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This Week Archive
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Neutrino paparazzi
Neutrinos are the "it" particles these days, and physicists--including some Quantum Diarists--are doggedly pursuing them in hopes of learning more about their elusive comings and goings.
David Waller's group at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory plans to search for the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background. "They are the neutrinos that have been produced by all the supernovae that have exploded since stars started exploding," he writes. "It is estimated that approximately one star explodes somewhere in the Universe every second. Vast numbers of neutrinos are created when a supernova occurs, so since the the birth of the Universe, an incredibly huge number of neutrinos have contributed to the DSNB." Unfortunately, David thinks it's "not likely" that his group will be successful. But it's worth it, he writes, because, "in principle, these neutrinos carry information about how supernovae work and how the Universe has evolved since stars started to explode."
Debbie Harris is another Quantum Diaries neutrino chaser. Last week, she took five owl shifts for the MINOS experiment, which studies neutrinos. "I checked after each shift and sure enough there was a neutrino made at Fermilab interacting in the detector in Minnesota!"
Stephon Alexander approaches neutrinos from the theoretical side. He can't write much about his recent, as-yet-unpublished research, he writes, "but I will say that it's a totally cool and unexpected way of explaining neutrino masses!"
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