Scientists have discovered numerous subatomic particles from outer space in the South Pole that could unlock the mystery of the origins of the universe. Researchers at the IceCube Telescope Laboratory in Antarctica said that the 28 subatomic particles they found in a cubic kilometer of ice came from outside the Solar System and even the Milky Way Galaxy, which includes the Solar System.
A group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin in the USA noted that neutrinos, defined as "elementary particles with a speed close to the speed of light, zero electrical charge and able to pass through matter with almost no interaction", can help solve the mysteries of black holes, flickering stars and celestial bodies emitting subatomic particles.
Francis Halzen, one of the Ice Cube researchers, described subatomic particles as "the first high-energy neutrinos to come from outside our Solar System."
Interstellar neutrinos have only been encountered once before on Earth. Scientists had observed particles reaching Earth from a supernova in 1987. Since then, efforts have been underway to find subatomic particles that do not originate from the Sun or the Earth's urban atmosphere.
Halzen stated that particles found in Antarctica have 1987 million times more energy than neutrinos from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1.
"Our work is currently the most important particle physics project in the world," said Naoko Kurahashi-Neilson, a researcher at Ice Cube. The data we will collect in the next 10 years will enable us to reveal the source of energy.”
Built at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, the IceCube Neutrino Detector distinguishes between neutrinos from outside the Solar System and those emitted from the atmospheres of the Sun and Earth. Researchers believe that subatomic particles can reveal information about astrophysical phenomena billions of light-years from Earth.
The discovery, described as the beginning of a new era in astronomy, was published in the journal "Science".
Source : anatolian agency
📩 22/11/2013 12:46
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