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Neutrino Mass Confirmed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the they-do-exist dept.

biohack writes "BBC News reports that results from the MINOS experiment have confirmed that neutrinos have mass. To look for neutrino oscillations, scientists created muon neutrinos in a particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). After passing through a particle detector at Fermilab, a high intensity beam of neutrinos travelled to another particle detector 724km (450 miles) away in a disused mine in Soudan, US. The set up established that fewer particles were being detected at the Soudan site than had been sent from Fermilab, which confirmed that some neutrinos changed their flavor on the way - an effect called neutrino flavor oscillation, which requires them to have mass. 'To put it simply, if they are heavy, it means that there is a lot more mass in the Universe than we thought there was,' said Professor Jenny Thomas from University College London."

5 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Already Known by physicsphairy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Neutrino mass has been an established fact since 1998 (courtesy work at the Super-Kamiokande).

    Would slashdot also be interested in posting my own confirmations that light has a finite speed?

    --
    When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
    1. Re:Already Known by n0mad6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps simply reading the title would give a hint as to why this is important (i.e., note the word "confirmed"). Experimental results aren't really useful unless its a result that can be reproduced. The MINOS result is simply the first confirmation of the earlier Super-K result.

    2. Re:Already Known by Firehed · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, I think it's been an established fact since the beginning of universal existance (quite possibly predating the Big Bang, if possible, and assuming that it did actually occur). It's been a known fact since 1998.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    3. Re:Already Known by Goldsmith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which is why Slashdot for once had the right headline:

      Neutrino Mass Confirmed

      I know plenty of people who work on Super-K and I'm sure they're as glad as anyone their work has been found accurate. The fact that it took almost a decade to confirm this shows how amazing that first measurement is.

  2. Re:Soudan, US by node+3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thats is sloppy on the BBC's part, they should have put the State in there.

    Why? They don't care anymore than we (Americans) care that Tijuana, Mexico is more appropriately, "Tijuana, BC, Mexico".

    To us, the state is important, but to the British, it's really not that pertinent. The point is that the detector is in the US, not what particular state it's in.

    Given how awful most Americans are at geography, your complaint comes off trite and arrogant, sort of like you require people to call you by your full name and title, yet you don't really care whether you get anyone else's name right at all.