The MicroBooNE collaboration at Fermilab has released a new analysis of their neutrino data. The result provides constraints on a model that assumes the existence of a sterile neutrino to explain anomalies in neutrino measurements by other experiments.
Physicists take on the mystery of the missing (and extra) neutrinos.
From Le Scienze (France), November 4, 2021: The preliminary analysis of three years of data from the MicroBooNE experiment show no signs of the existence of a fourth type of neutrino. The standard model of particle physics remains confirmed but it has not excluded clues to exotic physical phenomena may emerge.
From Scientific American, November 4, 2021: Physicists have wondered if neutrino particles come in a mysterious fourth variety. Now new experimental findings complicate the question. Physicists have wondered if neutrino particles come in a mysterious fourth variety. Now new experimental findings complicate the question.
From Quanta, October 28, 2021: In 1993, Los Alamos National Laboratory saw hints of a fourth kind of neutrino which led to MiniBooNE. Now the results of MicroBooNE reveal sterile neutrinos alone cannot account for the MiniBooNE anomaly and the results are consistent with the possibility that only half of MiniBooNE’s events are due to neutrino oscillations.
From Newsweek, October 28, 2021: Physicists were left with more questions than answers after a longsearch for an elusive theoretical particle called a sterile neutrino. The results were released last week by scientists working with the MicroBooNE neutrino experiment based at Fermilab.
From the BBC, October 27, 2021: Yesterday, the MIcroBooNE collaboration opened a new chapter in physics with the announcement of their results; the search failed to find the particle, known as the sterile neutrino.
Four complementary analyses by Fermilab’s MicroBooNE show no signs of a theorized fourth kind of neutrino known as the sterile neutrino. Its existence is considered a possible explanation for anomalies seen in previous physics experiments.
This summer, a team of scientists, engineers and technicians finished installing one of the main components that will create the strong electric field within the Short-Baseline Near Detector. Now they are getting ready to assemble the rest of the detector.
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.