Word: neutrino
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...under Lake Erie, in the Kamioka lead and zinc mine in Japan, in the Mont Blanc Tunnel linking Italy and France, and in another tunnel under Mount Elbrus in the Soviet Union, scientists carefully examined data from computer printouts. They were hoping that some of the ethereal particles called neutrinos, predicted by theory to be produced during a supernova, had penetrated the earth, leaving their trail in huge liquid- filled neutrino detectors. Astrophysicist J. Craig Wheeler, of the University of Texas in Austin, summarized the activity while addressing a hastily convened meeting of astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight...
...least one of the events predicted in theory apparently occurred. All four neutrino detectors recorded the arrival of bursts of the elusive little particles -- before the light appeared...
Still, the theoreticians could crow that in at least one way 1987A had performed according to the script. Minutes after hearing about the supernova but before they learned of any neutrino data, Astrophysicist Bahcall and two Israeli colleagues began working on a paper predicting the number of supernova neutrinos that should have been recorded by various detectors on earth; their paper was published in last week's Nature. If the neutrinos had been recorded -- and especially if they arrived before the supernova was seen -- it would be a dramatic confirmation of current supernova theory...
Both the Mont Blanc and Mount Elbrus detectors also picked up neutrino bursts at the crucial time, but scientists are still puzzling over another burst recorded at Mont Blanc some 4 1/2 hours earlier. They will examine the data further this week at a meeting in Wisconsin. In any case, Bahcall is ecstatic. "I think this is almost surrealistic," he says. "It's hard to believe I'm actually awake." Agrees University of Chicago Astronomer W. David Arnett: "There have been smoking guns, but we've never seen the act committed before...
...neutrino bursts could help pin down theoretical models not only about how stars die but also about how the universe might expire. A debate is raging over how much "dark matter" -- stuff invisible to astronomers -- exists in the universe. If there is sufficient dark matter, its gravity will be enough to force the universe, still expanding from the Big Bang, to slow, stop and fall together again in a "Big Crunch." If the necessary matter does not exist, the universe will expand forever...