Neutrino Researchers In Minnesota Report Major Milestone

The scientists manning a new University of Minnesota laboratory in northern Minnesota are reporting they have already spotted neutrinos. The Ash River facility is still being assembled, but researchers said they have confirmed the detection of neutrinos that were beamed through the earth from the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. The detection is considered a major milestone in an ambitious research project aimed at learning more about the early moments of the universe. Once the U of M detector is fully operational, researchers say they expect to capture a few neutrinos each day with a goal of determining the order of the neutrino masses, known as the mass hierarchy, which will help scientists narrow their list of possible theories about how neutrinos work.