Oak Ridge National Laboratory Archives

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 by Evan Gough

A Superfast Supercomputer Creates the Biggest Simulation of the Universe Yet

These images are a small sample from the Frontier supercomputer simulations. They reveal the evolution of the expanding universe in a region containing a massive cluster of galaxies from billions of years ago to present day (left). Red areas show hotter gasses, where temperatures reach 100 million Kelvin or more. The panel on the right is a zoom-in, where star tracer particles track the formation of galaxies and their movement over time. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory, U.S Dept of Energy

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have created the largest astrophysical simulation of the Universe ever. They used what was until recently the world’s most powerful supercomputer to simulate the Universe at an unprecedented scale. The simulation’s size corresponds to the largest surveys conducted by powerful telescopes and observatories.

February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 by Matt Williams

Neutrinos Have a Newly Discovered Method of Interacting With Matter, Opening up Ways to Find Them

SCGSR Awardee Jacob Zettlemoyer, Indiana University Bloomington, led data analysis and worked with ORNL’s Mike Febbraro on coatings, shown under blue light, to shift argon light to visible wavelengths to boost detection. Credit: Rex Tayloe/Indiana University

The neutrino is a confounding little particle that is believed to have played a major role in the evolution of our Universe. They also possess very little mass, have no charge, and interact with other particles only through the weak nuclear force and gravity. As such, finding evidence of their interactions is extremely difficult and requires advanced facilities that are shielded to prevent interference.

One such facility is the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where an international team of researchers are conducting the COHERENT particle physics experiment. Recently, researchers at COHERENT achieved a major breakthrough when they found the first evidence of a new kind of neutrino interaction, which effectively demonstrates a process known as coherent elastic neutrino-nuclear scattering (CEvNS).

August 7, 2017January 31, 2021 by Matt Williams

Experiment Detects Mysterious Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering For the First Time

The Spallation Neutron Source, located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: neutrons.ornl.gov

Neutrinos are one of the fundamental particles that make up the Universe. Compared to other types of particles, they have very little mass, no charge, and only interact with others via the weak nuclear force and gravity. As such, finding evidence of their interactions is extremely difficult, requiring massive instruments located deep underground to shield them from any interference.

However, using the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a research facility located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) – an international team of researchers recently made a historic discovery about neutrinos using an entirely different method. As part of the COHERENT experiment, these results confirm a prediction made 43 years ago and offers new possibilities for neutrino research.