NEWS AND VIEWS
03 December 2025 Still no sign of hypothetical sterile-neutrino particle A particle called the sterile neutrino could explain anomalies in high-energy physics. The range of conditions in which it could be found has become narrower.
Neutrinos are fundamental particles that interact rarely with matter and are therefore notoriously difficult to detect. There are three known types of neutrino, but anomalous experimental results have led many physicists to propose the existence of a fourth, called the sterile neutrino. But now, writing in Nature, the KATRIN Collaboration1 and the MicroBooNE Collaboration2 report the results of sterile-neutrino searches from their respective experiments, which find no evidence of these hypothetical particles.
Nature 648, 40-42 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03726-w
References The KATRIN Collaboration. Nature 648, 70–75 (2025). The MicroBooNE Collaboration. Nature 648, 64–69 (2025). ALEPH Collaboration. Phys. Lett. B 231, 519–529 (1989). Fukuda, Y. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1562 (1998). Ahmad, Q. R. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 071301 (2001). GALLEX Collaboration. Phys. Lett. B 420, 114–126 (1998). Abdurashitov, J. N. et al. Phys. Rev. C 59, 2246 (1999). Barinov, V. V. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 232501 (2022). Aguilar, A. et al. Phys. Rev. D 64, 112007 (2001). Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 221801 (2018). Mention, G. Phys. Rev. D 83, 073006 (2011). Download references
Competing Interests The author declares no competing interests.
Related Articles
Subjects