Neutrinos created by CERN Large Hadron Collider detected for the first time
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Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, commonly known as CERN, have detected neutrinos created by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment for the very first time. These were the highest energy neutrinos that were ever produced in a laboratory setup and are similar to those found in particle showers from deep space.
First detected in 1956, neutrinos are subatomic particles that play a key role in the burning of stars. Every time nuclei of atoms either come together (fusion) or break apart (fission) in the universe, neutrinos are released.
One of the most abundant particles of the cosmos, neutrinos play an important role in the standard model of particle physics too. Researchers have been creating neutrinos in the lab to study but never have they been detected by the giant laboratory of the LHC.
The FASER Experiment
The Forward Search Experiment (FASER) is a particle detector that was designed and built by an international group of physicists at CERN. While particle detectors at CERN have a reputation for being several stories tall and weighing thousands of tons, FASER is quite an exception.
FASER is just about a ton in weight and fits inside a small side tunnel at CERN. Interestingly, the experiment was designed and executed in just a few years and uses spares from other experiments being carried out at the facility.
On Sunday, the FASER team announced at a conference in Italy that it had successfully detected neutrinos after smashing two beams of particles at extremely high energy inside the LHC.
“Neutrinos are the only known particles that the much larger experiments at the Large Hadron Collider are unable to directly detect, so FASER’s successful observation means the collider’s full physics potential is finally being exploited,” said UCI experimental physicist Dave Casper in a press release.
Since the energy levels of these neutrinos were similar to those of those belonging to particle showers in our atmosphere caused by deep space particles, researchers are keen to study them to learn more about deep space.
Beyond neutrinos, FASER's design also has dark matter in its sights. Considered to be present in most of the matter in the universe, dark matter has never been detected before. Just like it did with neutrinos, FASER might also become the first to detect dark matter when CERN begins a new round of particle collisions in a few months' time.
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