The REAL God Particle

Everything is made of elementary particles, the stars, our planet, our bodies… One of the most ghosty and sneaky of these particles is the so-called neutrino, a neutral tiny particle that can go through entire planets like light through glass. Even if they are the most abundant massive particle in the Universe, their detection is a scientific and engineering challenge.

We will learn how the neutrino was hypothesized, discovered and studied during the past 100 years, and why this particle is so important for the understanding of the Cosmos. Currently, at 2km depth, the SNO+ experiment looks for neutrinos coming from the Sun, the atmosphere, the Earth and Supernovas. But, more importantly, it studies a very particular property of neutrinos by searching for a very rare and unseen radioactive decay. If discovered, we might be able to answer one of the most ancient questions of all times: how is it possible that we exist? And neutrinos could be the key

Speaker: Javier Caravaca, UC Berkeley