Universe Tiniest 'Ghost Particle'

Physicists Finally Narrowed Down the Mass of the Tiniest 'Ghost Particle' in the Universe

By Rafi Letzter 16 hours ago Space 

A new paper uses data about the structure of the entire universe to measure the mass of one of its smallest, hardest-to-study components.

 
 
 
 
 

This photo shows the inside of a cylindrical antineutrino detector designed to detect the rare fundamental particles.

(Image: © Roy Kaltschmidt photo, LBNL)

We're full of neutrinos all the time. They're everywhere, nearly undetectable, flitting through normal matter. We barely know anything about them — not even how heavy they are. But we do know that neutrinos have the potential to alter the shape of the entire universe. And because they have that power, we can use the shape of the universe to weigh them — as a team of physicists has now done.