Cherenkov Radiation

A flash of light that happens as a result of a particle traveling faster than the speed of light through a given medium. This is very similar to a sonic boom. The speed of light is different based on what it is traveling through, for example light travels slower in water than in air. This is why experiments like Icecube and Super Kamiokande use water or ice.


Lepton

A lepton is a type of particle. You’ve most likely heard of the most famous lepton, the electron. Along with electrons, there are two other types of charged leptons called muons and taus. Each of these have a corresponding neutrino, which is neutrally charged, and gives us a total of six leptons. Leptons combine to form different particles


Neutrino

This particle is a special type of lepton. Unlike the other leptons, neutrinos carry no charge and have very little mass. This makes them extremely hard to detect, even though there are a lot of them in the universe. Neutrinos have many interesting properties, which we want to study more closely.

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Neutrino Flavors

Neutrinos come in three different types, which we call flavors. The flavors correspond to the three charged leptons. We have electron, muon, and tau neutrinos. Each flavor of neutrino has a different mass.


Neutrino Oscillations

Something very interesting about neutrinos is that they change flavors. Say you observe an electron neutrino at Point A, then observe it again at Point B which is 20 meters away. You may see that the electron neutrino is now a muon neutrino. As the neutrino travels, it is a mix of the three different flavors. Once we detect it, we can se