Neutrino fog

Source: The post on Neutrino fog is based on the article “Not just nothing, dark matter quests close in on dire ‘neutrino fog” published in “The Hindu” on 30th september 2024.

Why in the News?

Recently, the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment highlighted that as they advance the search for dark matter the challenge of neutrino fog has becomes more prominent.

About Neutrino fog

1. Neutrinos are tiny, ghost-like particles that pass through almost everything, including us, without being noticed. They are extremely difficult to detect because they barely interact with matter.

2. They are produced in huge numbers by the Sun and the Earth’s atmosphere.

3. In future dark matter detectors, neutrinos will create a lot of “noise” by scattering off nuclei, which complicates the detection of dark matter. This noise is called “neutrino fog.”

4. As dark matter detectors grow in size and sensitivity, they are increasingly likely to detect neutrinos, creating a “fog” of signals that can obscure or resemble potential dark matter interactions.

5. The presence of neutrino fog limits how much more sensitive dark matter detectors can become, as they will begin to register more neutrino interactions than dark matter ones.

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