Particle physicist Benjamin Tam uses a lab two kilometers below the
Canadian shield's surface to observe neutrinos in the hopes that his
research may clarify a dilemma. a gigantic one.
According to Tam, a PhD candidate at Queen's University, "the major issue
that we are seeking to solve with this research is how the universe was
born."
"Where does the universe come from?"
And in an abandoned mine two kilometers beneath the Canadian Shield, close
to Sudbury, Ontario, he and scores of other scientists and engineers are
conducting a multimillion-dollar experiment to try to find the answer to
that question.
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNOLAB) has previously gained notoriety
for an earlier experiment that showed how neutrinos 'oscillate' between
multiple versions of themselves as they come from the sun.
This discovery demonstrated a key idea: a neutrino's mass cannot be zero.
The principal investigator on the experiment, Arthur McDonald, shared the
Nobel Prize in 2015 for this finding.
The neutrino is frequently referred to as a "ghost particle." The sun emits
millions upon trillions of them per second. Except for extremely
sophisticated detecting technology that warns us of their presence, they are
invisible to humans.
Early in the 20th century, neutrinos were originally proposed as a possible
explanation for why some crucial physics equations repeatedly yielded what
appeared to be incorrect results. They were established to exist in
1956.
Now Tam and his colleagues are zeroing in on the largest unsolved puzzle
surrounding these small particles.
What occurs when two neutrinos meet is unknown. Scientists could come to
the conclusion that a neutrino behaves as its own "antiparticle" if it can
be demonstrated that they occasionally zap each other out of
existence.
Such a result would elucidate the current existence of all the matter in
the cosmos and would explain how an imbalance between matter and anti-matter
developed.
Those who want to describe the physical world with a model that does not
imply none of us should be here would also find some solace in this.
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