China to build the world’s largest ‘ghost particle’ detector

• China is building an enormous telescope in the western Pacific Ocean.
• Its job will be to detect “ghost particles”, also known as neutrinos.
• The telescope will be the largest of its kind.

What is a Ghost Particle or Neutrino ?

• Neutrinos are a type of electron but, like neutrons, they do not have any charge.
• They are among the most abundant particles in our universe — with trillions of neutrinos passing through you at any given second — and also among the tiniest.
• Neutrinos have a very small mass.
• Neutrinos’ weak charge and almost non-existent mass have made them notoriously difficult to observe.
• They can only be “seen” when they interact with other particles.
• The rarity of interactions with other particles makes them almost impossible to track.
• Their impossibility to track makes them ghost particles — the vast majority skirt around undetected.

How do Scientists detect Ghost Particles?

• Ghost particles rarely interact with other particles. But rarely doesn’t mean “never”.
• Sometimes they interact with water molecules, which is why China is building its ghost molecule telescope underwater.
• Scientists have observed ghost particles in fleeting instances when the particles create byproducts after travelling through water or ice.
• These “muons” create flashes of light that can be detected by sophisticated underwater telescopes and offer one of the few ways to study the energy and source of neutrinos.

Race for the Largest Neutrino-Detecting Telescope

• Right now, the largest neutrino-detecting telescope is the University of Madison-Wisconson’s “IceCube” telescope.
• It is situated deep in the Antarctic, the telescope’s sensors span around 1 cubic kilometre.
• China says its new telescope, called “Trident”, will span 7.5 cubic kilometers in the South China Sea.
• The size of Trident will allow it to detect more neutrinos and make it “10,000 times more sensitive” than existing underwater telescopes.
• The construction of the telescope is expected to be finished by the end of the current decade.

Why does the Detection of Ghost Particles Matter?

• Scientists don’t really know why the massively abundant neutrinos act the way they do.
• They defy established rules of physics.
• It’s also not clear where the particles come from.
• Scientists hypothesize that they might have played a role in the early universe, right after the big bang. This hypothesis has no proving so far.

Role of Ghost Particles in Understanding the Origin of Universe

• A sound understanding of neutrinos will help solve a number of scientific mysteries — like the origin of the mysterious cosmic rays, which are known to contain neutrinos.
• Understanding the source of neutrinos will enable them to explain the origins of mysterious cosmic rays — something scientists have been trying to do for centuries.
• There’s evidence that neutrinos are essential for understanding the origins of our universe.
• The construction of Trident is set to bring us one step closer to that knowledge.