Fermilab scientists said in a statement that the NOvA detector has just recorded its first evidence of oscillating neutrinos. The scientists associated with the project said that the evidence has vindicated that the detector is working as the team at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory hoped.

The system is one of the big instruments for firing neutrinos and then capturing them at the other end. It has been said that Fermilab creates a neutrino beam and then fires it in excess of 500 miles through the Earth.

Only a small percentage of the trillions of neutrinos sent per second actually make it to the detector. The theory behind it is the oscillation takes place, changing the muon neutrinos fired out into other types (electron or tau) while in transit.

Researchers presented the findings during the American Physical Society's Division of Particles and Fields conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They described how they actually fired 201 muon neutrinos at NOvA, but only 33 were successful in reaching the detector.

NOvA will gather data over six years, as researchers attempt to figure out the properties of the only-vaguely-understood particles.

One of the questions before scientists is to know which of the three is the heaviest, and which the lightest, as knowing this would help answer whether neutrinos are antiparticles in their own right or not.

Researchers say that some experiments to see whether neutrons are connected in some way to the Higgs Boson are also planned.