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).
Related Stories
The apparent symmetry between matter and antimatter is puzzling scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN):
One of the great mysteries of modern physics is why antimatter did not destroy the universe at the beginning of time.
To explain it, physicists suppose there must be some difference between matter and antimatter – apart from electric charge. Whatever that difference is, it's not in their magnetism, it seems.
Physicists at CERN in Switzerland have made the most precise measurement ever of the magnetic moment of an anti-proton – a number that measures how a particle reacts to magnetic force – and found it to be exactly the same as that of the proton but with opposite sign. The work is described in Nature [open, DOI: 10.1038/nature24048] [DX].
"All of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter, which is why the universe should not actually exist," says Christian Smorra, a physicist at CERN's Baryon–Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment (BASE) collaboration. "An asymmetry must exist here somewhere but we simply do not understand where the difference is."
Previously: Evidence Mounts that Neutrinos are the Key to the Universe's Existence
Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry Confirmed in Baryons
LHCb Observes an Exceptionally Large Group of Particles
Possible Explanation for the Dominance of Matter Over Antimatter in the Universe
(Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:01AM
So.. are we saying the term "anti" is not appropriate in this case and that antimatter are just other different types of particles? I mean in laymen terms you would equate antimatter as negating its opposite, but given it doesn't and this little discovery, should we relabel them instead?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:11AM
No, it just isn't a perfect opposite and we don't have a term for nearly anti matter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @05:20AM
(Score: 4, Informative) by number6x on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:44PM
This research seem to show that the rate at which muon neutrinos turn into electron neutrinos is different than the rate at which muon anti-neutrinos turn into electron anti-neutrinos.
This difference in behaviour between a particle and it's anti particle may be a key in understanding why our universe is dominated by matter, and not anti-matter.
As a neutrino travels long distances through space it can phase between the various neutrino type; from muon to electron, from electron to tau, from tau to muon and so on. Neutrinos have several eigenstates, corresponding to the three normal matter types and the three antimatter types. an actual neutrino, in the wild, is a super-position of the these eigenstates. As it travels along, if it is measured at any one time, it may be caught in it's original state, or in one of the two others.
if the universe started out with the same number of each flavour and the same number of each anti-flavour, they could always annihilate each other. If they each phased through the various flavour of muon, electron and tau at the same rate there would always be the same number of each. However, if there was a difference in the rates for phases for neutrino and anti-neutrino, there could be an excess of one type over another. This could lead to a preponderance of matter over anti-matter.
Neutrinos are neutral, not carrying a charge, but it is unknown if they are Majorana particles [wikipedia.org]. A Majorana particle is it's own anti-particle. A neutron and anti-neutron are also without charge, but are composed of either quarks or anti-quarks. A neutron is not its own anti-particle, although both have no charge. Neutrinos are leptons and are not composed of quarks.
Do note that the article says this observation is based on very few data points. Doing neutrino measurement studies takes patience as the little buggers do not like to interact with everything else.
(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.
Why do the mainstream media act as if Donald Trump isn't a pathological liar with dozens of felony fraud convictions?
(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.
Why do the mainstream media act as if Donald Trump isn't a pathological liar with dozens of felony fraud convictions?
(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...
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Whoever on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:12AM
My theory is that we live in a simulation, but the universe where the simulation runs has completely different rules. Our universe is just an experiment. How else to explain the crazy behaviour in quantum mechanics and such things as "spooky action at a distance"?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:57AM
Truth is stranger than fiction.
Fiction at least has to make sense.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday August 09 2016, @09:36PM
"Truth is stranger than fiction."
Twain said "truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to be believable." Terry Pratchett disagreed.
Why do the mainstream media act as if Donald Trump isn't a pathological liar with dozens of felony fraud convictions?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:03AM
Extra dimensions, where the distances isn't so spooky after all.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:28AM
its worse than that.
dimensions are not a fixed quantity. that's right, they are not integers but real numbers, fractions and all.
depending on where you are, the number of dimesions varies.
the time cube guy was close. insane, but close.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday August 09 2016, @05:33PM
Fractal dimensions would explain a lot of humanity.
Also: http://thecodelesscode.com/case/128 [thecodelesscode.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @06:58AM
Or fewer [vice.com]
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday August 11 2016, @02:32PM
Ah yes extra dimensions. So cute when it's just a handful of them (of course tesseracts [wikipedia.org] are cute, at least compared to glomes [wikipedia.org]) but such an ultimate ad hoc crutch when they tally up to double digits or infinities of infinities: the "scientific" replacement for the "God of the gaps" [wikipedia.org] fallacy, the place where silly bigoted religious dogma and silly bigoted scientific dogma meet and unite as one and the same :P
[Mathematical abuse is what it is! Leave those poor numbers alone :o Thank $n-sphere [wikipedia.org] most people like Elon Musk have much better things to do than to add even more "probabilities" on top of it :) ]
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:26AM
we are in a simulation, but its oscillating.
the great creator is not so great; he forgot the important bypass caps.
of course it oscillates. duh! gain is too high and there's no decoupling going on.
all this anti-stuff is just Math Gone Wrong(tm). it can't make sense. see the above ;)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @05:30PM
Don't complain when he/she/it deletes your ungrateful ass from the simulation.
If my fish flipped me off in their fishbowl, I'd have them for dinner.
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday August 11 2016, @03:04PM
You insensitive clod (*wink*) stop depopulating the oceans: fish can't do nothing but flip you off, they don't have any other limb gestures.
N.b. eating fish does not render them into "un-existence" (it does not negate them having existed) otherwise you couldn't have been flipped off and couldn't have eaten them.
For what it isn't worth I think TheGratefulNet is wrong about God and bypass caps and right about the math [soylentnews.org].
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 3, Insightful) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday August 09 2016, @07:51AM
How else to explain the crazy behaviour in quantum mechanics and such things as "spooky action at a distance"?
What's crazy or spooky about it, except that it doesn't have a reasonable analogy in everyday experience?
It's just how the universe is.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 5, Insightful) by weeds on Tuesday August 09 2016, @01:11PM
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday August 11 2016, @03:10PM
Lol and consequently Neil DeGrasse Tyson is not under any obligation to make sense to you or anybody else either which explains Pluto XD
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @05:30AM
The universe also has a problem with lopsided trade.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 09 2016, @07:50AM
Fractal detritus. Left over remnants of unresolved equations, the scum on the bottom of the universe's toilet bowl. This is what we are saying?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday August 11 2016, @03:27PM
Toilets! Finally my specialist subject is on topic! XD
You might be thinking of slime (or non-floating biofilm to be precise), scum is very good at floating since it's so frothy, and you really shouldn't have any scum in your toilet unless it hasn't flushed for a month and you kept using it :) (cesspools have scum).
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday August 11 2016, @07:21PM
I stand, erm, sink! corrected! Goodness knows we don't want the universe to be a cesspool.
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Friday August 12 2016, @01:02AM
Lol :D
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @09:08AM
Looks like there is no sterile neutrino from ice cube detector http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/antarticas-icecube-turns-up-no-evidence-of-sterile-neutrinos/ [arstechnica.com]
Or maybe these is good news as well, just can't tell with those shifty neutrinos
(Score: 4, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Tuesday August 09 2016, @01:06PM
I'm not a particle physicist, but what I've always wondered:
It is said there are only left-handed neutrinos.
However look at how a right handed neutrino should behave:
Or in short, a right-handed neutrino would necessarily be a sterile neutrino. And AFAIU neutrino oscillations don't change the handedness, therefore the right-handed neutrinos would only oscillate into other right-handed neutrinos, which are just as sterile. Or in short, it would not be a surprise that we can't see them, as they only would interact with gravitation.
So maybe there's a particle physicist here who can tell me what's wrong with right-handed neutrinos, so we assume they don't exist?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Tuesday August 09 2016, @03:54PM
Or in short, it would not be a surprise that we can't see them, as they only would interact with gravitation.
Which would make them dark matter, yes?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday August 09 2016, @04:38PM
Yes. However, as the mass of left-handed neutrinos is not sufficient to explain the observed dark matter, probably the right handed neutrinos wouldn't be either. On the other hand, it probably would be hard to tell how many right-handed neutrinos are there, as they probably would have had to be produced very early in the universe, when gravitation was strong enough to significantly produce them (they would also be in the Hawking radiation of black holes, but that would only add a negligible amount of mass).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.