Neutrino
Neutrino
What is neutrino ?
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected. The neutrino (meaning "small neutral one") is denoted by the Greek letter ν (nu).
Neutrinos are similar to the more familiar electron, with one crucial difference: neutrinos do not carry electric charge, which means that they are not affected by the electromagnetic forces which act on electrons.
Neutrinos are affected only by the weak sub-atomic force, of much shorter range than electromagnetism, and gravity, which is relatively weak on the subatomic scale, and are therefore able to travel great distances through matter without being affected by it.
How are neutrinos being created?
Neutrinos are created as a result of certain types of radioactive decay, ornuclear reactions such as those that take place in the Sun, in nuclear reactors, or when cosmic rays hit atoms. Most neutrinos passing through the Earth emanate from the Sun.
Types of Neutrino i. electron neutrinos ii. muon neutrinos iii. tau neutrinos
Each type or "flavor" of neutrino is related to a charged particle (which gives the corresponding neutrino its name). Neutrino | | ne | | nm | | nt | Charged Partner | | electron (e) | | muon
(m) | | tau
(t) |
Each type of this neutrino also has a corresponding antiparticle, called an antineutrino with an opposite chirality.
History
The neutrino (a lepton) was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli to explain why the electrons in beta decay were not emitted with the full reaction energy of the nuclear transition.
In order to preserve the conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, and conservation of angular momentum (spin) in beta decay, it was done by adding an undetected particle that Pauli termed a "neutron" to the proton and electron already known
What is neutrino ?
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected. The neutrino (meaning "small neutral one") is denoted by the Greek letter ν (nu).
Neutrinos are similar to the more familiar electron, with one crucial difference: neutrinos do not carry electric charge, which means that they are not affected by the electromagnetic forces which act on electrons.
Neutrinos are affected only by the weak sub-atomic force, of much shorter range than electromagnetism, and gravity, which is relatively weak on the subatomic scale, and are therefore able to travel great distances through matter without being affected by it.
How are neutrinos being created?
Neutrinos are created as a result of certain types of radioactive decay, ornuclear reactions such as those that take place in the Sun, in nuclear reactors, or when cosmic rays hit atoms. Most neutrinos passing through the Earth emanate from the Sun.
Types of Neutrino i. electron neutrinos ii. muon neutrinos iii. tau neutrinos
Each type or "flavor" of neutrino is related to a charged particle (which gives the corresponding neutrino its name). Neutrino | | ne | | nm | | nt | Charged Partner | | electron (e) | | muon
(m) | | tau
(t) |
Each type of this neutrino also has a corresponding antiparticle, called an antineutrino with an opposite chirality.
History
The neutrino (a lepton) was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli to explain why the electrons in beta decay were not emitted with the full reaction energy of the nuclear transition.
In order to preserve the conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, and conservation of angular momentum (spin) in beta decay, it was done by adding an undetected particle that Pauli termed a "neutron" to the proton and electron already known