The results of Reay's research could lead to a Nobel prize for him one day as well, says Jim Legg, head of K-State's physics department. If they find that the tau neutrino has mass, it would answer one of the most important questions about the physical nature of our universe. Because stars and even galaxies rotate faster than they should based on the mass we can see, there must be a lot of dark matter out there that we can't see. The Big-Bang Theory says that the entire universe is filled with neutrinos. If these particles have even a tiny mass, they would be the dark matter.
High energy is high dollar research.
Bringing the high energy group to Manhattan is equivalent to acquiring a million dollar business with high-tech personnel. And the lab provides local jobs as well. The group has 21 employees and plans to add another nine to handle future construction projects. High energy physics is competitive and K-State is winning. It should be high-priority research well into the next century, he says.