Scientists in China are building the world’s largest “ghost particle” detector 11,500 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.
- The Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT) — called Hai ling or “Ocean Bell” in Chinese — will be anchored to the seabed of the Western Pacific Ocean.
- Upon completion in 2030, it will scan for rare flashes of light made by elusive particles as they briefly become tangible in the ocean depths.
- Neutrinos are a type of electron but, like neutrons, they do not have any charge. Every second, about 100 billion ghost particles, called neutrinos, pass through each square centimeter of your body.
- And yet, neutrinos’ nonexistent electrical charge and almost-zero mass mean they barely interact with other types of matter.
- But by slowing neutrinos down, physicists can trace some of the particles’ origins billions of light-years away to ancient, cataclysmic stellar explosions and galactic collisions.
- Neutrinos are called ghost particles- they’re not haunting or dangerous, but they just zip through the Earth without us even noticing them.
- They can only been “seen” when they interact with other particles. The rarity of interactions with other particles makes them almost impossible to track. That’s why they’re called ghost particles—the vast majority skirt around undetected.
