Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector)

Why in news?

• Russian scientists recently launched one of the world’s biggest underwater neutrino telescopes called the Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector).

About the Telescope:

• It is located in the waters of Lake Baikail, the world’s deepest lake situated in Siberia.
• The construction of this telescope, started in 2016 and aims to study in detail the elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos and to possibly determine their sources.
• This will aid scientists’ understanding of the origins of the universe since some neutrinos were formed during the Big Bang, others continue to be formed as a result of supernova explosions or because of nuclear reactions in the Sun.

What are neutrinos?

• Neutrinos are fundamental particles belonging to the lepton family.
• Predicted in 1931, neutrinos were detected for the first time in 1959 and are now considered to be the second most abundant particle in the universe after the photon or light particle.
• Neutrinos are extremely tiny elementary particles that are omnipresent in universe but very difficult to detect because they pass seamlessly through all kinds of matter. They interact very weakly and hence are harmless.
• Neutrinos are not part of the atom and as an elementary particle it cannot be broken into further smaller pieces.
• Neutrinos can also be made artificially. They are produced in radioactive decays and in nuclear reactors.
• They change from one type to another as they travel. This conversion is called as neutrino oscillation.
• Neutrinos are believed to hold important clues to some of the basic questions on the universe.

Prelims Question

Lake Baikal is located in:
(a)USA
(b)Kazakhstan
(c)Russia
(d)Canada

Answer to the Prelims Question