The reply to one of many biggest mysteries of the universe could come right down to one of many smallest, and spookiest, particles.
Matter is frequent within the cosmos. Everything round us — from planets to stars to puppies — is made up of matter. But matter has a flip facet: antimatter. Protons, electrons and different particles all have antimatter counterparts: antiprotons, positrons, and so forth. Yet for some cause antimatter is way rarer than matter — and nobody is aware of why.
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Physicists imagine the universe was born with equal quantities of matter and antimatter. Since matter and antimatter counterparts annihilate on contact, that means the universe ought to have ended up with nothing however vitality. Something should have tipped the steadiness.
Some physicists assume light-weight subatomic particles known as neutrinos might level to a solution. These particles are exceedingly tiny, with lower than a millionth the mass of an electron (SN: 4/21/21). They’re produced in radioactive decays and within the solar and different cosmic environments. Known for his or her ethereal tendency to evade detection, neutrinos have earned the nickname “ghost particles.” These spooky particles, initially thought to haven’t any mass in any respect, have a wholesome observe report of manufacturing scientific surprises (SN: 10/6/15).
Now researchers are constructing huge detectors to search out out if neutrinos might assist resolve the thriller of the universe’s matter. The Hyper-Kamiokande experiment in Hida City, Japan, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in Lead, S.D., will examine neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts, antineutrinos. A distinction in neutrinos’ and antineutrinos’ conduct may trace on the origins of the matter-antimatter imbalance, scientists suspect.
Watch the video beneath to learn the way neutrinos may reveal why the universe incorporates, properly, something in any respect.