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Archive for the ‘particle physics’ category: Page 19

Oct 2, 2024

Using antimatter to detect nuclear radiation: Byproducts of fission reactors provide insight into nuclear reactor use

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics, space

The group’s detector design exploits Cherenkov radiation, a phenomenon in which radiation is emitted when charged particles moving faster than light pass through a particular medium, akin to when crossing the sound barrier. This is also responsible for nuclear reactors’ eerie blue glow and has been used to detect neutrinos in astrophysics laboratories.

The researchers proposed to assemble their device in northeast England and detect antineutrinos from reactors from all over the U.K. as well as in northern France.

One issue, however, is that antineutrinos from the and space can muddle the signal, especially as very distant reactors yield exceedingly small signals—sometimes on the order of a single antineutrino per day.

Oct 2, 2024

A modular neutrino detector years in the making

Posted by in category: particle physics

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have joined collaborators from around the world to build a prototype neutrino detector that has now captured its first neutrino interactions at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab).

Oct 1, 2024

Why are we called Fermilab?

Posted by in categories: education, nuclear energy, particle physics

On September 29, 1901 Enrico Fermi ForMemRS was born.


On May 11, 1974, National Accelerator Laboratory was given a new name: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The eponym honors famed Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, whose accomplishments in both theoretical and experimental physics place him among the greatest scientists of the 20th century.

Many visitors to Fermilab reasonably conclude from its name that Enrico Fermi worked at the laboratory, but he never did. In fact, he died in 1954, years before scientists even officially recommended the construction of a U.S. accelerator laboratory in 1963.

Continue reading “Why are we called Fermilab?” »

Oct 1, 2024

First Observation of One-in-10-Billion Particle Decay Hints at Hidden Physics

Posted by in category: particle physics

Physicists have detected a long-sought particle process that may suggest new forces and particles exist in the universe.

By Clara Moskowitz

Once in a very great while, an ephemeral particle called a kaon arises and then quickly decays away into three other obscure entities. Whether or not this happens in a particular way has very little bearing on most of us, who will go about our lives without knowing either way. But to physicists who have been searching for this arcane process for decades, it matters a lot; finding out how often it happens could reveal hidden aspects of our universe.

Oct 1, 2024

A new and unique fusion reactor comes together due to global research collaboration

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics

Like atoms coming together to release their power, fusion researchers worldwide are joining forces to solve the world’s energy crisis. Harnessing the power of fusing plasma as a reliable energy source for the power grid is no easy task, requiring global contributions.

Sep 30, 2024

Incredibly Rare 13 In 100 Billion Event Seen At CERN Particle Accelerator

Posted by in category: particle physics

In 2020, the team reported evidence of this rare form of decay being detected by the experiment. Now, after far more collisions, including higher-energy collisions, the team reports a 5-sigma detection, meaning there is a 0.00006 percent chance that the detection is a statistical fluke.

“With this measurement, K+ → π+νṽ becomes the rarest decay established at discovery level – the famous 5 sigma,” Cristina Lazzeroni, Professor in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham, said in a statement. “This difficult analysis is the result of excellent teamwork, and I am extremely proud of this new result.”

Continue reading “Incredibly Rare 13 In 100 Billion Event Seen At CERN Particle Accelerator” »

Sep 30, 2024

Big NASA spacecraft is headed to a dangerous region of the solar system

Posted by in categories: particle physics, space

A journey into ruthless space environs.

Sep 30, 2024

Quantum sensing approach captures nanoscale electrochemical evolution in battery

Posted by in categories: chemistry, evolution, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum physics

Battery performance is heavily influenced by the non-uniformity and failure of individual electrode particles. Understanding the reaction mechanisms and failure modes at nanoscale level is key to advancing battery technologies and extending their lifespan. However, capturing real-time electrochemical evolution at this scale remains challenging due to the limitations of existing sensing methods, which lack the necessary spatial resolution and sensitivity.

Sep 30, 2024

NASA’s Hubble, MAVEN help Solve the Mystery of Mars’s Escaping Water

Posted by in categories: particle physics, space

Mars was once a very wet planet, as is evident in its surface geological features. Scientists know that over the last 3 billion years, at least some water went deep underground, but what happened to the rest? Now, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) missions are helping unlock that mystery.

“There are only two places water can go. It can freeze into the ground, or the water molecule can break into atoms, and the atoms can escape from the top of the atmosphere into space,” explained study leader John Clarke of the Center for Space Physics at Boston University in Massachusetts. “To understand how much water there was and what happened to it, we need to understand how the atoms escape into space.”

Clarke and his team combined data from Hubble and MAVEN to measure the number and current escape rate of the hydrogen atoms escaping into space. This information allowed them to extrapolate the escape rate backwards through time to understand the history of water on the red planet.

Sep 28, 2024

Neutrino Physics

Posted by in category: particle physics

Neutrinos fill the whole universe, with about 10 million of them per cubic foot, and most of them zip straight through Earth, and through particle detectors, without leaving a trace. Because they almost never interact with matter, only massive and sophisticated experiments can catch and measure the properties of neutrinos.

The subatomic particles called neutrinos are among the most elusive in the particle kingdom. Scientists have built detectors underground, underwater, and at the South Pole to measure these ghostly particles that come from the sun, from supernovae and from many other celestial objects.

Continue reading “Neutrino Physics” »

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