The Neutrino - An Elusive Beast An infinite number of neutrinos shoot across the earth's surface every second, radiated by distant stars, and yet it has taken up until the mid 20th century for anyone to realize it. Finding neutrinos in your own backyard is easy. All you need is a ten-ton vat of pure water, 13000 photomultiplier tubes, and $11 million dollars in research funding. More on that later, but first, it would help to know a little more about what you're hunting. The neutrino is an
One of the current questions in physics is whether or not neutrinos have mass and what this mass is. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that have no electrical charge and interact only via the weak nuclear force. They are products of radioactive decay processes, and thus are produced abundantly in our Sun, our atmosphere, and in other astrophysical sources such as supernovae and active galactic nuclei. Millions and millions of them are crossing through the Earth every second, but only very few of
as to what this non-baryonic matter could be made up of, with current possibilities being: neutrinos with mass, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), axions and magnetic monopoles. These are all primeval and interact weakly with baryonic matter. I will now discuss each of these. Neutrinos with mass In order for neutrinos to be a significant contribution to dark matter they need to have mass. Neutrinos as they are currently understood have zero mass or mass so close to zero that it cannot be
The ability to answer profound questions such as the origin of mass and dominance of matter over antimatter and a keen desire to unveil the secrets of our universe motivates me to pursue a PhD and subsequently a research career in Physics. As a PhD candidate I hope to learn about the extremely appealing field of High Energy Physics and make my contribution to it. I got my first experience of carrying out research in a group during High School while competing in a worldwide Mathematics and Science
The universe is an unknown place. Most of it has not been explored. Some things are known, however. Scientists know a lot about things like the Big Bang and our Asteroid Belt. Some of the universe's natural phenomenons are yet to be discovered. This article will explain some of them and why they happen. In the year 1929, Edwin Hubble made a revolutionary discovery. He learned that the universe is expanding. He saw that the galaxies were each moving away from us. Edwin knew that for one instance of
with the discovery of the atoms and the subatomic particles they are made of. We can even guess at what makes up protons and neutrons. We have since then discovered and predicted the existence of particles other than the atom, such as the photon, neutrino, axion, and many others. Despite all our advances in particle physics and astrophysics, we still don't know what form of matter makes up 95% of the universe. Physicists have named this mysterious substance dark matter, for it can not be detected
William T. Harris Speech #1 Outline January 29, 2018 Outline General Purpose Statement: To Inform Specific Purpose Statement: I will inform you of two marvels in the cosmos. Central Idea Statement: Two elusive phenomena: dark matter and dark energy, are thought to make up more than 80% of the known universe. I. INTRODUCTION A. Every year we are hit an estimated 100,000 times by dark matter particles. B. Understanding dark matter may help us learn the fate of our world. C. I will provide
This means that gluons will react with quarks but not with leptons. Leptons consist of three flavors of charged particle and a neutral "neutrino" for each flavor of charged particle. Of these 6 lepton particles, only 4 are stable in the universe: electrons, electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos. The other leptons, muons and taus, are more massive than their first generation cousin, the electons, and therefore will decay into a more stable state via the weak
Cosmic rays originate from sources in outer space and strike every side of the Earth. Sources of cosmic rays include neutron stars, supernovae, quasars, black holes, and pulsars. Our sun is also capable of producing cosmic rays, but the cosmic rays which it produces contributes little when compared to the total amount of cosmic rays that reach the earth. In addition, the cosmic rays from our sun are typically much lower in energy compared to the cosmic rays that originate from the sources mentioned
Oceanography H. P. Lovecraft once said “Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time.” (Lovecraft, n.d., Ocean Quotes). Extracting information from times past is what some are researching today. The oceans are vast and mysterious but with the advent of new technology many unmanned submersibles are being built and used to find out more on the mysteries of the ocean. A brief introduction to what oceanography encompasses along with a little history
Dark matter and dark energy are two entities that have very little known about them, except that they make up about 95 percent of the universe. Even though this is a large part of the universe, it wasn’t even thought about until the 1960’s or the 1970’s. This is because of the fact that it is very hard to detect and almost impossible to see. Although it is impossible to see, we can see the effects of them both in our galaxy. One way that we can “see” the dark matter is the movement of the Milky Way
Electron capture occurs when the nucleus of an atom absorbs an electron from the inner K or L shell, converting a proton to a neutron and emitting a neutrino: (_Z^A)X+ e^- → (_Z-1^A)Y+ v_e+ (_0^0)γ An outer shell electron will then replace the captured inner electron, emitting characteristic X-Rays in the process. If the daughter nucleus is in an excited state, gamma rays will be also emitted according
Early Universe Discuss the first three minutes after the Big Bang and describe processes responsible for creation of atomic matter. At t=0 there was no space and no time. The prevalent theory today, describing the origin of the universe and where it all began is the Big Bang theory. Scientists believe that our almost 14 billion-year-old universe could at one point fit in the palm of one’s hand. In the beginning there was nothing. No space and no time but then came light. A tiny speck of light
exist because of lack of evidence in favor of His existence but this lack of evidence doesn’t necessarily imply non-existence of God. Neutrinos, particles which move with speeds greater than the speed of light, were recently discovered. Does this mean that neutrinos didn’t exist prior to this? No. Just because there was insufficient evidence for the existence of neutrinos doesn’t imply that they did not exist. So to imply that the ‘burden of proof’ lies only on theists would be wrong. Atheists equally
Black Holes Black holes are points in space where there are extreme gravitational pulls that prevent anything, including light, from escaping. The reason for such a strong gravitational pull is due to vast amounts of matter being contained in a small amount of space. Stellar black holes form from stars with a mass greater than 20 solar masses and can be a result of gravitational collapse. Gravitational collapse is a result of the star’s internal pressure not being able to resist the stars own gravity
Andrew Gardner Pre-AP CTL9 Mrs. Fischer 12-19-13 The Enigmatic Concept of Time We live a life of constants, the sun will rise, the seasons will change and time shall continue to flow. But everything is not what it seems. The sun is not really rising, as we perceive it to be. It is just our static position on the globe as we rotate, facing towards and away from the sun. The seasons are not changing, they are disappearing. Being replaced by their successor due to the Earth’s tilt, either leaning closer
propels the spaceship in a vacuum (Tyson 1). The most recent application of this equation is in the detection of Cherenkov radiation. Scientists are seeking to sink a giant neutrino detector deep in ice to detect the eerie blue light that neutrinos emit. This will help cosmologist to have a deeper understanding of neutrinos and the other objects descending from outer space. The use of E=mc2 is simply irresistible in this process (Tyson 1). The use of E=mc2 shows no sign of diminishing in the near
is all a matter of personal choice when it comes to choosing the "right" theory, but I think using both theories together make for a stronger case. Works Cited • Cho, A. (2011, September 22). Can neutrinos move faster than light?. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/neutrinos-faster-than-light/ • Necessary/contingent truths. (1994). The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 1994, 1996, 2005. Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/necessary-contingent-truths
strong interactions, and weak interactions. In a weak interaction a charged lepton is either unchanged or changed into and uncharged lepton, that is a neutri no. In the latter case, each charged lepton is seen to change only into the corresponding neutrino. The electron has magnetic properties by virtue of (1) its orbital motion about the nucleus of its parent atom and (2) its rotation about its own axis. The magnetic properties are best described through the magnetic
Sample Concept Paper (not a rhet/comp concept, though) For John Wheeler, defining the term “quantum” in his essay “How Come the Quantum” (Best 41-43) seems the least of his worries. It’s a “thing,” he says, “a bundle of energy, an indivisible unit that can be sliced no more” as Max Planck’s observations 100 years ago indicate (41). Wheeler’s words ‘thing,’ ‘bundle,’ and ‘sliced’ are interesting: they seem at once colloquial and correct for the usage Wheeler makes of them. Quanta sound friendly