A communication resource from the world's particle physics laboratories.
The Borexino scientific collaboration, an experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), publishes today, November 25th in Nature the announcement of the first ever detection of neutrinos produced in the Sun by the CNO cycle (carbon-nitrogen-oxygen). It is an experimental result of historical value, which completes a chapter of physics that started in the 1930 decade of the last century. The implication of this new measure for understanding stellar mechanisms is enormous: in fact, since the CNO cycle is predominant in the most massive stars than the Sun, with this observation Borexino has reached the experimental evidence of what is in fact the dominant channel in the universe for hydrogen burning.
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Using Planck data from the cosmic microwave background radiation, an international team of researchers has observed a hint of new physics. The team developed a new method to measure the polarization angle of the ancient light by calibrating it with dust emission from our own Milky Way. While the signal is not detected with enough precision to draw definite conclusions, it may suggest that dark matter or dark energy causes a violation of the so-called “parity symmetry.”
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Figure 2：(Left) The high-intensity proton beam exposure at the BLIP facility. At the upstream of the capsules for medical isotope production, six capsules containing target and beam window materials, designed and fabricated by RaDIATE Collaboration participants, were installed and high-intensity proton beam exposure was performed. The color represents heat deposition caused by the proton beam (red indicates the hottest temperatures and blue the coolest). (Right) Inside of the Capsule containing titanium alloy specimens for tensile tests and for observations by electron microscopy at the most downstream (6th) location.
Research and Development on the Accelerator Target and Beam Window Materials by RaDIATE International Collaboration
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There’s far more to our universe than meets the eye. Everything we can see, everything we know exists, makes up just five percent of the matter and energy in the universe. So, what about the other 95 percent? Astronomers and astrophysicists believe that approximately 25 percent of the missing mass and energy in the universe is made up of dark matter. This ubiquitous substance is everywhere, yet, so far, remains a mystery.
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Leaders cut the ceremonial ribbon at the Electron-Ion Collider project launch ceremony. Pictured from left to right are former CEO of Empire State Development Corporation Howard Zemsky, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Brookhaven Site Office Manager Robert Gordon, Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis, U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul M. Dabbar, Lieutenant Governor of New York Kathy Hochul, and Brookhaven Lab Director Doon Gibbs.
State-of-the-art facility and partnership among DOE, NYS, Brookhaven Lab, and Jefferson Lab will open a new frontier in nuclear physics, a field essential to our understanding of the visible universe with applications in national security, human health, and more
Circa 1960s, Ray Davis stands in the empty tank used to count solar neutrino interactions on the 4850 Level of the Homestake Gold Mine (now the Sanford Underground Research Facility).
The pioneering neutrino research done by Ray Davis over nearly three decades forever changed our understanding of the Standard Model of Physics
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A view of the South Pole Telescope, one of the existing instruments at the South Pole site where CMB-S4 will be built. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory)
The largest collaborative undertaking yet to explore the relic light emitted by the infant universe has taken a step forward with the U.S. Department of Energy’s selection of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to lead the partnership of national labs, universities, and other institutions that will carry out the DOE roles and responsibilities for the effort. This next-generation experiment, known as CMB-S4, or Cosmic Microwave Background Stage 4, is being planned to become a joint DOE and National Science Foundation project.
Interactions Collaboration Member laboratories are lending their knowledge, technology, and expertise to the global effort against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. They are analyzing the virus with detectors, helping evaluate data through advanced computing, and even producing personal protective equipment for medical personnel.
-- Symmetry Magazine, Kathryn Jepsen
This year, October 31 was more than just Halloween. It was also the first global celebration of Dark Matter Day. In 25 countries, 11 US states and online, people interacted with scientists, watched demonstrations, viewed films, took in art exhibits and toured laboratories to learn about the ongoing search for dark matter.
Symmetry has collected a series of photos from participants around the world. Check out how people celebrated Dark Matter Day and download a commemorative dark matter poster (to be printed using visible matter).
An array of photomultiplier tubes that are designed to detect signals occurring within LZ’s liquid xenon tank. (Credit: Matt Kapust/SURF)