Fountain of high-energy particles erupting from the ice found in Antarctica through ANITA

Fountain of high-energy particles erupting from the ice found in Antarctica through ANITA

Part of: GS-Prelims and GS-III – Science and Technology

In News:

• Researchers using NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) have found a fountain of high-energy particles erupting from the ice in Antarctica. 
• This could be proof of a parallel universe.

Important value additions:

Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA)

• The ANITA instrument is a radio telescope to detect ultra-high energy cosmic-ray neutrinos from a scientific balloon flying over the continent of Antarctica.
• It is the first NASA observatory for neutrinos of any kind.
• Neutrinos are of great interest to astrophysicists as they are the only particle that can reach earth unattenuated (not weakened) at all energies.
• It detects these ultra-high energy neutrinos by use of the Askaryan effect. 
• This effect predicts the production of a coherent radio emission from the cascade of particles produced in a high-energy particle interaction.
• ANITA-I was launched in 2006–07 and ANITA-IV was launched in 2016.