{"id":547942,"date":"2023-12-07T15:40:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T20:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=547942"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:05:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T20:05:01","slug":"ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester research with \u2018ghostly\u2019 neutrinos among <em>Physics World<\/em>\u2019s breakthroughs of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Scientists have discovered a new way to investigate the structure of protons using neutrinos, known as \u2018ghost particles.\u2019<\/h2>\n<div class=\"side-right\">\n<h3><strong>Proton probing named a \u2018breakthrough of the year\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>Physics World<\/em> announced its top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2023, which includes Kevin McFarland and Tejin Cai&#8217;s new way to study protons using neutrinos. \u201cAs well as providing insights into the structure of the proton, the technique could also shed further light on how neutrinos interact with matter,\u201d the magazine reports. The overall <em>Physics World<\/em> Breakthrough of the Year will be revealed on Thursday, December 14.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rochester scientists are <a href=\"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/a\/physics-world-reveals-its-top-10-breakthroughs-of-the-year-for-2023\/\">in good company<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in our universe, but they are notoriously difficult to detect and study: they don\u2019t have an electrical charge and have nearly no mass. They are often referred to as \u201cghost particles\u201d because they rarely interact with atoms.<\/p>\n<p>But because they are so abundant, they play a large role in helping scientists answer fundamental questions about the universe.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-022-05478-3\">groundbreaking research<\/a> described in <em>Nature<\/em>\u2014led by researchers from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\">做厙勛圖<\/a>\u2014scientists from the international collaboration <a href=\"https:\/\/minerva.fnal.gov\">MINERvA<\/a> have, for the first time, used a beam of neutrinos at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnal.gov\">Fermilab<\/a>, to investigate the structure of protons.<\/p>\n<p>MINERvA is an experiment to study neutrinos, and the researchers did not set out to study protons. But their feat, once thought impossible, offers scientists a new way of looking at the small components of an atom\u2019s nucleus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we were studying neutrinos as part of the MINERvA experiment, I realized a technique I was using might be applied to investigate protons,\u201d says Tejin Cai, the paper\u2019s first author. Cai, who is now a postdoctoral research associate at York University, conducted the research as a PhD student of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sas.rochester.edu\/pas\/people\/faculty\/mcfarland_kevin\/index.html\">Kevin McFarland<\/a>, the Dr. Steven Chu Professor in Physics at Rochester and key member of the University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/labsites.rochester.edu\/neutrinos\/\">Neutrino Group<\/a>. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure at first if it would work, but we ultimately discovered we could use neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. It\u2019s like using a ghost ruler to make a measurement.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Using particle beams to measure protons\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Atoms, and the protons and neutrons that make up an atom\u2019s nucleus, are so small that researchers have a difficult time measuring them directly. Instead, they build a picture of the shape and structure of an atom\u2019s components by bombarding atoms with a beam of high-energy particles. They then measure how far and at what angles the particles bounce off the atom\u2019s components.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine, for example, throwing marbles at a box. The marbles would bounce off the box at certain angles, enabling you to determine where the box was\u2014and to determine its size and shape\u2014even if the box was not visible to you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a very indirect way of measuring something, but it allows us to relate the structure of an object\u2014in this case, a proton\u2014to how many deflections we see in different angles,\u201d McFarland says.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What can neutrino beams tell us?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"side-right\">\n<h3><strong>About MINERvA<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MINERvA\u2014the Main Injector Neutrino ExpeRiment to study \u03bd-A interactions\u2014is a particle physics experiment to study neutrinos. Located 100 meters (approximately 328 feet) underground at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, MINERvA is designed to conduct measurements of neutrinos interacting with a wide variety of materials. It is the first experiment to use a high-intensity neutrino beam to study neutrino interactions simultaneously on a wide variety of atomic nuclei, from helium to lead.<\/p>\n<p>The experiment is run by an international collaboration of nearly 70 scientists from 24 institutions and nine countries.<\/p>\n<p>MINERvA provides unprecedented data about the structure of an atom\u2019s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. This information is important in helping scientists unlock some of the greatest mysteries of particle physics, including how matter came to dominate anti-matter in the universe, allowing for the formation of planets and life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Researchers first measured the size of protons in the 1950s, using an accelerator with beams of electrons at Stanford University\u2019s linear accelerator facility. But instead of using beams of accelerated electrons, the new technique developed by Cai, McFarland, and their colleagues, uses beams of neutrinos.<\/p>\n<p>While the new technique does not produce a sharper image than the old technique, McFarland says, it may give scientists new information about how neutrinos and protons interact\u2014information they can currently only infer using theoretical calculations or a combination of theory and other measurements.<\/p>\n<p>In comparing the new technique with the old, McFarland likens the process to seeing a flower in normal, visible light and then looking at the flower under ultraviolet light.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are looking at the same flower, but you can see different structures under the different kinds of light,\u201d McFarland says. \u201cOur image isn\u2019t more precise, but the neutrino measurement provides us with a different view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, they are hoping to use the technique to separate the effects related to neutrino scattering on protons from the effects related to neutrino scattering on atomic nuclei, which are bound collections of protons and neutrons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur previous methods for predicting neutrino scattering from protons all used theoretical calculations, but this result directly measures that scattering,\u201d Cai says.<\/p>\n<p>McFarland adds, \u201cBy using our new measurement to improve our understanding of these nuclear effects, we will better be able to carry out future measurements of neutrino properties.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The technical challenge of experimenting with neutrinos<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Neutrinos are created when atomic nuclei either come together or break apart. The sun is a large source of neutrinos, which are a byproduct of the sun\u2019s nuclear fusion. If you stand in the sunlight, for example, trillions of neutrinos will harmlessly pass through your body every second.<\/p>\n<p>Even though neutrinos are more abundant in the universe than electrons, it is harder for scientists to experimentally harness them in large numbers: neutrinos pass through matter like ghosts, while electrons interact with matter far more frequently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the course of a year, on average, there would only be interactions between one or two neutrinos out of the trillions that go through your body every second,\u201d Cai says. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge technical challenge in our experiments in that we have to get enough protons to look at, and we have to figure out how to get enough neutrinos through that big assembly of protons.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A neutrino detector performs a \u2018chemical trick\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The researchers solved this problem in part by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms. Typically researchers use only hydrogen atoms in experiments to measure protons. Not only is hydrogen the most abundant element in the universe, it\u2019s also the simplest, as a hydrogen atom contains only a single proton and electron. But a target of pure hydrogen wouldn\u2019t be sufficiently dense for enough neutrinos to interact with the atoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re performing a \u2018chemical trick\u2019, so to speak, by binding the hydrogen up into hydrocarbon molecules that make it able to detect sub-atomic particles,\u201d McFarland says.<\/p>\n<p>The MINERvA group conducted their experiments using a high-power, high-energy particle accelerator, located at Fermilab. The accelerator produces the strongest source of high-energy neutrinos on the planet.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers struck their detector made of hydrogen and carbon atoms with the beam of neutrinos and recorded data for nearly nine years of operation.<\/p>\n<p>To isolate only the information from the hydrogen atoms, the researchers then had to subtract the background \u201cnoise\u201d from the carbon atoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hydrogen and carbon are chemically bonded together, so the detector sees interactions on both at once,\u201d Cai says. \u201cI realized that a technique I was using to study interactions on carbon could also be used to see hydrogen all by itself once you subtract the carbon interactions. A big part of our job was subtracting the very large background from neutrinos scattering on the protons in the carbon nucleus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Says Deborah Harris, a professor at York University and a co-spokesperson for MINERvA, \u201cWhen we proposed MINERvA, we never thought we\u2019d be able to extract measurements from the hydrogen in the detector. Making this work required great performance from the detector, creative analysis from scientists, and years of running\u201d the accelerator at Fermilab.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The impossible becomes possible<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>McFarland, too, initially thought it would be close to impossible to use neutrinos to precisely measure the signal from the protons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Tejin and our colleague Arie Bodek (the George E. Pake Professor of Physics at Rochester) first suggested trying this analysis, I thought it would be too difficult,\u201d McFarland says. \u201cBut the old view of protons has been very thoroughly explored, so we decided to try this technique to get a new view\u2014and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The collective expertise of MINERvA\u2019s scientists and the collaboration within the group was essential in accomplishing the research, Cai says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe result of the analysis and the new techniques developed highlight the importance of being creative and collaborative in understanding data,\u201d he says. \u201cWhile a lot of the components for the analysis already existed, putting them together in the right way really made a difference, and this cannot be done without experts with different technical backgrounds sharing their knowledge to make the experiment a success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to providing more information about the common matter that comprises the universe, the research is important for predicting neutrino interactions for other experiments that are trying to measure the properties of neutrinos. These experiments include the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dunescience.org\">Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/icarus.fnal.gov\">Imaging Cosmic And Rare Underground Signals (ICARUS)<\/a> neutrino detector, and <a href=\"https:\/\/t2k-experiment.org\">T2K<\/a> neutrino experiments in which McFarland and his group are involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need detailed information about protons to answer questions like which neutrinos have more mass than others and whether or not there are differences between neutrinos and their anti-matter partners,\u201d Cai says. \u201cOur work is one step forward in answering the fundamental questions about neutrino physics that are the goal of these big science projects in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This story was originally published on February 1, 2023. It has been updated after <em>Physics World<\/em> magazine named the research among its breakthroughs of the year.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Led by researchers from  the University of Rochester, scientists from the international collaboration MINERvA have, for the first time, used a beam of hard-to-detect neutrinos to investigate the structure of protons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":547992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[18662,29502,8866,18572,16072],"class_list":["post-547942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-physics-and-astronomy","tag-featured-post-side","tag-kevin-mcfarland","tag-research-finding","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rochester research with \u2018ghostly\u2019 neutrinos among Physics World\u2019s breakthroughs of the year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists have discovered a new way to investigate the structure of protons using neutrinos, known as \u2018ghost particles.\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rochester research with \u2018ghostly\u2019 neutrinos among Physics World\u2019s breakthroughs of the year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scientists have discovered a new way to investigate the structure of protons using neutrinos, known as \u2018ghost particles.\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T20:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-21T20:05:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/fea-fermilab-neutrinos-measures-protons.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lindsey Valich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lindsey Valich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lindsey Valich\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fcd7d29a5b8e855924bf73b764dcd827\"},\"headline\":\"Rochester research with \u2018ghostly\u2019 neutrinos among Physics World\u2019s breakthroughs of the year\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-07T20:40:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-21T20:05:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1713,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghostly-neutrinos-new-path-to-study-protons-547942\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/fea-fermilab-neutrinos-measures-protons.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Physics and Astronomy\",\"featured-post-side\",\"Kevin McFarland\",\"research finding\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; 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