One of the most important topics in science is being investigated inside a lab tucked away above the fog of South Dakota’s forests: why the universe exists?
Another group of Japanese scientists, who are many years ahead of them, are competing with them for the solution.
The origins of planets, stars, and galaxies are beyond the current understanding of astronomy. In an effort to uncover answers, both teams are constructing detectors that investigate a subatomic particle known as a neutrino.
The appropriately called Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (Dune) is where US scientists are trying to find the solution.
The researchers enter three enormous subterranean caves 1,500 meters below the surface. It’s so big that, in comparison, construction workers and their bulldozers are like little plastic toys.
The enormous caverns are referred to as “cathedrals to science” by Dr. Jaret Heise, the science director for Dune.
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For almost a decade, Dr. Heise has been involved in the caves’ construction. They isolate Dune from the radiation and noise of the outside world. Dune is now prepared for the following phase.
“We are poised to build the detector that will change our understanding of the universe with instruments that will be deployed by a collaboration of 1,500 scientists who are eager to answer the question of why we exist,” he continues.
Two types of particles were generated at the beginning of the universe: matter, which is the building block of stars, planets, and everything else in our environment, and antimatter, which is the exact opposite of matter and is also present in equal proportions.
In theory, the two ought to have neutralized one another, leaving just a powerful energy spike. Nevertheless, here we are, as matter.
Scientists think that researching the neutrino and its antimatter opposite, the anti-neutrino, will help them understand why matter prevailed and why we are here.
They will be sending beams of both types of particles to the detectors in South Dakota, which are 800 miles apart, from deep below in Illinois.
This is due to the fact that neutrinos and antineutrinos undergo minute changes along their journey.
If such alterations are different for neutrinos and antineutrinos, that is what the scientists want to know. The solution to the question of why matter and antimatter do not cancel each other out may be revealed if they are.
Several years ahead of the American effort, the Japanese-led team will be prepared to activate its neutrino beam in less than two years. Hyper K is a multinational corporation, much like Dune. According to Dr. Mark Scott of Imperial College in London, his team is poised to produce one of the most significant findings about the universe’s origins.
“We switch on earlier, and we have a larger detector, so we should have more sensitivity sooner than Dune,” he explains.
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Scientists will learn more from two trials running simultaneously than from just one, but “I would like to get there first!” he says.
However, the Japanese-led team may not gain a complete picture of what is actually happening if they arrive first, according to Dr. Linda Cremonesi of Queen Mary University of London, who works on the US project.
“There is an element of a race, but Hyper-K does not yet have all of the ingredients that they need to understand if neutrinos and antineutrinos behave differently.”
Although the race has begun, the first outcomes are not anticipated for some years. For the time being, the exact event that created humankind at the beginning of time is still unknown.
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