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In a frigid Italian laboratory, scientists are using extremely cold and ancient materials to challenge existing laws of physics. Their research into phenomena such as neutrinoless double beta
In a frigid Italian laboratory, scientists are using extremely cold and ancient materials to challenge existing laws of physics. Their research into phenomena such as neutrinoless double beta decay could revolutionize our understanding of matter and antimatter in the universe, enabling students to participate in groundbreaking experiments.
In an underground laboratory beneath the Apennine Mountains in Italy, where the coldest temperatures in the known universe have been reached, international teams of scientists are working to solve one of the greatest mysteries of particle physics.
Among the more than 150 leading researchers who contributed to this groundbreaking work is University of California physics professor Tomás Gutierrez. Gutierrez, the principal investigator on a three-year, $340,000 grant funded by the National Science Foundation, plays a key role in the project.
The research is being conducted at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, located near Assergi, Italy, about 80 miles northeast of Rome. This state-of-the-art institution brings together academics from prestigious institutions such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Yale University, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Cal Poly, as well as renowned universities in Europe and Asia.
NSF funding covers costs related to Cal Poly travel and student experiments. Gutierrez and his team of Cal Poly students, along with other scientists, are investigating unproven theories about nuclear decay, also known as radioactive decay, the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy through radiation. Their work aims to better explain why the universe is full of matter and uncover other mysteries that have baffled scientists for generations.
“If you can find something that defies the laws of physics, that’s a discovery,” Gutierrez said. “Right now we’re looking for a type of nuclear decay that is forbidden by the laws of physics. That shouldn’t happen. So if that’s the case, and that’s what we’re looking for, that tells you a lot about how the world works.”
The research continues the scientific collaboration initiated under the international CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) program, now called CUPID (CUORE Upgrade with Particle Identification). In Italian, the word “cuore” means heart; so the acronym uses the word “cupid” for the next, final phase of the program.
Gutierrez’s research area focuses on neutrinos, tiny particles with very low mass. Neutrinos, which were abundant in the universe during the Big Bang and moved at speeds close to the speed of light, can also be produced as a result of violent explosions such as the explosion of stars. Neutrinos are usually produced as a result of radioactive decay. Because they do not interact much and are neutral, they can help explain the mysteries of the universe regarding matter and antimatter.
In modern physics, all particles have antiparticles, which are their antimatter analogues: electrons have antielectrons (positrons), quarks have antiquarks, and neutrons and protons (of which atomic nuclei are formed) have antineutrons and antiprotons.
“According to the laws of physics, there should be equal amounts of matter and antimatter, they should all disappear, disappear, and we should not exist,” Gutierrez said. he said. “But this little matter that remains is us. Why do we exist? Why all this cod? So it’s kind of a mystery.”
According to an old scientific theory, neutrinos, which have a neutral charge, can be their own antiparticles. However, this concept has never been proven. The CUPID mission hopes to detect the possibility of neutrinoless double beta decay, a radioactive process in which atomic nuclei emit two electrons but no neutrinos. Observing this decay would support the hypothesis that neutrinos are their own antiparticles.
“If there is neutrinoless double beta decay, that gives us all this information about the fundamentals of matter, not just that, but about all matter,” Gutierrez said. he said. “Very powerful.”
Gutierrez and an international scientific team are collaborating on the study of tellurium dioxide crystals, a mixture of tellurium and oxygen.
“It was hypothesized that the tellurium isotope could undergo double beta decay without neutrinos,” Gutierrez said. he said.
About a third of the tellurium nuclei in this piece of crystal were the correct isotope, Gutierrez said.
“The goal is to measure its own decay using a detector made of this crystal,” Gutierrez said. “It will release a very specific amount of energy and increase the temperature we can observe. With this test, we want to be able to tell, at best, whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle.”
The Italian laboratory shields cosmic rays and other naturally occurring radioactivity with about a kilometer of rock in all directions and a six-centimeter-thick shield made of boiled lead recovered from a sunken ancient Roman merchant ship. Ancient lead, used as a protective preservative in laboratory research, does not itself contain radioactive material due to a natural process that has occurred over centuries, demonstrating the effectiveness of centuries-old lead for science.
The Italian institution is the largest underground research center in the world. The cold working environment is designed for temperatures of approximately 10 mileelvin, or -441.74 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest volume in the universe. Such low temperatures help particle science because particles move much slower when they cool, allowing scientists to study their behavior more precisely.
According to Gutiérrez, people are “banging their heads against the wall trying to understand” theories between antimatter and matter and how neutrinos might be involved.
“There’s a lot of different ways that people have explored, but about 30 years ago the idea that if this decay was happening, it tells us about the properties of matter, and that would mean that the universe actually favors matter over antimatter quite a lot,” Gutierrez said.
Cal Poly students, including physics major Rheagen Garcia of Morro Bay, California, have already contributed and will continue to do so. Part of their work involves making remote modifications to the detector of an experiment conducted in Italy.
“CUORE needs constant monitoring, so remotely manipulating the detector’s operation is an important part of the experiment,” Garcia said. “The grant will help students participate in these changes. It will also help send students to Italy or to other universities that are part of the collaboration.”
Garcia also spent a summer at Yale University’s Wright Laboratory, an institution collaborating with the CUPID experiment, where Garcia conducted testing of the particle detector system.
“It was exciting to be a part of such detailed, specific aspects of the experimental design,” Garcia said. “This past summer was the most exciting and rewarding research experience I had the opportunity to participate in at Yale.”
Source: Port Altele
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