In either case, this type of cosmic ray had never been observed before.Ī second mission ANITA mission in 2009 as well as a third mission in 2014 detected another strange upward-pointing cosmic ray. This suggested that they either didn’t originate in space-or if they did, the radiation was produced by particles that had traveled all the way through Earth. Unlike the cosmic rays that come from space and are reflected off the Antarctic ice sheet, which produce vertically polarized pulses of radiation, the two anomalous cosmic rays had nearly horizontal planes of polarization. The first ANITA mission detected two “upward-pointing cosmic ray-like events” during its month-long sojourn above Antarctica. Yet the researchers working on ANITA also got more than they bargained for when they also detected cosmic rays that appeared to be shooting out of the Antarctic ice sheet. Image: UC IrvineĪlthough the first ANITA mission didn’t detect any evidence of micro black holes, it did detect the Askaryan effect, the first time this had ever been observed from electron interactions with ice. The launch of the first ANITA mission in 2006. Some of these theories predict that when cosmic rays interact with ice this produces micro black holes that open into these dimensions, which could be detected via the Askaryan effect. This means that they can carry information from beyond the photon horizon (the limit that photon sources are still detectable from Earth) and provide a window onto the farthest reaches of the universe.įurthermore, some models of physics that are “Beyond the Standard Model” predict the existence of incredibly small extra dimensions. Unlike photons, neutrinos don’t lose their energy as they propagate through the universe. The goal of the ANITA mission was to use an array of antennas to detect the Askaryan radiation produced from high energy neutrinos interacting with the Antarctic ice sheet. This interaction, now known as the Askaryan effect, allows physicists to detect particles that hardly interact with normal matter (like neutrinos) by observing their secondary effects. In the early 60s, the Soviet physicist Gurgen Askaryan theorized that when a high energy particle interacted with a dense dielectric medium-a type of insulating material that doesn’t conduct electricity-it would produce a shower of secondary charged particles whose radiation can be detected by standard radio antennas. It was equipped with sensors designed to detect pulses of radiation produced when ultra high energy neutrinos-a nearly massless particle with no electric charge-interact with the Antarctic ice sheet. The experiment flew to an altitude of about 120,000 feet where it spent a month drifting over Antarctica. The first ANITA mission launched from the McMurdo base in Antarctica in December 2006. The ANITA-IV experiment was launched in 2016. If Fox and his colleagues are correct, it would be the first evidence of a particle beyond the Standard Model of physics, the most accurate description of the universe humans have ever known. On Tuesday, a group of researchers led by the Pennsylvania State University physicist Derek Fox posted a new theory of these upward-shooting cosmic rays to arXiv that suggests they could be evidence of a particle that lies beyond the Standard Model. Physicists have long known that high energy particles can penetrate deep into Earth, but none of the particles predicted by the Standard Model-the most accurate model of physics that has ever existed-should be able to pass all the way through the planet. In addition to detecting cosmic rays from space, ANITA also detected cosmic rays shooting from the ground as the high altitude balloon drifted over the Antarctic ice sheet. During ANITA’s flight, however, its instruments observed something that physicists couldn’t explain. In 2006, NASA-affiliated researchers launched Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a balloon experiment meant to observe high energy particles that shower the Earth from space, also known as cosmic rays. If they turn out to be correct, it would change physics as we know it. Rather, researchers are arguing that a decade-old experiment may have furnished the first evidence of a new type of particle that has evaded detection by some of the most sophisticated particle accelerators for years. There’s something strange happening beneath the surface of Antarctica and it’s got nothing to do with Nazi UFOs. Instead, it detected cosmic rays shooting from the ground and some physicists think it could be evidence of a supersymmetric particle. NASA went searching for micro black holes in Antarctica.

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