Feature Particle Physics

Year in review: Neutrinos leave tracks in ice

Scientists map particles’ birthplaces

Neutrino tracks from IceCube experiment

TRACKING NEUTRINOS  The IceCube experiment has started to pinpoint the birthplaces of some high-energy neutrinos. The highest-energy neutrino ever recorded triggered flashes of light, illustrated here, that IceCube detected.

M.G. Aartsen et al/arxiv.org 2014

By Andrew Grant

- More than 2 years ago

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In the dark depths of an Antarctic glacier, flashes of light triggered by wispy particles called neutrinos are providing rare clues about the universe’s most extreme environments.