More precise measurements could reveal mass of ‘ghost particles’, study says

One of the most sensitive measurements in particle physics was carried out in the study carried out by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Germany. Resting mass of neutrinos or so-called ‘ghost particles’Scientists suggest that a better understanding of the subject could open doors to physics beyond the Standard Model.

neutrinos elements that remain mysterious to science; Therefore, determining its mass could help advance particle physics. In the past, some researchers had suggested that neutrinos had no mass, but they noticed that one had three types (V1, V2 and V3).

Because of its unique nature, scientists cannot normally determine a neutrino’s mass by weighing it. Instead of placing them on a precision scale, the researchers To try to find an answer, they observed their interactions with other particles in the universe and measured data on their decay products.

“The investigation of the absolute scale of the effective mass of neutrinos remains challenging due to the uniquely weak interaction of neutrinos with all known particles in the Standard Model of particle physics. Currently, the most accurate and least model-dependent upper limit for the mass of neutrinos is the electron antineutrino, Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment ( KATRIN) from the analysis of the ß decay of tritium,” is described in the study.

mass of a neutrino

Neutrinos have almost no charge or gravitational effect, so they don’t exert much force on other particles, but that also doesn’t mean neutrinos aren’t a fundamental part of physics. It is the most abundant massive particle in the universe, so understanding more details about it is crucial to helping solve some of the problems with the Standard Model.

The latest estimate of the weight of a neutrino was developed by the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) program in Germany, using the scattering of electrons and neutrinos released after hydrogen decay. The most precise measurement of an electron neutrino found that it had a relative mass of about 0.8 electronvolts, or less than a kilogram.

The team created Pentatrap, which aims to test a new measurement based on the ‘Q value’, the difference in the total energy of particles after decay. The cylindrical gold device uses five Penning traps to measure subtle energy differences; During the study they achieved a ‘Q value’ of c-2 e 2,863.2 ± 0.6 eV.

“KATRIN determined the most precise upper limit on neutrino mass to date, ‘weighing’ it at 0.8 electron volts per square of the speed of light, which corresponds to an unimaginable 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000014 kilograms! The order of magnitude 10-36 roughly corresponds to: The weight ratio between four raisins and the Sun is only an upper limit. Analysis of the estimated mass distribution in the universe reveals a significantly lower upper limit for neutrino masses of 0.12 per squared of the speed of light, according to the website of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics. explained.

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