Why a thousand of the best physicists from around the world are trying so hard to catch just a few of nature's

Question

Once you create a neutrino, a tiny subatomic particle, it moves at nearly the speed of light, and it doesn't stop. It keeps going in a straight line to the edge of the universe.

Answer 1

I am answering this question while taking a break from actually doing calculations for a neutrino detector (I'm a physics graduate student). It is true that it is incredibly difficult to "catch" a neutrino. By catch, I assume you mean detect. The fact that they are so hard to detect is why we know so little about them. We know they have mass, but what those masses are, we don't know. We know they can change from one kind of neutrino to another, but we don't know the details. This is one of the most common particles in the universe, and we know very little about it, compared to many other particles.

But the best part is that by learning about neutrinos, we can learn about all the other particles. Neutrinos are produced in many kinds of reactions, primarily nuclear ones (such as in the sun). Because they are a product of the reaction, understanding them helps us understand the process of the reaction itself.

Also, one of the biggest goals in physics today is to understand what all the particles in the universe are and how they are related to one another. Why is it that the electron is almost 2000 times lighter than the proton? Why do they have the same electric charge? Questions like these are just asking to be answered, and to answer them, we need to see the big picture.

While neutrinos are light and almost non-interacting, they are still a fundamental particle. Physicists looking for patterns in the properties of particles are doing the best they can with the limited information they have. If we can provide them with detailed information on neutrinos, it could give them the hints they need to figure out the rest of it.

Good question though. Don't stop being curious!

Answer 2

The point is the observation, confirming that the mathmatics that they've calculated are right and neutrinos really do exist. if so then it goes along with the Standard Model of quantum physics, if not or they are different than we expect them to be, then it throws yet another monkey wrench into the theorizing process. Although i will say i think the odds are extremely remote on neutrinos not existing...most of the mathematical particle predictions that have been made in the past using the Standard Model have turned out to be accurate...most, not all :) anyway, at the moment the neutrino is kind of a physics holy grail right now...which is why lots of people are working on it. I give it a maybe a decade until we find them, if that long....

Answer 3

We know neutrinos have mass though its tiny, that was discovered over a decade ago, they might not get to the edge of the Universe though - though they react very rarely they do sometimes hit matter and get absorbed or deflected - thats the point in having those huge detectors like the super kamiokande in Japan.

Answer 4

To find out if neutrino's have mass. They could be the dark matter we have been looking for.