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Evidence mounts that neutrinos are the key to the universe's existence.
New experimental results show a difference in the way neutrinos and antineutrinos behave, which could explain why matter persists over antimatter.
The results, from the T2K experiment in Japan, show that the degree to which neutrinos change their type differs from their antineutrino counterparts. This is important because if all types of matter and antimatter behave the same way, they should have obliterated each other shortly after the Big Bang.
So far, when scientists have looked at matter-antimatter pairs of particles, no differences have been large enough to explain why the universe is made up of matter — and exists — rather than being annihilated by antimatter. Neutrinos and antineutrinos are one of the last matter-antimatter pairs to be investigated since they are difficult to produce and measure, but their strange behaviour hints that they could be the key to the mystery.
Neutrinos (and antineutrinos) come in three 'flavours' of tau, muon and electron, each of which can spontaneously change into the other as the neutrinos travel over long distances. The latest results, announced today by a team of researchers including physicists from Imperial College London, show more muon neutrinos changing into electron neutrinos than muon antineutrinos changing into electron antineutrinos.
This difference in muon-to-electron changing behaviour between neutrinos and antineutrinos means they would have different properties, which could have prevented them from destroying each other and allow the universe to exist.
[...] The latest results were concluded from relatively few data points, meaning there is still a one in 20 chance that the results are due to random chance, rather than a true difference in behaviour. However, the result is still exciting for the scientists involved.
Dr Morgan Wascko, international co-spokesperson for the T2K experiment from the Department of Physics at Imperial said: "This is an important first step towards potentially solving one of the biggest mysteries in science. T2K is the first experiment that is able to study neutrino and antineutrino oscillation under the same conditions, and the disparity we have observed is, while not yet statistically significant, very intriguing."
The results were presented at the 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics in Chicago. More detailed information is available at the T2K website and in the presentation (pdf).
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:07AM
This is one of the most significant physics finds of a lifetime, people! Finally, FINALLY, we Have An Answer (TM) to one of the most vexing and most important puzzles in all of cosmology and particle physics both! Would heaven we lived in a world where this was given top billing...and where everyone over age 13 knew what it meant.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:19AM
42 neutrinos are the key, to be exact.
(Score: 3, Funny) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:23AM
so.....
can we have your liver, then?
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 09 2016, @05:00AM
No. I'm using it to detoxify stuff.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @08:33AM
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday August 11 2016, @01:51PM
That's an incredibly sweet joke, thanks for brightening up the day :D
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dltaylor on Tuesday August 09 2016, @06:30AM
The "standard model" of particle physics cannot explain this difference between any particle and "anti" counterpart.
Now, the question may be (if this is confirmed) WHY there is such a difference. What property of the particle, itself, or the matrix (universe) in which it exists gives rise to the difference, and what else can we learn about the universe from that explanation?
Talented, creative, and persistent as they may be, particle hunters are bookkeepers. The real question that they cannot answer is what gives rise to the plethora of particles.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:00PM
Isn't this exciting, though? :) We now know what question to ask. That's 2/3 of the process if you ask me. A teacher in high school I had who gave a programming class said "If you can articulate your problem, you've written the program already; the rest is implementation details."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday August 09 2016, @09:33PM
That's the way science at its best works: The answer leads to more questions, questions you didn't have the knowledge to ask.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Tuesday August 09 2016, @09:31PM
Calm down, TFS says that far more research is needed to confirm it. Neutrinos are really hard to find and even harder to produce.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday August 10 2016, @03:05AM
What do you care? You just think it's one scent or another of your genocidal maniac of a God's flatulence.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...