Scientists announced on Wednesday that they have found no evidence for the hypothetical “sterile neutrino,” an extra version of the ghostly neutrino particles that are ubiquitous in the universe. The finding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy–run Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment. Sterile neutrinos are a popular theoretical prediction because they could help explain the cosmos’ mysterious dark matter, if they exist.
The finding, which was published in Nature on Wednesday, calls into question a popular explanation for anomalies seen in past neutrino experiments that couldn’t be accounted for with existing physics. It could also hold major implications for the Standard Model, which is the best particle physics theory we have to explain how the universe works.
“We are making a very general statement, which is, you cannot just take the Standard Model, add a fourth neutrino and, in that way, explain any of the previous anomalies,” says Justin Evans, a professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester in England and one of MicroBooNE’s spokespeople.
To read more, click here