Neutrino Astronomy — MCQs August 20, 2025 by u930973931_answers 50 Score: 0 Attempted: 0/50 Subscribe 1. What are neutrinos? (A) Charged particles (B) Neutral, nearly massless particles (C) Heavy atomic nuclei (D) High-energy photons 2. Who first proposed the existence of neutrinos? (A) Albert Einstein (B) Wolfgang Pauli (C) Enrico Fermi (D) Niels Bohr 3. Which force is responsible for neutrino interactions? (A) Electromagnetic force (B) Strong nuclear force (C) Weak nuclear force (D) Gravitational force 4. Which type of neutrino is produced in the Sun in large numbers? (A) Electron neutrinos (B) Muon neutrinos (C) Tau neutrinos (D) Sterile neutrinos 5. The study of neutrinos helps in understanding: (A) Solar fusion processes (B) Supernova explosions (C) Early universe physics (D) All of the above 6. What phenomenon allows neutrinos to change flavors? (A) Neutrino scattering (B) Neutrino oscillation (C) Neutrino decay (D) Neutrino reflection 7. Which experiment first confirmed neutrino oscillations? (A) Super-Kamiokande (B) IceCube (C) Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (D) Homestake Experiment 8. The Homestake experiment was famous for detecting: (A) Solar neutrinos (B) Cosmic rays (C) Dark matter (D) Gamma rays 9. Which particle detector is located at the South Pole for neutrino astronomy? (A) Super-Kamiokande (B) IceCube (C) SNO+ (D) ANTARES 10. Which property makes neutrinos hard to detect? (A) High charge (B) Strong interactions (C) Very weak interactions (D) Heavy mass 11. How are neutrinos from supernovae detected? (A) By gravitational waves (B) By light curves (C) By sudden bursts in neutrino detectors (D) By cosmic ray showers 12. SN1987A confirmed the detection of: (A) Neutron stars (B) Gravitational waves (C) Neutrinos from a supernova (D) Pulsars 13. What is the approximate mass of neutrinos? (A) Zero (B) Exactly 1 eV (C) Very small but nonzero (D) Several MeV 14. Which neutrino experiment is located in Canada? (A) Super-Kamiokande (B) Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) (C) IceCube (D) DUNE 15. What is a neutrino telescope filled with to detect neutrinos? (A) Mercury (B) Heavy water or ice (C) Helium gas (D) Iron plates 16. Which interaction produces Cherenkov radiation used in neutrino detectors? (A) Neutrino-electron scattering (B) Neutrino-quark interactions (C) Charged particles moving faster than light in a medium (D) Neutrino annihilation 17. What is the main source of atmospheric neutrinos? (A) Solar flares (B) Cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere (C) Earthquakes (D) Black holes 18. What are sterile neutrinos? (A) Neutrinos with charge (B) Hypothetical neutrinos not interacting via weak force (C) High-energy tau neutrinos (D) Neutrinos from quasars 19. Which neutrino detector is built in Japan? (A) DUNE (B) Super-Kamiokande (C) SNO+ (D) Borexino 20. Which element was used in the Homestake experiment to detect neutrinos? (A) Chlorine (B) Iron (C) Lead (D) Uranium 21. The “solar neutrino problem” referred to: (A) Excess neutrinos detected (B) Shortage of detected solar neutrinos (C) Absence of muon neutrinos (D) Detection of tau neutrinos only 22. The solution to the solar neutrino problem was: (A) Neutrino decay (B) Neutrino oscillations (C) Errors in detectors (D) Magnetic fields in the Sun 23. Which project is designed to study long-baseline neutrino oscillations? (A) IceCube (B) DUNE (C) Super-Kamiokande (D) SNO 24. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects neutrinos mainly through: (A) Liquid scintillators (B) Radio waves (C) Cherenkov radiation in ice (D) Gamma-ray bursts 25. Which type of neutrino is hardest to detect? (A) Electron neutrino (B) Muon neutrino (C) Tau neutrino (D) Sterile neutrino 26. Neutrino astronomy can provide insights into: (A) Dark matter candidates (B) Core processes of stars (C) Cosmic ray origins (D) All of the above 27. Which detection method was used in Borexino? (A) Liquid scintillator (B) Heavy water (C) Ice Cherenkov (D) Solid-state detector 28. The detection of neutrinos from SN1987A occurred in how many detectors? (A) One (B) Two (C) Three (D) Four 29. Neutrino astronomy complements electromagnetic astronomy because: (A) Neutrinos interact strongly (B) Neutrinos escape dense regions opaque to light (C) Neutrinos travel slower than light (D) Neutrinos can be polarized 30. Which laboratory is constructing the DUNE neutrino experiment? (A) Fermilab (B) CERN (C) KEK (D) SLAC 31. What is the main challenge in neutrino astronomy? (A) Too many background signals (B) Neutrinos rarely interact with matter (C) Neutrinos travel slower than light (D) Neutrinos decay before reaching Earth 32. What discovery won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics? (A) Neutrino mass (B) Neutrino oscillations (C) Solar neutrino detection (D) Sterile neutrino evidence 33. The OPERA experiment studied: (A) Tau neutrino appearance (B) Solar neutrinos (C) Sterile neutrinos (D) Cosmic neutrinos 34. What type of neutrinos dominate cosmic background neutrinos? (A) Relic neutrinos from the Big Bang (B) Solar neutrinos (C) Atmospheric neutrinos (D) Sterile neutrinos 35. Which interaction can produce high-energy astrophysical neutrinos? (A) Proton-proton collisions (B) Dark matter annihilation (C) Black hole accretion (D) All of the above 36. What does the PMNS matrix describe in neutrino physics? (A) Neutrino scattering rates (B) Neutrino mixing and oscillations (C) Neutrino detection cross-section (D) Neutrino decay modes 37. How fast do neutrinos travel? (A) Much slower than light (B) Faster than light (C) Nearly at the speed of light (D) Variable speeds depending on mass 38. The Kamiokande experiment contributed to the discovery of: (A) Solar neutrinos (B) Neutrinos from SN1987A (C) Neutrino oscillations (D) All of the above 39. Which property of neutrinos remains uncertain? (A) Mass hierarchy (B) Charge (C) Speed (D) Flavor count 40. What is the cosmic neutrino background (CνB)? (A) Neutrinos from quasars (B) Relic neutrinos from the early universe (C) Solar neutrino flux (D) Neutrinos from black holes 41. Which phenomenon can neutrino astronomy help study? (A) Supernova mechanisms (B) Black hole formation (C) Nuclear fusion in stars (D) All of the above 42. Which country hosts the Super-Kamiokande detector? (A) USA (B) Canada (C) Japan (D) Italy 43. What is the estimated number of solar neutrinos passing through the human body per second? (A) Thousands (B) Millions (C) Billions (D) Trillions 44. Which experiment is located in Italy for solar neutrino studies? (A) Borexino (B) IceCube (C) Super-Kamiokande (D) OPERA 45. Neutrinos interact with matter mainly via: (A) Electromagnetic force (B) Weak nuclear force (C) Strong nuclear force (D) Gravitational force 46. Why are neutrinos important for cosmology? (A) They affect structure formation in the universe (B) They carry information from the Big Bang (C) They may explain dark matter (D) All of the above 47. What is the role of neutrinos in supernova explosions? (A) Carry away most of the energy (B) Slow down the collapse (C) Heat the stellar core (D) Form black holes directly 48. Which Nobel laureate worked extensively on neutrino theory? (A) Enrico Fermi (B) Wolfgang Pauli (C) Takaaki Kajita (D) All of the above 49. Which detection technique uses radio waves for neutrino observation? (A) Radar reflection in atmosphere (B) Askaryan effect in ice (C) Cherenkov light in water (D) Liquid scintillator method 50. The ultimate goal of neutrino astronomy is to: (A) Replace photon-based astronomy (B) Provide complementary insights into cosmic events (C) Detect only solar activity (D) Study only dark matter