The Search For The 'Body' Of The Neutrino

An anonymous reader writes: "CNN has an interesting story about the scientists who are searching for proof that neutrinos have mass a half mile below Minnesota. Not alot of scientific theory but a good overall perspective on what is taking place. One of the more interesting quotes: "We're going to take a sawed-off shotgun and blast a bunch of neutrinos toward Minnesota and measure what sticks," said Marvin Marshak, a physics professor at the University of Minnesota."

Comments

Neutrino research

[ktulu1115]

There's been a lot of research going on about neutrinos in the recent years. I still recall the big recent newsbreak when they discovered that they can spontaneously change to another form. The Ultimate Neutrino Page and Neutrino History have some good news.

The thing I've been thinking is... what they really need is another somewhat-close supernova to occur. That should give scientists even more data to digest.

Re:Neutrino research

[Anonymous Coward]

The thing I've been thinking is... what they really need is another somewhat-close supernova to occur. That should give scientists even more data to digest.

That's not actually enormously useful (although supernovae are free, so ....) Apart from the fact that you can expect to wait about 100 years for the next supernova anywhere close, like our old friend SN1987A, you don't actually learn a great deal about neutrinos from a supernova - there's too much that we don't really understand about the supernova itself.

On the other hand, if we figure out what's going on with neutrinos, they'll give an extra handle to learn about supernovae.

Re:Neutrino research

[bcrowell]

I still recall the big recent newsbreak when they discovered that they can spontaneously change to another form
Yeah, and that proved that neutrinos have mass, so both the CNN article and the Slashdot blurb are inaccurate. I'm sure there is something new that this experiment is going to be able to find out, something different than the solar neutrino experiments. But determining whether neutrinos have mass isn't it.

The MINOS site has a bunch of information, but I didn't have much luck finding any specifics on how it really differs from the solar neutrino approach. A bunch of it is PowerPoint files of people's talks, which I can't read, and a bunch of it is password-protected.

(GASP)! War with Canada! :-)

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Ha! The article gives it all away! This isn't about some sort of scientific research! This is just the first field-test of the latest insidious high-tech military hardware...on the innocent people of Canada!

It's plain to me that the US has developed a highly sophisticated Neutrino Ray Cannon(tm) that can be fired THROUGH THE EARTH and still hit targets in other countries! The article plainly describes that the beam will be fired through the earth, past the detectors, and INTO CANADA. Naturally, the US has chosen a nearby country to test it on, so that the results can be assessed quickly.

I'm willing to bet it'll be a successful test, too. Being a Neutrino-based Ray Gun(tm), we'll know it works if the characteristic effects of Neutrino Bombardment (that is to say, "Nothing") are seen among the Canadian populace after the test! Previous tests were less successful, though they are rumored to have caused speech alterations described as a very mild form of Tourette's Syndrome, wherein the victims add an extra syllable (described as "Eh") to their sentences...though one heavily affected region is rumored to have had their language altered so severely that they now speak FRENCH instead of Canadian! [Probably just a rumor, I don't believe it myself. Nor do I believe the rumors that the US Government experimented on its own citizens similarly, resulting in the "y'know" at the end of victim's sentences, and inability to spell "lose" with less than 2 "O's" in it.]

In the interests of World Peace(tm), I feel compelled to warn the People of Canada now - PROTECT YOURSELF WITH ALUMINUM FOIL DEFLECTOR BEANIES NOW! Before it's TOO LATE!

huh?

[Mt._Honkey]

To brighten up the often dreary working conditions, Minneapolis artist Joseph Giannetti painted a 25- by 60-foot mural in the laboratory. It depicts his interpretation of the project with a blazing sun at the epicenter with rings of scientific symbols and physicists expanding outward.

What kind of sick bastard makes a mural of physicists being blasted out of a sun and then expanding in the vacuum of space? That's disgusting.

Re:question for the experts

[Misanthropic Lycanth]

As far as the standard model goes, all elementary particles are point particles. There are several problems with that. You pointed out one. Another is simultaneity of interactions for different observers.

String theory demands a minimum non-zero size for all of it's constituents (except for 0-branes, which are point particles and are part of M-theory).