Cosmic Neutrino Detector Reveals Clues About Ghostly Particle Masses

Buried under the Antarctic ice, the IceCube experiment was designed primarily to capture particles called neutrinos that are produced by powerful cosmic events, but it is also helping scientists learn about the fundamental nature of these ghostly particles. At a meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) in Washington, D.C., this week, scientists with the IceCube collaboration presented new results that contribute to an ongoing mystery about the nature of neutrinos. In particle physics, symmetries often indicate underlying physics that scientists haven't yet unearthed.