Physicists have found the first direct evidence for the last of the 12 subatomic particles considered the fundamental building blocks of matter. A research team from the United States, Japan, Korea, and Greece has unveiled four sets of particle tracks that it attributes to the long-sought tau neutrino.
One particle per trillion in a suspected tau neutrino
beam (from left) strikes an iron nucleus, spraying
particles through layers of steel, plastic, and charge-detecting
emulsion (narrow bars).
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