The KM3NeT underwater neutrino observatory, which is being built in Europe, has announced its first unique discovery. The detectors at the facility have recorded a neutrino with a record high energy - an order of magnitude, if not more, than anything that has been recorded so far. The study of the signals from the detectors has shown that this “superneutrino“ is of extragalactic origin. There is no exact connection to specific objects, but there are some clues.
The higher the energy of the neutrino, the smaller the chance of its detection. The only reason why these particles are still being detected is their unimaginably large number. After photons, the neutrino is the second most massive particle in the Universe. In this case, statistics are everything. The neutrino in question was detected by the KM3NeT detectors on February 13, 2023. All this time, scientists have been analyzing the signal to make sure that there is no error, and now we can restore the approximate course of events.
Neutrinos with such high energies can occur both during the brightest processes in such objects and during cosmic ray jets traveling to Earth.
The mysterious neutrino hit the Earth at a slight angle and, after passing through the Earth's crust, reacted with matter. As a result of the interaction, the neutrino decayed, producing, among other things, a high-energy muon. The latter continued its movement and, passing through the array of detectors of the KM3NeT neutrino observatory, was registered by a significant part of them. The first detectors were even overwhelmed by the unexpectedly high energy of the muon.
The energy of the muon is between 60 and 230 PeV (peta-electronvolts). The energy of the neutrino that caused it must have been in the range of 120-220 PeV or even higher. The most energetic neutrinos recorded so far did not exceed 10 PeV. The “neutrino” that arrived from space surpassed all previously known results for these particles by at least an order of magnitude and was 10,000 times more powerful than can be obtained in today's terrestrial accelerators.
This discovery highlights the importance of the KM3NeT observatory, which is currently under construction. It is currently only 10% complete, but it is already providing an incredibly productive experience for science. In its final form, the observatory will consist of two sensor arrays: 2.5 kilometers deep off the coast of Sicily (ORCA) and 3.5 kilometers off the coast of France (ARCA). When fully operational, it will significantly accelerate neutrino research, providing a powerful tool for exploring the secrets of the universe.
Source: Kaldata.com