The Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) is developing two projects related to the smallest particles in the universe.
1. Searching for neutrinos with miniature detectors: nuESS
Neutrinos are the most difficult particles to observe that we know of. However, there is a process, known as the coherent interaction of neutrinos with the nuclei of atoms, which makes neutrinos much more likely to be detected. Observing this interaction requires new detectors at very low energy, which are being developed at the DIPC. Measuring these interactions will allow us to understand neutrinos a little better, to explore new aspects of particle physics, and their role in the evolution of the cosmos.
2. Finding the origin of the universe: the NEXT project.
For those who study the origin of the universe, an unanswered question is why the balance tipped in favour of matter. Predictions indicate that the same amount of matter and antimatter should have been created, and it was to be expected that they would annihilate each other. But they didn't, and the universe around us is proof of that.
NEXT aims to answer this question by trying to find out whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle and therefore key to the origin of this matter-antimatter asymmetry.
If you want to know more, we invite you to watch an audiovisual and an artistic installation about the NEXT project being carried out at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC), which aims to develop novel detection systems for a reaction called neutrinoless double beta decay.
The painting shows a representation of the colour changes, from green to blue, of the new molecules produced when a barium atom disintegrates. These molecules will open the door to the special nature of the neutrino and the origin of matter in the Universe. Can you count how many barium atoms are captured in the picture?