In painstaking steps, scientists piece the neutrino universe together

In painstaking steps, scientists piece the neutrino universe together

Sub: Sci

Sec: Space sector

Context:

• Researchers conducting an experiment with the Large Hadron Collider reported observing electron-neutrinos in a particle collider for the first time.

What is Neutrino?

• Neutrinos are a type of subatomic particle which do not have an electric charge but have a small mass, and are left-handed (a physics term meaning the direction of its spin is opposite to the direction of its motion).
• They are the second-most abundant particles after photons (particles of light) and the most abundant among particles that make up matter.
• The study of neutrinos is an area of immense current interest among particle physicists and astrophysicists.
• These particles are produced when particles called leptons interact with matter.
  • For example, when a type of lepton called a muon interacts with matter, the interaction produces a muon-neutrino.

• Neutrinos are the best information carriers because neutrinos pass through most matter untouched, they can carry information across large distances.

What is NOvA?

• The NOνA (NuMI Off-Axis νe Appearance) experiment is a particle physics experiment designed to determine the role of neutrinos in the evolution of the cosmos.
• NOvA is managed by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
• NOvA does this by trying to understand which neutrino type has the most mass and which type has the least.

What is Neutrino oscillation?

• Neutrino oscillation is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which a neutrino created with a specific lepton family number can later be measured to have a different lepton family number.
• The probability of measuring a particular flavor for a neutrino varies between three known states, as it propagates through space.
• Neutrino oscillation is of great theoretical and experimental interest, as the precise properties of the process can shed light on several properties of the neutrino. 

Global neutrino experiments.

• Super-K III in Japan
• Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (in its new SNO+ avatar) in Canada
• MiniBOONe, the MicroBOONe, and NOvA in the U.S.
• Double CHOOZ in France
• Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory in China
• OPERA experiment in Switzerland
• IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

What is the status of India in neutrino study?

India’s own India-based Neutrino Observatory, funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, was supposed to come up in Tamil Nadu but currently faces an uncertain future over procedural lapses and lack of political support.