Ghost particle : in search of the elusive and mysterious neutrino

The fascinating story of science in pursuit of the ghostly, ubiquitous subatomic particle—the neutrino. Isaac Asimov once observed of the neutrino: “The only reason scientists suggested its existence was their need to make calculations come out even. And yet the nothing-particle was not a nothing at all.” In fact, as one of the most enigmatic and most populous particles in the universe—about 100 trillion are flying through you every second—the neutrino may hold the clues to some of our deepest cosmic mysteries. In Ghost Particle , Alan Chodos and James Riordon recount the dramatic history of the neutrino—from the initial suggestion that the particle was merely a desperate solution to a puzzle that threatened to undermine the burgeoning field of particle physics to its modern role in illuminating the universe via neutrino telescopes. Alan Chodos and James Riordon are deft and engaging guides as they conduct readers through the experiences of intrepid scientists and the challenges they faced, and continue to face, in their search for the ghostly neutrino. Along the way, the authors provide expert insight into the significance of neutrino research from the particle’s first, momentous discovery to recent, revolutionary advances in neutrino detection and astronomy. Chodos and Riordon describe how neutrinos may soon provide clues to some of the biggest questions we encounter today, including how to understand the dark matter that makes up most of the universe—and why anything exists in the universe at all. Contents Foreword Preface Portrait of a Ghost 1: Neutrino Enigma 2: A Desperate Proposal Conservation Revolution and Crisis Correspondence Principle Breakdown Pauli’s Desperate Remedy Ghost Hunting 3: Project Poltergeist To See a Ghost Pursuit of the Poltergeist El Monstro Killing the Monster From Herr Auge to the Club Sandwich The Race Is On Enough Fun at Los Alamos 4: Adrift in a Particle Sea Draining the Dirac Sea The Mysterious Disappearance of Ettore Majorana Case Closed 5: Turn On the Sun Going Underground to Study the Sun The Mystery Deepens Mystery Solved 6: The Incredible Flavor Changer The Flavor-Mass Connection Speeding Oscillation in the Sun Neutrino Mass Hierarchy Flavor Confusion An End to Oscillations 7: Shadows in the Particle Garden Particle Exchange Games Shaping up in Spin Class Antimatter Helicity and Handedness Beta Decay and the Weak Force Making Mass The Beauty in Symmetry Neutrino Mass Troubles The Modeler’s Privilege 8: Cosmic Connections Weighing Neutrinos with the Cosmic Microwave Background Neutrinos and the Mystery of Matter in the Universe Sakharov’s Solution 9: Lifting a Veil on the Universe Supernova Early Warning System A New SNEWS Seeing the Sky in Neutrinos IceCube’s Neutrino Name Game Underground Observatories Radio Emission Neutrino Detectors Studying the Sun Messengers from beyond the Galaxy Big Bang Relics From Detector to Observatory 10: Made-to-Order Neutrinos Forging Neutrino Beams Neutrino Factories Serving up Reactor Neutrinos Homecooked Neutrinos 11: A Coherent Tale Coherent Scattering for Real Lucky CEνNS What Can CEνNS See? In Search of Sterile Neutrinos with CEνNS More for CEνNS Soon 12: Infinity through a Keyhole KATRIN Project 8 Beta Decay in Reverse Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay The Monumental Quest to Find Nothing 13: Into the Unknown Faster than a Speeding Photon The Search for a Special Place in the Universe Portal to the Dark Sector Cracks in the Cottage 14: What Can You Do with a Neutrino? Nuclear Security Probing the Planet Earth Engine Diagnostics Spin-Offs More Promise than Purpose, for Now 15: On the Fringes and over the Edge Ultra-High-Speed Global Communications The Search for Aliens in Space Catching Cosmic Engineers at Work Improbable, but Maybe not Impossible 16: More to Come for Little Neutral One Acknowledgments Appendix A.1 The Discovery That Nature Distinguishes Left from Right A.2 The Higgs Mechanism A.3 An Inside Look at Supernovas Glossary Notes Portrait of a Ghost Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Further Reading Index The fascinating story of science in pursuit of the ghostly, ubiquitous subatomic particle—the neutrino. Isaac Asimov is said to have observed of the neutrino: “The only reason scientists suggested its existence was their need to make calculations come out even. And yet the nothing-particle was not a nothing at all.” In fact, as one of the most enigmatic and most populous particles in the universe—about 100 trillion are flying through you every second—the neutrino may hold the clues to some of our deepest cosmic mysteries. In Ghost Particle , Alan Chodos and James Riordon recount the dramatic history of the neutrino—from the initial suggestion that the particle was merely a desperate solution to a puzzle that threatened to undermine the burgeoning field of particle physics to its modern role in illuminating the universe via neutrino telescopes. Alan Chodos and James Riordon are deft and engaging guides as they conduct readers through the experiences of intrepid scientists and the challenges they faced, and continue to face, in their search for the ghostly neutrino. Along the way, the authors provide expert insight into the significance of neutrino research from the particle’s first, momentous discovery to recent, revolutionary advances in neutrino detection and astronomy. Chodos and Riordon describe how neutrinos may soon provide clues to some of the biggest questions we encounter today, including how to understand the dark matter that makes up most of the universe—and why anything exists in the universe at all. "This book recounts the dramatic history of neutrino science and details the recent successes and ongoing challenges physicists face in pursuit of the ghostly subatomic particle"-- Provided by publisher