The mystery of the mass of the neutrino could soon be solved

By Layal Liverpool

ULI DECK/DPA/Alamy Dwell Recordsdata

We are one step nearer to unravelling the mystery of the mass of the neutrino. It has been published that the particle, which used to be once opinion to weigh nothing, doubtlessly has a mass no extra than 500,000 instances that of an electron.

The recent greater restrict of the neutrino’s mass, 1.1 electronvolts, is kind of half of of the previous known greater restrict of 2 electronvolts and brings us nearer to pinning down the accurate mass of this elusive particle.

“Neutrinos are a thousand million instances extra noteworthy in the universe than atoms, so even shrimp neutrino heaps would create a mammoth contribution to the mass in the universe,” says Christian Weinheimer on the College of Münster, Germany. Figuring out the mass of the neutrino is now not going to simplest back us discern the structure of the early universe but could additionally back scientists better perceive the physics of the smallest issues, he says.

To estimate the upper restrict of the neutrino’s mass, an global team of researchers analysed the decay of a radioactive develop of hydrogen known as tritium – a route of that emits an electron and a neutrino concurrently. By measuring the vitality of the launched electrons, they were in a situation to estimate the mass of the neutrino with greater precision than used to be beforehand that you just shall be in a situation to mediate.

“We are extraordinarily chuffed and proud,” says Weinheimer. He used to be section of the worldwide collaboration of scientists dreary the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment.

Weinheimer and his colleagues were in a situation to measure the explicit vitality of the electrons by the consume of an mountainous, cause-built electron spectrometer that is 24 metres grand and 10 metres across.

“It’s very, very curious,” says Melissa Uchida on the College of Cambridge, UK. “Right here’s apt the most right dimension we’ve ever had,” she says. Uchida thinks the mission provides us right hope of pinpointing the mass of the neutrino in the arrival years.

“We could in the extinguish be in a situation to position collectively the puzzle of how the formation of the universe came about,” says Uchida.

Journal reference: arXiv, DOI: 1909.06048