, which will provide scientists with supernova data not available from any other experiment.
From New Atlas, Aug. 12, 2020: An extensive search for a hypothetical particle has turned up empty. The sterile neutrino is a proposed subatomic particle that could even be a candidate for the mysterious dark matter, and although previous studies have hinted at its existence, and the MINOS+ and Daya Bay experiments have all but ruled it out.
From APS Physics, Aug. 10, 2020: Fermilab scientist Pedro Machado co-authors this article on how the MINOS and MINOS+ experiments at Fermilab and the Daya Bay experiment have placed the most stringent limits to date on a hypothetical fourth neutrino. Still, the possibility that such a particle exists remains open.
Postdoctoral scientist Adi Ashkenazi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has earned the Universities Research Association 2020 Tollestrup Award for her research into neutrinos, ghostly particles that can pass through solid matter at high speeds without slowing. Working with two different experiments, she and her collaborators hope to improve their simulations of neutrino interactions with atomic nuclei.