The FASER collaboration (ForwArd Search ExpeRiment at the LHC; FASER) reported that the FASER detector has achieved observations accurate enough to detect the presence of neutrinos produced at the collider.

Established in 2017, the FASER experiment aims to discover elementary particles that could contribute to a better understanding of dark matter, as well as to study neutrinos in the unexplored high-energy region to explore the unknown physical laws behind the Standard Model of elementary particles. The experiment focuses on secondary particles produced in the direction of the beam from the collision point of the LHC, where protons collide head-on at the highest energy in the world.

A group of young researchers from Nagoya University, Kyushu University, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Chiba University, Seika University, and the University of Bern promote and take important part in the experiment.

Measuring neutrinos is challenging due to their extremely high penetrating power. However, the silicon detectors led by those members, played a crucial role in achieving the result.
Associate Professor Osamu Sato commented :

This result demonstrates that high-energy muon neutrinos generated from the proton collision at the LHC interacted with the tungsten-nucleus emulsion detector, and the spectrometer captured the resulting muons with high reliability using the silicon detector in the back. In the future, our team plans to conduct detailed analyses, such as identifying electron neutrinos and tau neutrinos, which can only be accomplished with nuclear emulsion. We aim to explore uncharted territory by analyzing all three flavors of neutrinos, namely electron, muon, and tau. Please look forward to our upcoming activities and detailed analysis of the nuclear emulsion made at Nagoya University.

These results were presented at the international conference Moriond EW 2023 on Sunday, March 19, 2023. For more information, please see the press release (in Japanese)