neutrinophysics.fnal.govNeutrino Physics | Neutrino Physics at Fermilab

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience. Search Toggle Navbar Toggle Search Home About Science Jobs Contact Phone Book Newsroom Newsroom News and features Press releases Fermilab in the news Photo gallery Fact sheets and brochures Media contacts Press release sign-up Subscribe to our public newsletter Social media Symmetry magazine Interactions.org LBNF/DUNE Come visit us Come visit us Hours and site access Map and directions Tours, programs and events Transportation Education and Outreach Calendar of public events Fermilab Public Events Lederman Science Center Fermilab outdoor recreation Folk and Barn Dancing Subscribe to our public newsletter Link name Link name Link name Link name -- Resources for Resources for Employees Researchers Job seekers Visitors Neighbors Industry Students and teachers Media -- Neutrino Physics Navbar Toggle Neutrino Physics Experiments DOE Science Highlights Neutrino Physics Center Question of the week Events Fellowships Neutrino Division Organizational chart Who is who Facilities Liquid Argon Facilities Neutrino Beam Facilities Charged-Particle Beam Facilities How do I… Division events Postdocs Internal site Search for Search Related Links All Things Neutrino The Neutrino Oscillation Industry Education and Outreach Job opportunities Homepage Neutrinos fill the whole universe, with about 10 million of them per cubic foot, and most of them zip straight through Earth, and through particle detectors, without leaving a trace. Because they almost never interact with matter, only massive and sophisticated experiments can catch and measure the properties of neutrinos. Studying Neutrinos The subatomic particles called neutrinos are among the most elusive in the particle kingdom. Scientists have built detectors underground, underwater, and at the South Pole to measure these ghostly particles that come from the sun, from supernovae and from many other celestial objects. In addition to measuring neutrinos from the sky, physicists on Earth use powerful accelerators to produce neutrino beams containing billions of neutrinos, of which a tiny fraction can be measured by detectors placed in the beam line. At Fermilab, the DONUT accelerator-based neutrino experiment led in 2000 to the discovery of the tau neutrino , the third of the three known types of neutrinos. The NuMI beamline and the Booster Neutrino beamline deliver high intensity neutrino beams to Fermilab experiments such as MINOS+ and MINERvA , and for two new neutrino experiments MicroBooNE and NOvA . Why Neutrinos are Important Particle Physics has made great progress in the last half century probing the quark half of the fundamental particles. We are now in a position to propose doing similar for the neutrinos. The mixing between the 3 neutrino generations is starting to look very different to its quark counterpart. We don’t know why but it is probably important. Neutrinos may hold the key to understanding why the fundamental particles exist in 3 generations. Neutrinos are the real oddities of the fundamental particles (only interact weakly, ultra small, but non-zero masses). Science often advances when studying the oddities, such as understanding life processes in general by studying life around deep sea vents. Neutrinos may only interact weakly, but they are the most abundant particle in the universe with a pivotal role in the evolution of our universe. A difference between how the neutrino types mix and how the antineutrino types mix is postulated to be the reason why matter dominates over anti-matter in our universe (i.e. why we exist). PIP-II and Producing Neutrino Beams The PIP-II project will enable a large increase in the power of Fermilab’s proton beams. This, in turn will produce more powerful neutrino beams. See the animation below to see how this happens. Search for Search Related Links All Things Neutrino The Neutrino Oscillation Industry Education and Outreach Job opportunities Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Managed by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Security, Privacy, Legal Use of Cookies Quick Links Home Contact Phone Book Fermilab at Work For Industry Jobs Interact Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr Linkedin...