Baikal-GVD

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Recently, Russian scientists have deployed Baikal-Gigaton Volume Detector (GVD) in the waters of Lake Baikal, Russia.

Baikal-Gigaton Volume Detector

• Its construction started in 2016 and it is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with the IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea.
• It will study the elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos and possibly determine their sources.
• It will help scientists in understanding the origins of the universe since some neutrinos were formed during the Big Bang and others continue to be formed as a result of supernova explosions or because of nuclear reactions in the Sun.
• Clear freshwater and thick and protective ice cover make Lake Baikal an ideal place to search for neutrinos.

Fundamental Particles

• So far, the understanding is that the universe is made of some fundamental particles which are indivisible or cannot be broken down further into smaller particles.
• Broadly, particles of matter can be classified into quarks and leptons, which make up “normal matter” that accounts for only five per cent of the universe.
• There is not much information about the remaining 95 per cent of the universe, of which 27 per cent is dark matter and scientists have no idea about the remaining 68 per cent yet.
• Exploration in the field of physics so far has led to the discovery of over 12 such quarks and leptons, and three (protons, neutrons and electrons) out of those have made everything in the world.
  • Protons (carry a positive charge) and neutrons (no charge) are types of quarks, whereas electrons (carry a negative charge) are types of leptons.
  • These three particles make Atoms, also referred to as the building block of life.
  • In different combinations, these particles can make different kinds of atoms, which in turn make up molecules that form everything.
• Studying fundamental particles gives scientists a window into understanding the universe in a better way, that is why scientists want to study neutrinos (not the same as neutrons), which are also a type of fundamental particles.

Neutrinos

• They are the smallest particles currently known and about a thousand trillion of them pass through a human body every second.
• Nearly massless subatomic particles, they are the second most abundant particles after photons (particles of light).
• However, they are not easy to catch because they do not carry a charge and subsequently do not interact with matter.
• They might have unique properties that would help explain why the universe is made of matter instead of antimatter.
  • The subatomic particles that make up antimatter have properties that are opposite to normal matter.
  • It is known that antimatter exists but the reason for its existence or the difference of its subatomic particles is not known.
• They can be detected in water or ice as they leave a flash of light or a line of bubbles when they interact.
• To capture these signs, large detectors and GVD have been designed to detect high-energy neutrinos that may have come from the Earth’s core, or could have been produced during nuclear reactions in the Sun.

Source: IE