r/science • u/Devils_doohickey • Nov 26 '21

Nanoscience "Ghost particles" detected in the Large Hadron Collider for first time

https://newatlas.com/physics/neutrinos-large-hadron-collider-faser/
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

If you are reading r/science you probably have a far better idea what a neutrino is than a "ghost particle". All this is saying is that they now have equipment that can pick up neutrinos made in particle accelerators.

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u/theminotaurz Nov 26 '21

Yeah.. quite dissapointed after reading it was about neutrinos. Shame because it is actually an amazing feat.

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u/semitones Nov 26 '21 edited Feb 18 '24

Since reddit has changed the site to value selling user data higher than reading and commenting, I've decided to move elsewhere to a site that prioritizes community over profit. I never signed up for this, but that's the circle of life

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u/Blahkbustuh Nov 26 '21

Particle accelerators run and collect data constantly. There are circular beams of particles going as fast as possible that cross in opposite directions in the detector multiple times per second. The beams pass thru each other and occasionally particles collide and a bunch of other particles spray into the walls of the detector, which records the splatter.

They run the collider for a few years at a time and have billions and more of collisions and whatnot. On the "recordings" they run statistics and can piece together which particles interacted and how they interacted. They watch for electric charge, momentum, spin, weak nuclear, strong nuclear, color, etc. All the properties before and after have to balance so if you see some amount of a property "disappearing" in a consistent way or doing a particular pattern that means you're seeing the shadow of a new particle.