MINOS has caught a neutrino!

[CalliArcale]

Actually, it caught some a while ago, but they were cosmic neutrinos. This one is different. This neutrino was the first one detected by the MINOS detector which was fired from Fermilab in Illinois. The detector is in the Soudan Underground Mine in the "Arrowhead" region of northeastern Minnesota.<br /><br />First neutrino captured in Iron Range trap<br /><br />And just as a bit of sibling pride, one of my brothers is working on this project as part of his graduate work. He has spent a lot of time in Soudan, mainly getting the computer systems working correctly and designing the software to interpret the data from this behemoth. But now he's working on the other end, near Chicago. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[rogers_buck]

Pretty cool. Any details on the Fermi experiment that generated the neutrino? Was it specifically designed for that purpose, or was the detection serendipitus?

 

[holmec]

Great! I can't wait to see what results it comes up with in full operation. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Pretty cool. Any details on the Fermi experiment that generated the neutrino? Was it specifically designed for that purpose, or was the detection serendipitus?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Subatomic physics generally goes way over my head, but yes, the Fermilab experiment was specifically designed for this purpose. They have a device producing a beam of neutrinos aimed directly at Soudan (which of course means it's aimed somewhat downwards; the neutrinos pass through part of the Earth to get to northern Minnesota from northern Illinois). They turned the beam on a few months ago (if memory serves) and they've been slowly ramping up the power to see when neutrinos start to be detected in Soudan. They are still increasing the power; they weren't sure exactly when the first of their neutrinos would be detected, but they want to be detecting more than this, so the power will have to keep rising for a while. I think they're expecting to ultimately get a neutrino every four or five hours that came from the emitter at Fermilab. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Until they generate a strong current from Fermi, they can't be sure that the neutrino might have come from an alternate source. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />That's why they are still ramping up power at Fermilab. They want to be getting several neutrinos a day from it.<br /><br />They can tell which direction the neutrino was traveling, and there's some other stuff that I don't really understand that they've done to make it easier to tell the cosmic neutrinos from their experimental ones. This one they're pretty sure came from Fermilab. It's not much more than an "oh cool!" moment, though; by itself it's not enough for them to base any conclusions on it, even if it did come from Fermilab.<br /><br />But it's nice to know that the equipment seems to be working. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[igorsboss]

If Neutrinos move at sublight, and the delay time for light escaping supernovas is the same for all supernovas, then the difference in arrival times for Neutrinos and light could give us a measure of the distance to a supernova.<br /><br />An analogy: seismologists use S-wave and P-wave arrival times to calculate the distance to earthquakes.

 

[najab]

><i>The detector is in the Soudan Underground Mine in the "Arrowhead" region of northeastern Minnesota.</i><p>And not, as some may have erroneously thought, in North-Eastern Africa.</p>

 

[rogers_buck]

The PMT arrays presumably give them the track. So what particular energy neutrinos did they create? Did the lower limit on detection meet predictions? So, why is the sun such a slacker? We'll probably have to wait for the paper or press release - no harm asking... This is real cool. (-;

 

[CalliArcale]

I have heard tell that my brother may be coming up to visit for Easter. I will ask him. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> He will no doubt derive great pleasure out of explaining! (Hopefully I'll understand enough of it to remember and repost it here.) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>And not, as some may have erroneously thought, in North-Eastern Africa.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /><br />Although it is pronounced exactly the same way, the small mining town (with no working mine for decades) is distinguished from the African nation by the letter "o". Soudan, Sudan. It's a small town, like most in the Arrowhead, and today its primary business is wilderness and hunting outfitting, and a few local backwoods resorts on Lake Vermillion. The Soudan Underground Mine is a historical site, and is also a state park. It was the first iron mine in North America, an underground shaft dug into bedrock so tough you don't even need to shore up the walls. The mine closed down when more economical strip-mining began. Today, you can visit the mine and see exhibits about life in the early days, when Czech and Slovak immigrants came into the region. (Even today, there are tensions from that; there are bars you only go into if you are Czech and bars you only go into if you are Slovak.) One entrance has been closed to human visitors and is now a bat sanctuary. And two artificial caverns have been added to house physics experiments, which can also be toured by the public. There's a big mural on one wall that is said to be quite fun to look at, commissioned by a wife of one of the researchers to give the people down there something to look at it.<br /><br />Mining does continue in the Arrowhead, although rising labor costs are beginning to get some mining companies to pull out. My aunt is head of one of the mining companies; they have resolved not to pull out, no matter what. Minnesota was once the source of all of the steel used in Detroit, and was hugely important during the war effort in the 1940s, but that is no longer true. It is not due to the iron running out. Even the Soudan mine is far from being mined out. The area is incredibly rich in iron; many of <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[rogers_buck]

>> I have heard tell that my brother may be coming up to visit for Easter. I will ask him. He will no doubt derive great pleasure out of explaining! (Hopefully I'll understand enough of it to remember and repost it here.) <br /><br />Yes! By all means. Get him drunk on chocolate bunnies and let's have our own Stoker interview right here! He won't mind. (-;

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Yes! By all means. Get him drunk on chocolate bunnies and let's have our own Stoker interview right here! He won't mind. (-;<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Alas, I was mistaken. He did not visit for Easter, but instead spent it with his fiancee's family. So I'm still pretty clueless about this. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Another link:<br /><br />MINOS experiment sheds light on mystery of neutrino disappearances by Julia Maddock (PPARC Press Release), 31 March 2006