Readily produced in nuclear reactions and particle collisions , they can easily pass completely through planet Earth without once interacting with any other particle. Brighter colors represent a larger flux of neutrinos. In a tantalizing recent announcement , an international collaboration of Super-K researchers has now presented evidence that the ghostly neutrinos undergo quantum mechanical oscillations, changing their particle identities and quantum properties over time. A measurable mass for neutrinos would also make them candidates for the mysterious dark matter known to affect the motions of stars and galaxies, while proof of neutrino oscillations would be a step toward resolving the decades old Solar Neutrino Problem . Even skeptical scientists will be waiting impatiently to see if these results are independently confirmed.
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