NZ scientists join IceCube team to hunt neutrinos

Two Canterbury University researchers, Dr Jenni Adams and Dr Suruj Seunarine, are to join a team of scientist from seven other countries hunting neutrinos at the South Pole.

The Christchurch physicists have been granted $720,000 from the Marsden Fund as part of the New Zealand contribution to the $38 billion project involving scientists from the United States, Britain, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Japan.

The project, dubbed IceCube, was launched in 2002, but only detected its first neutrinos on January 29 this year, using holes dug 2500m into ice near the Pole.

It recorded faint flashes of light given off by the particles when they interacted with electrons in water molecules - thought to be the first time neutrinos had been captured in a natural environment.

Neutrinos are subatomic particles with almost no mass and no electrical charge that are associated with radioactive decay. They so rarely interact with matter that they can typically pass through the Earth unobstructed.

The scientists want to study the elusive particles because they may hold the key to understanding the explosion of super-massive stars, known as supernovae.

They may also hold the key to other mysterious phenomena in cosmology and particle physics, such as the nature of dark matter, and black holes.

But scientists say detecting neutrinos is tricky. It requires specialised equipment deep underground - shielded by heavy layers of rock from constant infiltration by cosmic rays, which may interfere with detection.

By using the Antarctic ice cap as a shield against cosmic rays, the team avoids the often prohibitive costs of building a special water tank.

- NZPA