Scientists Create Rare Cosmic Particles On Earth
source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/extreme-machines/scientists-create-ne...
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Why wait for elusive cosmic particles to arrive from space when you can order them on demand? A multinational team of researchers in Japan became the first to detect a man-made neutrino particle, after shooting it underground from a particle accelerator to the massive Super-Kamiokande detector 185 miles away. The detector is housed in a 12 million gallon tank of water surrounded by 11,000 light sensors, at the bottom of an abandoned mine 3300 feet underground. The neutrinos impact water molecules and the sensors record the pattern of light radiated by the collisions. Tests with the controlled beam of neutrinos could prove that the particles change as they travel, and strengthen the growing consensus among particle physicists that neutrinos have mass--a conclusion that would influence the ongoing debate over the balance between matter and antimatter in the universe.
