Located 700 meters Underground near Jiangmen City in southern China, a huge sphere – 35 meters in diameter and filled with 20,000 tons of liquid – has just begun a mission that will last for decades. This is JunoJiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory, a new large-scale experiment that studies some of the most mysterious and elusive particles.
Neutrinos are The richest particles Among the masses. They are basic particles, which means they don’t break down into smaller components, which makes them small and very light. Their charges are also zero; they are neutral, and therefore their name. All of this means that they often interact with other things that come into contact with other things and can pass through it without affecting it, making them difficult to observe. For this reason, sometimes they are called “ghost particles.”
They also have the ability to transfer (or “oscillate”) between three different forms (also known as “flavor”): electrons, MU and Tau. (Note that electron-odor neutrinos are different from electrons; the latter is a different type of elementary particles with a negative charge.)
The fact that neutrino oscillates is proven by physicists Takaaki Kajita and Arthur Bruce McDonald. In two separate experiments, they observed electron-flavored neutrinos oscillating in Mu- and tau-flavored neutrinos. As a result, they demonstrated that these particles have mass and that the quality of each taste is different. For this, they won 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s interpreter for neutrino oscillation.
But an important but still unknown fact is how to order these masses – the largest and least of the three flavors. If physicists have a better understanding of neutrino mass, this may help better describe the behavior and evolution of the universe. This is where Juno comes in.
A unique experiment
Neutrinos cannot be seen in conventional particle detectors. Instead, scientists must look for rare signs of their interaction with other matter, and that’s what Juno’s giant ball yes. Called a scintillator, it is filled with a sensitive internal liquid composed of solvents and two fluorescent compounds. If the neutrino through this problem interacts with this, it will produce a shiny light. Around the liquid is a huge stainless steel lattice that supports a series of highly sensitive light sensors, called photoelectric plastic tubes, that are even able to detect individual photons produced by the interaction between neutrinos and liquid and convert them into measurable electrical signals.
“The Juno experiment grasped the legacy of its predecessor, and the difference was much greater,” said Gioacchino Ranucci, deputy head of the experiment, the Borexino head of another neutrino hunting experiment, former head of the head. Ranucci explained that one of the main features of Juno is that Juno can “see” neutrinos and their antimatter counterpart: Antineutrinos. The former is usually caused by the decay of radioactive materials in the Earth’s atmosphere or in the Earth’s crust, otherwise it will be produced. Arrival from outer space– From stars, black holes, supernova, and even the Big Bang. However, in this case, the two nuclear power plants located near the detector are artificially produced anti-Netrozia in this case.
“As they spread, neutrinos and antitumors continue to oscillate, transforming each other,” Ranucci said. He explained that Juno will be able to capture all of these signals and show how they oscillate, “never achieved accuracy before.”
