Ghost particles give scientists a new understanding of the cosmos

A breakthrough in the study of ghost particles called neutrinos at high Energy that crosses space unhindered people, planets and entire galaxies, give scientists a bold new way to expand our understanding of the cosmos.

The researchers said Thursday that they have found for the first time a source in the far space for these ubiquitous subatomic particles. They detected high-energy neutrinos in the pristine ice deep below the surface of Antarctica, and then traced their source to a giant elliptical galaxy with a rapidly rotating massive black hole, called blazar, located at 3.7 billion light years from Earth in the Orion. constellation.

Artistic impression of the galatic The nucleus showing the black hole

Key observations were made at the IceCube Neutrino Ice Observatory in a US scientific research station at the South Pole and then confirmed by terrestrial and orbital telescopes.

Astronomers have long relied on electromagnetic observations – studying light – but this approach has limitations because too many aspects of the universe are indecipherable using light alone.

The ability to use particles like high-energy neutrinos in astronomy allows for greater Obust examination, just as confirmation of the ripples in the space-time fabric called gravitational waves, announced in 2016, has opened a new frontier in astronomy. This emerging field is nicknamed "multi-messenger astrophysics".

"Neutrinos provide us with a new window to see the universe," said physicist at the University of Alberta, Darren Grant, spokesperson for the IceCube scientific collaboration. "In many ways, neutrinos are the ideal astronomical messenger of nature, they can essentially escape their production site and transmit this information directly through the cosmos to their point of detection."

IceCube Laboratory at South Pole Station in Antarctica

The results solve a mystery dating back to 1912 during the source of subatomic particles such as neutrinos and cosmic rays that break through the cosmos. they come from some of the most violent places in the universe.

NAT SWIMMING IN NEUTRINOS & # 39;
"One hundred billion neutrinos go through your thumbnail every second, but in all likelihood, not one of them will ever reach an atom of your thumb during your lifetime," said Doug. Cowen, physicist of Penn State, another researcher in neutrinos. "[1 9659004] High energy neutrinos are produced by the same sources as cosmic rays, the highest energy particles ever observed, but differ in a key respect , according to Francis Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin and chief scientist of the Neutrino Ice Observatory. Particles, cosmic rays can not be brought back directly to their source because the magnetic fields in the space change their trajectory.

Neutrinos are electrically neutral, do not even disturb the strongest magnetic field, and rarely interact with matter. The IceCube Neutrino Detector includes 86 holes drilled at 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) in the Antarctic ice. Some 5,160 light sensors record small flashes of light produced in rare cases where a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus in transparent ice. Key detection took place on September 22, 2017, and the neutrino was finally found on the blazar.

The scientists then determined that the other neutrinos previously detected by IceCube came from the same source

. variety of energy. Low energy neutrinos, for example, are prolifically produced in the melting processes of stars like our sun.

Blazars are probably not the only sources of high energy neutrinos or high energy cosmic rays. phenomena like galactic nuclei, quasars, gamma-ray bursts and some types of stellar explosions called supernovas.

Research funded by the National Science Foundation of the United States was published in the journal Science

© Thomson Reuters 2018

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