Neutrinos created in exploding stars could point to physics beyond the Standard Model, according to calculations done by Po-Wen Chang and colleagues at Ohio State University in the US. Their work explains how a hypothetical interaction affects the pulse of neutrinos that is generated in a core-collapse supernova – something that could be seen in existing and future observations of supernovae.
Neutrinos are low-mass and electrically neutral subatomic particles that can travel long distances through matter without interacting. They are produced in vast quantities by some astrophysical processes and astronomers use huge detectors to study the neutrinos that arrive on Earth. As well as telling us something about astrophysics, studying these cosmic neutrinos can provide insights into the nature of the particles themselves.
Now, Chang’s team has explored the possibility that supernovae explosions could trigger neutrino behaviours that cannot be explained by the Standard Model of particle physics.
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