Elusive Neutrinos Spotted Bouncing Off Nuclei for the First Time

Neutrinos are famously antisocial. Of all the characters in the particle physics cast, they are the most reluctant to interact with other particles.

Among the hundred trillion neutrinos that pass through you every second, only about one per week actually grazes a particle in your body.

In a study published today in _Science_, researchers working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) detected never-before-seen neutrino interactions using a detector the size of a fire extinguisher.

Their feat paves the way for new supernova research, dark matter searches and even nuclear nonproliferation monitoring.

A neutrino reveals itself by stumbling across a proton or neutron amidst the vast emptiness surrounding atomic nuclei, producing a flash of light or a single-atom chemical change.

But neutrinos deign to communicate with other particles only via the “weak” force—the fundamental force that causes radioactive materials to decay. Because the weak force operates only at subatomic distances, the odds of a tiny neutrino bouncing off of an individual neutron or proton are miniscule.
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Physicists must compensate by offering thousands of tons of atoms for passing neutrinos to strike.

Source: Duta

UCJ, UNILORIN.