Strange, unexplained signals detected from Antarctic ice: Here's what scientists say
A team of researchers trying to locate neutrinos in the Antarctic stumbled upon unusual radio signals coming from below the Earth's surface rather than space. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a range of equipment flown up on a balloon to capture waves from cosmic rays before they strike the Earth's surface, picked up the signals. This occurrence is contrary to the current commonly accepted norms of particle physics.
The transmissions were caught from 30 degrees below the ice surface- a phenomenon quite uncommon for neutrinos. Stephanie Wissel, an astrophysicist at Penn State University and part of the team, said in her results journal, 'It's an interesting problem because we still don't actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they're most likely not representing neutrinos.'
According to the team's calculations, neutrino signals are highly unlikely to be detected despite their widespread availability. The signals would have had to pass through thousands of kilometers of rock before being recorded, which makes the possibility incredibly low. 'You have a billion neutrinos passing through your thumbnail at any moment, but neutrinos don't really interact. So, this is the double-edged sword problem. If we detect them, it means they have traveled all this way without interacting with anything else. We could be detecting a neutrino coming from the edge of the observable universe,' Wissel added.
Given its secluded location and minimal interference from other signals, the Antarctic was picked as the backdrop of this study. Speaking about how the ANITA works, Wissel said, 'We have these radio antennas on a balloon that flies 40 kilometers above the ice in Antarctica. We point our antennas down at the ice and look for neutrinos that interact in the ice, producing radio emissions that we can then sense on our detectors.'
After cross-referencing the data picked up by ANITA with two other independent detectors namely the IceCube Experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory, the team found that the results didn't match. The signal has now been described as 'anomalous' and confirmed not to be a result of neutrino activity.
'My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effect occurs near ice and also near the horizon that I don't fully understand, but we certainly explored several of those, and we haven't been able to find any of those yet either,' Wissel noted. 'So, right now, it's one of these long-standing mysteries, and I'm excited that when we fly PUEO, we'll have better sensitivity. In principle, we should pick up more anomalies, and maybe we'll actually understand what they are. We also might detect neutrinos, which would in some ways be a lot more exciting.'
Several plausible theories to explain the incident have been provided with some suggesting the existence of dark matter and unknown radio wave behavior due to the ice and proximity to the horizon. However, no concrete answer has been reached.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Time of India
Mysterious pulses buzzing beneath Antarctica? What is happening inside the Earth?
One of the most remote and least understood regions on Earth is Antarctica, which remains under the thick cover of the snow all year round. And this time, scientists have come across a cosmic mystery that challenges everything we thought we knew about particle physics. While the icy continent is known for its extreme conditions, it's now the center of an anomaly that could open a new chapter in astrophysics. High above the frozen region, a mission is stationed that is designed to listen for radio signals generated by high-energy neutrinos hitting the Antarctic ice. These neutrinos are some of the most elusive particles in the universe, often passing through matter without leaving a trace. But during this mission, which is known as ANITA, it detected something entirely unexpected, which were some different radio signals that appeared to be coming from deep within the Earth itself. Unlike expected signals from space-borne neutrinos, these mysterious pulses appear to be rising from below the horizon, completely going against the known models of how particles move through the Earth. What is ANITA? ANITA, a high-altitude balloon experiment flown over Antarctica, was originally designed to detect radio waves produced when cosmic neutrinos collide with the Antarctic ice. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like CVS Wants to Hide 87¢ Generic Viagra – Truth Inside Health Alliance by Friday Plans Learn More Undo These ultra-high-energy neutrinos are expected to come from above, not below. So when the team noticed signals arriving at steep angles, up to 30 degrees below the surface, it didn't make to physicist Stephanie Wissel, who is one of the authors of the paper Search for the Anomalous Events Detected by ANITA Using the Pierre Auger Observatory, 'The radio waves that we detected were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice. ' She added, 'It's an interesting problem because we still don't actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they're most likely not representing neutrinos,' as quoted by the Newsweek. To reach ANITA from below, any particle would have to travel through thousands of miles of solid Earth. That kind of journey would usually weaken or completely stop any known particles like neutrinos or cosmic rays. Yet the signals were still strong, which added to the clues that something unusual was happening. Wissel suggested that one possibility could involve some unknown radio signal behaviour in icy or near-horizon conditions. 'My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effect occurs near ice and also near the horizon that I don't fully understand,' she said. 'But we certainly explored several of those—and we haven't been able to find any of those yet either. So, right now it's one of those long-standing mysteries. ' To get more answers, Wissel and her team are developing a new detector called the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations, or PUEO. The next-generation system will be even more sensitive to these strange radio bursts. Neutrinos themselves are notoriously difficult to detect. 'You have a billion neutrinos passing through your thumbnail at any moment, but neutrinos don't really interact,' she explained to Newsweek. So, capturing even one event could offer valuable insights into the universe's most distant and energetic processes. For now, the origin of the mysterious signals remains unknown, but the scientific world is watching closely.
India Today
13 hours ago
- India Today
Strange signal detected from deep inside Antarctica. No one knows what it is
A series of strange signals have been detected on the edge of the planet in Antarctica. The unusual pulses were picked up by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (Anita) are balloons flown high above Antarctica, designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the balloons are deployed to gain insight into distant cosmic events by analysing signals that reach the Earth. However, this time around, rather than reflecting off the ice, the signals — a form of radio waves — appeared to be coming from below the Scientiests are unable to explain this phenomenon and are speculating that it may hint at new types of particles or interactions previously unknown to science, the team a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team explains that the anomalous signal had to pass through and interact with thousands of kilometres of rock before reaching the detector, which should have left the radio signal undetectable because it would have been absorbed into the rock. The unusual radio pulses were detected by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment. (Photo: Stephanie Wissel / Penn State) 'The radio waves that we detected were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice. It's an interesting problem because we still don't actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they're most likely not representing neutrinos,' said Stephanie Wissel, associate professor of physics, astronomy and astrophysics, who worked on the Anita team hopes that these particles, once traced, can reveal more about cosmic events than even the most high-powered telescopes and give clues about cosmic events that happened light years away.'We use radio detectors to try to build really, really large neutrino telescopes so that we can go after a pretty low expected event rate. We have these radio antennas on a balloon that flies 40 kilometres above the ice in Antarctica. We point our antennas down at the ice and look for neutrinos that interact in the ice, producing radio emissions that we can then sense on our detectors," Wissel said that these signals can then be traced back to their origin, similar to how a ball thrown at an angle will predictably bounce back at the same revealed the other detectors did not register anything that could have explained what Anita detected, which led the researchers to describe the signal as 'anomalous,' meaning that the particles causing the signal are not are now diving into deeper research to understand its origin, journey and the information it carries.
Hindustan Times
18 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Strange, unexplained signals detected from Antarctic ice: Here's what scientists say
A team of researchers trying to locate neutrinos in the Antarctic stumbled upon unusual radio signals coming from below the Earth's surface rather than space. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a range of equipment flown up on a balloon to capture waves from cosmic rays before they strike the Earth's surface, picked up the signals. This occurrence is contrary to the current commonly accepted norms of particle physics. The transmissions were caught from 30 degrees below the ice surface- a phenomenon quite uncommon for neutrinos. Stephanie Wissel, an astrophysicist at Penn State University and part of the team, said in her results journal, 'It's an interesting problem because we still don't actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they're most likely not representing neutrinos.' According to the team's calculations, neutrino signals are highly unlikely to be detected despite their widespread availability. The signals would have had to pass through thousands of kilometers of rock before being recorded, which makes the possibility incredibly low. 'You have a billion neutrinos passing through your thumbnail at any moment, but neutrinos don't really interact. So, this is the double-edged sword problem. If we detect them, it means they have traveled all this way without interacting with anything else. We could be detecting a neutrino coming from the edge of the observable universe,' Wissel added. Given its secluded location and minimal interference from other signals, the Antarctic was picked as the backdrop of this study. Speaking about how the ANITA works, Wissel said, 'We have these radio antennas on a balloon that flies 40 kilometers above the ice in Antarctica. We point our antennas down at the ice and look for neutrinos that interact in the ice, producing radio emissions that we can then sense on our detectors.' After cross-referencing the data picked up by ANITA with two other independent detectors namely the IceCube Experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory, the team found that the results didn't match. The signal has now been described as 'anomalous' and confirmed not to be a result of neutrino activity. 'My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effect occurs near ice and also near the horizon that I don't fully understand, but we certainly explored several of those, and we haven't been able to find any of those yet either,' Wissel noted. 'So, right now, it's one of these long-standing mysteries, and I'm excited that when we fly PUEO, we'll have better sensitivity. In principle, we should pick up more anomalies, and maybe we'll actually understand what they are. We also might detect neutrinos, which would in some ways be a lot more exciting.' Several plausible theories to explain the incident have been provided with some suggesting the existence of dark matter and unknown radio wave behavior due to the ice and proximity to the horizon. However, no concrete answer has been reached.
