Direct Neutrino-Mass Measurement Achieves New, Sub-Electronvolt Sensitivity

The international KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment in Germany recently reported a new upper limit on the mass of the neutrino. This limit—0.8 electronvolts (eV)—is the lowerst scientists have achieved. As the results are confirmed and refined, they will help scientists better understand the neutrino and its role in the evolution of the universe.

Researchers validate theory that neutrinos shape the universe

The effect that nearly massless, subatomic particles called neutrinos have on the formation of galaxies has long been a cosmological mystery — one that physicists have sought to measure since discovering the particles in 1956.But an international research team has created cosmological simulations that accurately depict the role of neutrinos in the evolution of the universe in a study recently published in The Astrophysical Journal.