Neutrino, the Ghost Particle

After discussing antimatter in the previous post, I was excited to see that there have been very recent advancements in the study of neutrinos. These particles are the antimatter equivalent to electrons and one of the most abundant particles in the universe. They are leptons, particles that participate in the strong nuclear force but not in the weak nuclear force, with incredibly small mass and no electrical charge. Because they are light in weight and barely react to matter, neutrinos easily pass through matter. This makes them difficult to detect and lends them the name "ghost particle." Neutrinos have three different “flavors,” electron, muon, and tao. These can oscillate into one another when moving through space. However, when a neutrino of one type interacts with a target it will only produce its converse regular matter particle (a muon, tao, or electron). In interactions, the sum of the number of electrons and neutrinos remains constant.

Just last week physicists at the US Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory found a new way to study the structure of protons using neutrinos. They accomplished this by hitting proton particles with neutrino beams. The angles at which the neutrinos bounce off are then used to determine a proton’s size and shape.

About the discovery:

https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942/

https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/a-new-way-to-explore-protons-structure-with-neutrinos-yields-first-results

More about neutrinos:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-a-neutrino/