Neutrino Evidence Could Explain Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry | Quanta Magazine

Neutrino Evidence Could Explain Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry | Quanta Magazine



View of photomultiplier tubes arranged at the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector facility (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty)

Neutrino clue to antimatter mystery

Physicists have found the strongest evidence yet that neutrinos are fundamentally different from their antimatter counterparts. Researchers produced neutrinos and antineutrinos at an accelerator in Tokai, Japan, and shot them 295 kilometres through the Earth’s crust to the Super-Kamiokande detector. The team found that one flavour of neutrino — muons — morphed into different types of particle at a different rate than did their antimatter twins. If confirmed, the results could help to solve the Universe’s greatest mystery: why there is more matter than antimatter.

Quanta | 5 min read
Go deeper with the expert perspective from physicists Silvia Pascoli and Jessica Turner in the Nature News & Views.Reference: Nature paper