Physicists at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica have detected a neutrino with the highest energy ever measured, at least 4 to 5 PeV. The international team of physicists, led by Teresa Montaruli from the University of Geneva, reported their discovery at the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference in The Hague, Netherlands. The origin of the neutrino is likely from space, as the Earth is continuously bombarded by cosmic radiation particles with energies up to ten million times greater than those produced on Earth. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is one of many research facilities seeking to solve the mystery of cosmic radiation sources.
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is one of the most advanced observatories of its kind, located at the geographic South Pole and instrumenting about one cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice with ultra-sensitive light sensors. These sensors can measure the weak light signal produced by a neutrino interaction with the ice. Physicists from the IceCube collaboration have improved their measurements over the last six years, analyzing and filtering several billion data sets. Most of the data showed light pulses not related to cosmic neutrinos, leaving 340,000 events that could be attributed to muon neutrinos. However, one event stood out as an extremely high-energy neutrino, likely originating from outside our solar system.
The energy of the neutrino not only broke the world record set by IceCube in 2013, but its long track can be followed with an accuracy of less than one degree, allowing physicists to search for astronomical sources of the neutrino. With the excellent directional accuracy of muon neutrinos, physicists may soon solve the mystery of its origin. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is just one of many research facilities seeking to understand the mysteries of modern physics.
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