In a surprising discovery, physicists have detected a rare spooky particle that was previously thought to only occur within the sun, but now, also under a mountain in Italy.
The rare particles are called neutrinos produced by CNO. These are subatomic particles produced by the sun’s carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle, one of two known fusion reactions in the sun that convert hydrogen to helium. These neutrinos produced by CNO apparently traveled from the sun to the detector that was buried under a mountain in Italy.
The quest to understand the sun’s melting processes
Nuclear fusion processes, where hydrogen is transformed into helium, are predicted to be behind 99 percent of the sun’s energy. Aside from the rarer CNO cycle, the other fusion reaction process is the more common proton-proton fusion. Although both are nuclear fusion processes to convert H to He, they produce different types of neutrinos, almost massless evasive subatomic particles that pass through most materials at almost the speed of light.
In CNO, the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes serve as catalysts as four protons undergo nuclear fusion. Create an alpha particle, two positrons, and two neutrinos. Meanwhile, proton-proton reactions occur when the kinetic energy of the protons reaches a point above their mutual electrostatic repulsion.
CNO’s discovery of neutrinos is a step toward understanding one of the nuclear reactions that keep the sun on fire.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Physicists have discovered the rare neutrino produced by CNO through the Borexino experiment. The large neutrino detector is located somewhere below the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy (pictured).
Physicists will use data from the neutrino produced by CNO with the existing proton-proton neutrinos. This comparison will give scientists an idea about the concentration of elements called CNOs (carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) relative to abundant hydrogen.
The result of the detection of underground neutrinos has already shown an importance above 5 sigma, with confidence levels above 99%. It translates into a one in 3.5 million probability that the detected signal comes from random fluctuations rather than the actual passage of neutrinos produced by CNO. However, the findings are still pending peer review as of this writing. Ranucci first presented the results in the virtual incarnation of the Neutrino 2020 conference.
Congratulations to Borexino on “Quest of the CNO neutrinos finally produced the first signal observation” #solarneutrinos #borexino @INFN_ # nu2020 #congratulations pic.twitter.com/WOnimhrDwT – Neutrino2020 (@ nu2020_chicago) June 23, 2020
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The Borexino observatory
Physicist Gioacchino Ranucci of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Milan, Italy, shared his discovery in an interview with Live Science. Ranucci said that with the discovery, “Borexino has completely unraveled the two processes that feed the sun.”
Ranucci was referring to the Borexino project, an extensive experimental setup for particle physics designed specifically for the detection and study of low-energy solar neutrinos. The 16.9×18 meter (55.4×59 ft) detector weighs approximately 278 tons. It is mainly filled with scintillating liquid that flashes light when the electrons in the fluid interact with a neutrino. It is mainly believed that a brighter flash, corresponding to higher energy, is indicative of the presence of neutrinos produced by CNO.
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Borexino sits at the Laboratori Nazionalli del Gran Sasso (LNGS). The LGNS, established in 1985, is the largest underground center, located below the Gran Sasso mountain. Its name, Borexino, is taken from BOREX or the boron experiment with solar neutrinos.
Without the natural shielding offered by their deep underground location, other signals would easily drown CNO neutrinos, which are still in the sub-MeV range. In addition, Ranucci attributes the “unprecedented purity” of the scintillating liquid, enhancing Borexino’s ability to detect the neutrino CNO.
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