Highest-energy cosmic neutrino makes a splash in the Med
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Publicly released:
2025-02-13 03:00
International scientists, including an Australian, say they've found evidence of the highest-energy neutrino detected to date. The result suggests the particle came from beyond our Milky Way, they say, although its precise origin remains mysterious. Neutrinos are tiny particles smaller than an atom. They rarely interact with anything else, earning them the nickname 'ghost particles' and making them hard to detect. However, spotting them is possible using detectors made up of thousands of highly sensitive ‘cameras’ embedded within large bodies of ice or water. The Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, has two detectors searching for signals at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, which is where researchers detected a signal from a high energy muon - another type of particle that's generated by a neutrino. The muon had an energy of around 120 petaelectronvolts, they say, suggesting its neutrino had an even higher energy of around 220 PeV. The position and orientation of the muon suggest its neutrino came from space, the scientists say, and they've identified 12 active galaxies from which it may have originated. However, none were confirmed as the source, which remains a mystery for now, they conclude.
Journal/conference: Nature
Research: Paper
Organisation/s: Western Sydney University, INFN, Sezione di Catania (INFN-CT), Italy, The KM3NeT Collaboration, University of Maryland, USA
Funder: We acknowledge the financial support of:
KM3NeT-INFRADEV2 project, financed by the European Union Horizon Europe Research and
Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 101079679; Funds for Scientific Research
(FRS-FNRS); Francqui Foundation; Belgian American Educational Foundation; Czech Science
Foundation (GAČR 24-12702S); Agence Nationale de la Recherche (contract ANR-15-CE31-0020);
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Commission Européenne (FEDER fund
and Marie Curie Program); LabEx UnivEarthS (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001),
Paris Île-de-France Region, Normandy Region (Alpha, Blue-waves and Neptune), France; the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Delegation for Research and Innovation (DRARI), the Provence-
Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Council, the Metropolis of
Aix-Marseille Provence and the City of Marseille through the CPER 2021-2027 NEUMED project;
the CNRS Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3);
Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG, FR-22-13708), Georgia. This
work is part of the MuSES project, which has received financing from the European Research
Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
(grant agreement no. 101142396). This work was supported by the European Research Council,
ERC Starting grant MessMapp, under contract no. 949555; the General Secretariat of Research
and Innovation (GSRI), Greece; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Ministero
dell’Università e della Ricerca (MUR), through PRIN 2022 programme (grant PANTHEON
2022E2J4RK, Next Generation EU) and PON R&I programme (Avviso n. 424 del 28 febbraio
2018, Progetto PACK-PIR01 00021), Italy; IDMAR project Po-Fesr Sicilian Region az. 1.5.1.
A.D.B., W.I.I., M.B., A.N., G.P., I.C.R. and A.Sim. have been supported by the Italian Ministero
dell’Università e della Ricerca (MUR), Progetto CIR01 00021 (Avviso n. 2595 del 24 dicembre
2019); KM3NeT4RR MUR Project National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4
Component 2 Investment 3.1, financed by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, CUP
I57G21000040001, Concession Decree MUR no. n. Prot. 123 del 21/06/2022; Ministry of Higher
Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Morocco, and the Arab Fund for Economic and
Social Development, Kuwait; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
(NWO), the Netherlands; the grant ‘AstroCeNT: Particle Astrophysics Science and Technology
Centre’, carried out within the International Research Agendas programme of the Foundation
for Polish Science financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development
Fund; the programme ‘Excellence initiative-research university’ for the AGH University in Krakow;
the ARTIQ project: UMO-2021/01/2/ST6/00004 and ARTIQ/0004/2021; Ministry of Research,
Innovation and Digitalisation, Romania; Slovak Research and Development Agency under
contract no. APVV-22-0413; Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the
Slovak Republic; MCIN for PID2021-124591NB-C41, -C42, -C43 and PDC2023-145913-I00 financed
by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ERDF A way of making Europe’, for ASFAE/
2022/014 and ASFAE/2022 /023 with funding from the EU NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I01)
and Generalitat Valenciana, for grant AST22_6.2 with funding from Consejería de Universidad,
Investigación e Innovación and Gobierno de España and European Union - NextGenerationEU,
for CSIC-INFRA23013 and for CNS2023-144099, Generalitat Valenciana for CIDEGENT/2018/034,
/2019/043, /2020/049, /2021/23, for CIDEIG/2023/20, for CIPROM/2023/51 and for GRISOLIAP/
2021/192 and EU for MSC/101025085, Spain; Khalifa University internal grants (ESIG-2023-008
and RIG-2023-070), United Arab Emirates; the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme (ChETEC-INFRA - project no. 101008324).
Media release
From: Western Sydney University
Western Sydney University researchers help discover most energetic elementary particle ever detected
Researchers from Western Sydney University, in collaboration with the international KM3NeT (Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope) project, have made a groundbreaking discovery, detecting one of the most energetic elementary particles ever observed.
The ultra-high-energy neutrino – a tiny, nearly massless particle that travels unimpeded from the furthest reaches of the universe – was detected deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
Dubbed “KM3-230213A”, the neutrino carried an astonishing energy of 220 peta-electronvolts (PeV), making it one of the most powerful particles ever detected. Its energy was roughly a 100 million billion times the energy of visible light photons and about 30 times the highest neutrino energy previously detected.
Detecting such an extraordinary particle brings us closer to understanding the most powerful forces shaping our universe.
Published in Nature today, this research sheds light on some of the most energetic and distant events in the cosmos, including the mysterious neutrino.
Co-author Professor Miroslav Filipovic, from the School of Science, emphasised the importance of this discovery.
"High-energy neutrinos like this are extremely rare, making this a monumental discovery. The discovery represents the most energetic neutrino ever observed, and provides evidence that neutrinos of such high energies are produced in the universe. Detecting such an extraordinary particle brings us closer to understanding the most powerful forces shaping our universe,” said Professor Filipovic.
The detection was made possible through the advanced capabilities of the KM3NeT telescope, which uses photomultiplier tubes to capture light from charged particles generated when the neutrino interacts with the detector. The event recorded over 28,000 photons of light, offering a clear trajectory and compelling evidence suggesting the particle’s cosmic origin.
Dr Luke Barnes, also from the School of Science, highlighted the advanced detection that made this discovery possible.
“KM3NeT can reconstruct the neutrino’s trajectory and energy. It takes extreme cosmic conditions to create such a neutrino, like an exploding star or supermassive black hole. That’s where our work on following up with radio telescopes, like the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, can help to unlock their secrets,” said Dr Barnes.
The research team concluded that based on a single neutrino, it is difficult to definitively determine its origin. Future observations will focus on detecting more such events to build a clearer picture of their origins and the astrophysical processes behind them.
This breakthrough reinforces Western Sydney University’s role at the forefront of cutting-edge space research and highlights the growing potential of neutrino astronomy.
The extraordinary particle originated from the southern sky, positioning Western Sydney University researchers to play a key role in localising its source of origin.
The KM3NeT collaboration brings together more than 360 scientists, engineers, technicians and students of 68 institutions from 21 countries all over the world.
For more information, read and download, ‘Observation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT’ here
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