2016 AAAS Annual Meeting (February 11-15, 2016)

February 10 - 15, 2016

Ghost Hunters: The Search for New Types of Neutrinos

Neutrinos are the most fundamental and abundant, but least well understood, particles of matter in the universe. Trillions pass through you every second, produced by the sun and other stars, by the Earth’s core, and even by the bananas you eat. Yet basic facts about neutrinos remain unknown, including their mass and how many different types exist in nature. A series of surprising discoveries over the past 20 years has turned the study of these mysterious particles into one of the hottest topics in particle physics. This session introduces tantalizing hints from neutrino experiments pointing to a possible undiscovered type of “sterile” neutrino, and provides an overview of the continuing search for these neutrinos using man-made particle accelerators and nuclear reactors on Earth and cosmic accelerators in space. The session addresses the promise sterile neutrinos may hold for solving great puzzles of particle physics, such as the nature of dark matter and the possible existence of dark radiation.