In the realm of particle physics, elusive and mysterious particles known as neutrinos have long posed a challenge for scientists. Despite being ubiquitous in the universe, their subtle interactions with other matter have kept them elusive in particle colliders for years. This paradox recently shifted when, thanks to advanced detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, two key research groups, FASER and SND@LHC, observed neutrinos in such an environment for the first time.

Why is the detection of neutrinos in a collider so significant? Cristovao Vilela from the SND@LHC collaboration emphasized, "The very weak interaction of neutrinos with other particles makes them extremely challenging to detect." They are among the least understood particles in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, despite their ubiquity in the universe.

Particle colliders, longstanding tools for uncovering the secrets of subatomic particles, have primarily been used to collide particles to study their behavior during such interactions. Thus, detecting neutrinos in a collider, particles known for "slipping" through matter without triggering significant interactions, is an unprecedented achievement.

Jonathan Li Feng, a member of the FASER collaboration, underscored the significance of this moment in science: "Particle colliders have existed for over 50 years and have discovered every known particle except neutrinos... every time neutrinos are detected from a new source, we learn something incredibly important about the Universe."

But how did these nearly invisible particles get detected in a collider, a place filled with "violent" particle interactions? The key lay in the FASER and SND@LHC detectors at the LHC. FASER, focused on observing light and weakly interacting particles, was located 400 meters from the renowned ATLAS experiment in the LHC. It was there that neutrinos were first recorded.

In the wake of this breakthrough, exciting prospects emerge for future particle physics research. Detecting neutrinos in a collider may provide new insights into the fundamental properties of the universe. As scientists emphasize, this discovery not only expands our knowledge of neutrinos but also opens the door to further, perhaps even more revolutionary discoveries in the realm of subatomic particles.