Probably more likely to run into a Shoggoth than Cthulhu in the Antarctic, or maybe an Elder Thing if any are still around. Rl'yeh is a bit further north.
Summary for those who won't fight through four blocking pop-ups to read the article:
When a high-energy particle (cosmic ray, say) hits ice, it creates an interaction cascade. (Think of what the Fly's Eye experiment sees, but in ice.) That interaction cascade creates (among other things) a radio signal. This detector is a radio detector under Antarctic ice, looking for exactly that.
The point is that, if a high-energy neutrino were to hit the ice, it could create the same kind of cascade, but it would make it much further into the ice. By having multiple detectors, they can pin down the location, and so they can try to tell the difference between "regular" cosmic rays and high-energy neutrinos.
The detector seems to be functioning as designed. They have seven candidate neutrino interactions.
Is it just ice? I thought most neutrino detectors were large underground pools of water. I mean ... tomāto/tomăto, yes, but is solid water better than liquid water?
> With a new data release expected soon, covering all five ARA stations over several years, the ARA team now anticipates up to seven candidate neutrino events.
I love the patience involved in this kind of science.
Cough, Cough. (Dusting off my Hacker News Fan Boy Hat.)
I just want to come round again to how amazing it is to have a small slice of the internet where “amazeballs scientific discovery happens” and we get, of course, someone on the site who has been part of it.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 36.3 ms ] threadWhen a high-energy particle (cosmic ray, say) hits ice, it creates an interaction cascade. (Think of what the Fly's Eye experiment sees, but in ice.) That interaction cascade creates (among other things) a radio signal. This detector is a radio detector under Antarctic ice, looking for exactly that.
The point is that, if a high-energy neutrino were to hit the ice, it could create the same kind of cascade, but it would make it much further into the ice. By having multiple detectors, they can pin down the location, and so they can try to tell the difference between "regular" cosmic rays and high-energy neutrinos.
The detector seems to be functioning as designed. They have seven candidate neutrino interactions.
I love the patience involved in this kind of science.
original article: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.21104 or https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/xwqy-yzrk
I just want to come round again to how amazing it is to have a small slice of the internet where “amazeballs scientific discovery happens” and we get, of course, someone on the site who has been part of it.
(Hat goes back in box)