Southampton and IIT Kanpur link decoupled heavy neutrino to matter
Technology
Researchers from the University of Southampton and IIT Kanpur have put the spotlight on a long-ignored hypothetical particle called the "decoupled" heavy neutrino.
Once brushed aside for being too quiet to notice, this particle might actually be the reason matter (and everything made from it) exists instead of just vanishing after the Big Bang.
Could leave gravitational wave traces
The team believes this heavy neutrino's super-long lifetime could have tipped the cosmic scales, helping matter win out over antimatter.
It may also have influenced how energy spread out in those first moments, possibly leaving traces in ancient gravitational waves, giving scientists a new way to peek into how everything began.
The research was just published in Physical Review Letters.