Context
Nobel laureate Takaaki Kajita has voiced support for India based Neutrino Lab.
About Indian Neutrino Observatory:
- Aims to establish an underground laboratory in India for high-energy and nuclear physics research without relying on accelerators.
- Location: site spans across Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- Funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
- Components of the Project:
- Underground Laboratory: Located at Bodi West Hills.
- Magnetized Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector. When completed, ICAL will feature the world’s largest magnet.
- Establishing the Inter Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics (IICHEP) at Madurai.
- Significance of the South Indian Location
- Latitude Advantage: Most existing neutrino detectors are situated at latitudes above 35 degrees.
- The INO, located close to the Equator at nearly 8 degrees latitude in South India, allows for comprehensive neutrino astronomy searches, covering the entire celestial sky.
- Facilitates the study of solar neutrinos as they pass through the Earth’s core.
| Global Neutrino Observatories | Location |
| Sadbury | Canada |
| Super Kamiokande | Japan |
| Gran Sasso Mountains | Italy |
| Soudan mines | USA |
| KATRIN experiment | Germany |
| Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment | Honk Kong |
| IceCube Neutrino Observatory | Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica |
About Neutrino
- A neutrino is one of the fundamental particles.
- Flavors of Neutrinos: come sin 3 types, or “flavors”:
- Electron Neutrino (νe)
- Muon Neutrino (νμ)
- Tau Neutrino (ντ)
- Properties of Neutrinos
- Lepton Family: belong to the lepton family, similar to electrons.
- Mass: are the lightest of all subatomic particles with mass.
- Electrical Charge: are electrically neutral.
- Interaction with Matter:
- Interact with matter via the weak force.
- The weak force’s minimal strength makes matter almost transparent to neutrinos.
- Oscillation: Neutrinos mix and oscillate between different species as they travel through space.
- Sources of Neutrinos:
- Stars: produced in the core of stars, including our Sun, through nuclear fusion and decay processes.
- Exploding Stars: Supernovae produce a vast number of neutrinos.
- Cosmic Rays: Interactions of cosmic rays with the Earth’s atmosphere and other materials produce neutrinos.
- Decay:
- Heavy Particle Decay: When heavy particles decay, they often produce neutrinos.
- Natural Radioactivity: Certain radioactive materials emit neutrinos during their decay processes.
- Relic Neutrinos: These are remnants from the early universe, dating back to the Big Bang.
Source:
The Hindu
Previous Year Question
In the context of modern scientific research, consider the following statements about ‘IceCube’, a particle detector located at South Pole, which was recently in the news:
It is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice.
It is a powerful telescope to search for dark matter.
It is buried deep in the ice.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2015 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
