Sterile Neutrinos: Are They Real?

• B. Eberly ^[1] ; D. Lincoln ^[2]
  1. [1] University of Southern Maine

     University of Southern Maine

     City of Portland, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 60, Nº. 4, 2022, págs. 248-253
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Neutrinos are perhaps the least understood of the known denizens of the subatomic world. They have nearly no mass, interact only via the weak nuclear force and gravity, and, perhaps most surprising, the three known species of neutrinos can transform from one variant into another. This transformation, called neutrino oscillation, has been demonstrated only relatively recently and has led to speculation that there might be another, even more mysterious, neutrino variant, called the sterile neutrino. While the sterile neutrino remains a hypothetical particle, it is an interesting one and searches for it are a key research focus of the world’s neutrino scientist community.