Research experiments in Antarctica are so numerous that there is no definitive answer for the number of scientific experiments there
By the end of the 1950s, some countries in the world, such as Argentina, Chile, Australia, and France, claimed ownership of areas in Antarctica. At that time, there was controversy regarding this continent, which no one owned yet, and no laws had been put in place to manage it.
But with the development of the Cold War and the world’s preoccupation with the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, the “Antarctica Treaty” was signed for the first time by 12 countries, to end differences over the governance of the continent, and the treaty acknowledged that it did not belong to anyone.
Meanwhile, teams of scientists around the world took advantage of this neutral position to obtain broad support for scientific programs on the continent. Indeed, the matter succeeded and official international institutions specialized in coordinating scientific research in Antarctica were established, and Antarctica became a global scientific center.
The experiment aims to study one of the most elusive types of particles in the world of physics, which is the high-energy neutrino (Shutterstock)
Phantom particle
There is one of the largest scientific experiments in the world now on the continent of Antarctica, which is the “Ice Cube” experiment, and from the name the shape of the experiment appears, it is a giant ice cube with a length and width of a full kilometer, with a maximum depth of 2.5 kilometers below the surface of Antarctica, which is simply… An attempt to exploit the snowy nature of Antarctica to serve science.
The experiment aims to study one of the most elusive types of particles in the world of physics, the high-energy neutrino, which comes to Earth from very deep galactic sources, such as supernova remnants or active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts.
High-energy neutrino particles are very weakly interactive. As an example to illustrate, a trillion of them can pass through one of your fingers every second and you will never feel them, because they are very weakly interactive and hardly interact with anything. Therefore, the “Ice Cube” experiment uses a large area of ice. With a large number of sensors regularly distributed inside it to monitor any slight interaction between a high-energy neutrino particle and the snow, something that is likely to happen with a probability of less than once in a million, but with the large amount of snow scientists can pick up this weak interaction.
The first high-energy neutrino signals were captured in 2017, and scientists discovered that the source was the glowing center of a huge galaxy called TXS 0506+056, located at a distance of about 5.7 billion light-years, and discoveries have continued since then.
The Bicep Observatory aims to capture the trace of the first light that originated in the history of this universe (Wikipedia)
Origin of the universe
As for “BACEB”, it is another observatory located in Antarctica, and it aims to capture the trace of the first light that arose in the history of this universe, only about 380 thousand years after the Big Bang, as scientists benefit from the very dry nature of the continent, because the microwaves of this light reach the Earth. Continuously, but it interacts with water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere.
But the extreme cold on the continent of Antarctica – which in the middle of the continent reaches about 35 degrees below zero and has sometimes recorded a degree of 89 below zero – purifies the atmosphere of water vapor, and thus these waves reach the sensors at the “Baisip” Observatory.
BICEB aims to study this precise light for multiple goals, the most important of which is understanding what happened during the first moments of the creation of the universe, when the entire universe inflated in a small fraction of a second after the Big Bang, causing it to expand at an extremely rapid rate, and this is called the “inflation” hypothesis. .
It seems that another aspect of the nature of Antarctica serves astronomy as well, which is complete darkness for about 6 months, and of course the isolation of the continent, which takes it thousands of kilometers away from the nearest light source. In addition to the drought and elevation above the Earth’s surface, this mixture is ideal for projects such as The South Polar Telescope, which contributed to the release of the first image of a black hole in 2019.
The telescope began its research operations in 2007, and was connected to a third-generation detector designed to provide the best data on the phenomenon of light polarization, which helps scientists with density fluctuations in the early universe, in addition to detecting the trace of dust particles in the Milky Way, which work to distort light as it passes through. To the telescope.
The Antarctic Telescope, with a diameter of 10 metres, is located at the Amundsen-Scott Antarctic Station, and contributes, along with the Bicep Observatory, to understanding the early period of the history of this vast universe.
The South Pole Telescope began its research operations in 2007 (Wikipedia)
Many experiences
In fact, there are so many research experiments in Antarctica that there is no definitive answer for the number of scientific experiments there. Different countries and organizations conduct different types of research in different locations and seasons, and the number changes every month.
But on average, the number of people conducting scientific research on the continent and nearby islands ranges between 4,800 during the summer season and 1,200 during the winter.
Antarctica is sometimes described as the “continent of science”, and there are a number of reasons why scientists from fields other than astronomy and cosmology go to Antarctica to study different aspects of science, such as its unique ecosystem and climate data record.
In this context, Antarctica is important for understanding how the Earth works as a system, how life adapts to extreme environments, how humans affect the environment, and how climate change affects the planet.
According to the British Antarctic Survey, the vibrant Antarctic research community plays a leading role in international efforts to investigate and monitor environmental change in the polar regions.
