An international team of researchers revealed, for the first time, the origin of high-energy neutrinos, elementary particles that reach our planet from the depths of the Universe.
Scientists believe that neutrinos are born in blazars, galactic nuclei fueled by supermassive black holes. The results have recently been published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Most of the “normal” neutrinos that can be detected on Earth are byproducts of solar nuclear reactions, although they can also be produced by supernovae, artificial nuclear reactions, or interactions between cosmic rays and atoms.
However, in 2012 the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located in Antarctica, detected two neutrinos that were unlike anything previously observed, given their behavior and high energy. These high-energy neutrinos came from intergalactic space, but of unknown origin.
Extremely energetic and difficult to detect, high-energy neutrinos travel billions of light years before reaching our planet. Although these elementary particles are known to come from the depths of the Universe, their precise origin is still unknown.
They have practically no mass and barely interact with matter: they can travel through galaxies, planets and the human body, leaving almost no traces.
According to a press release from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in Switzerland, one of the academic centers that led the research, the results of the new study allow us to conclude that high-energy neutrinos are born in blazars, a compact energy source and intensely variable, associated with supermassive black holes located in the center of galaxies. Blazars are among the most violent and extreme phenomena in the Universe.
VTV/MQ/ADN