One of the great unanswered questions in physics concerns the nature of neutrinos, the lightest known particles with mass. A process called neutrinoless double beta decay could provide the answer. In ordinary double beta decay, two neutrons inside a nucleus transform into two protons, emitting two electrons and two antineutrinos. In the neutrinoless version, only […]
Deep below the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, we find the LSC (Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc – Canfranc Underground Laboratory), where the NEXT experiment is taking place. Its goal is one of the remaining holy grails of particle physics: the proof that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, a result with profound meaning not only […]
Chemistry • DIPC Biochemistry • DIPC Interfaces • DIPC Particle Physics • Particle physics
The observation of the neutrinoless double beta decay is the only practical way to establish that neutrinos are their own antiparticles. But, because of the small masses of neutrinos, the lifetime of neutrinoless double beta decay is expected to be at least ten orders of magnitude greater than the typical lifetimes of natural radioactive chains […]
Chemistry • DIPC Biochemistry • DIPC Interfaces • DIPC Particle Physics • Materials • Particle physics
A new fluorescent bicolour indicator, an organic molecule, could help detect the daughter atom of a neutrinoless double beta decay. If this is achieved, there would be an explanation to the matter-anti matter asymmetry in the universe. Experiments performed in 1909 by Geiger and Marsden, also called Rutherford gold foil experiment because Rutherford was their […]
Deep below the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, we find the LSC (Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc – Canfranc Underground Laboratory), where the NEXT experiment is taking place. Its goal is one of the remaining holy grails of particle physics: the proof that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, a result with profound meaning not only […]
Concluding that the neutrino is a Majorana particle would be really a turning point in our understanding of the universe. It would mean the non-conservation of a magnitude called the leptonic number, one of the key characteristics in a fermion, meaning that there would be an explanation to the matter-anti matter asymmetry: the creation of […]
Deep beneath the Pyrenees, in a mountain laboratory carved out of rock near the Spanish village of Canfranc, physicists have switched on a machine built to listen for one of the rarest whispers in nature. The detector is called NEXT-100, and it began taking data in May 2024. Its story is not simply one of […]
In the quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe, scientists are turning to tiny glowing molecules and powerful microscopes to detect elusive particles. Two groundbreaking studies, one published in ACS Sensors in 2025 and another in Nature Communications in 2024, showcase innovative approaches to detecting barium ions in high-pressure xenon gas. These advancements are […]
Radioactive isotope 136Xe can undergo a special kind of decay known as double beta decay. In that event, two electrons and two neutrinos are emitted from the xenon atom. If the neutrino is its own antiparticle, a so-called Majorana particle, two neutrinos in the same region of space have a chance of annihilate themselves, and […]
In our current understanding of the nature there still are some big gaps of knowledge that reminds us of the long journey ahead in physics. Here I will be talking about one of the great mysteries of our time in science, and the great endeavor taken by some of the most skilled people I’ve ever […]