Ghost Particles : Detected
Astronomers detected 7 potentials ‘ghost particles’ that passed through planet.
- Scientists using data from the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica believe they have potentially found the first evidence for astrophysical tau neutrinos, called “ghost particles”.
- “Ghost Particles” is a nickname for neutrinos, which are tiny subatomic particles.
- They are often called ‘ghost particles’ because they barely interact with anything else.
- Neutrinos come from various sources and are often the product of heavy particles turning into lighter ones, a process called “decay”.
- They belong to the family of particles known as leptons.
- There are three main leptons, namely electrons, muons, and tau particles
- The last has proven to be especially difficult to observe and detect, earning the moniker of “ghost particle.”
- A neutrino is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass.
- They are the most common particle in the universe. Approximately 100 trillion neutrinos pass completely harmlessly through our body every second.
- They are extraordinarily difficult to detect, as they rarely collide with atoms.
- Of the four fundamental forces in the universe, neutrinos only interact with two gravity and the weak force.
- They come in different types and can be thought of in terms of flavors, masses, and energies.
- In recent developments, China is constructing the world’s largest “ghost particle” detector, a massive underwater telescope in the South China Sea, designed to detect neutrinos.
- The telescope, named Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT),is expected to span 7.5 cubic kilometers and be 10,000 times more sensitive than existing underwater telescopes.
