Glossary · Physics & astrophysics
Neutrino
A fundamental particle with almost no mass and no electric charge that passes through matter as if it were not there. The Sun produces astronomical numbers of them (about 65 billion per square centimeter per second at Earth), and the most violent phenomena in the universe produce them too. Because they are neither deflected by magnetic fields nor absorbed by dust, neutrinos keep the direction and energy of their source: they are direct messengers from places where light stays trapped. The IceCube detector hunts them inside a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice.
Definition
A fundamental particle with almost no mass and no electric charge that passes through matter as if it were not there. The Sun produces astronomical numbers of them (about 65 billion per square centimeter per second at Earth), and the most violent phenomena in the universe produce them too. Because they are neither deflected by magnetic fields nor absorbed by dust, neutrinos keep the direction and energy of their source: they are direct messengers from places where light stays trapped. The IceCube detector hunts them inside a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice.