An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The → antiparticle counterpart of the → neutrino.

→ anti-; → neutrino.

A neutrino produced in the collision of → cosmic rays (typically → protons) with nuclei in the → upper atmosphere. This creates a shower of → hadrons, mostly → pions. The pions decay to a → muon and a muon neutrino. The muons decay to an → electron, another muon neutrino, and an electron neutrino.

→ atmospheric; → neutrino.

The theoretical → low-energy neutrinos that decoupled from the rest of matter about two seconds after the → Big Bang when the temperature dropped to approximately 2.5 MeV (redshift of z ~ 6 ×10⁹). The CNB is similar to the → cosmic microwave background (CMB), but older. It is estimated that today the CNB has a temperature of T_ν = (4/11)^1/3T_γ, ~ 1.95 K (or 1.67 × 10^-4 eV), where T_γ is the CMB temperature of 2.728 K. Also called the relic neutrinos.

→ cosmic; → neutrino; → background.

A type of neutrino generated by → UHECRs during their journey from distant sources to the Earth. Also called → ultra high energy neutrino.

Constructed from cosmo-, from → cosmic rays + -genic, → cryogenic.

A neutrino produced in high-energy particle collisions, such as those occurring when → cosmic rays strike atoms in the Earth's → atmosphere. Their energy range expands from a few → MeVs up to tenths of a → peta- (P) → electron-volts.

→ high; → energy; → neutrino.

A neutrino which is mainly produced in → nuclear processes, such as the ones in the → Sun (→ solar neutrino), or in the center of an exploding → supernova. Such neutrinos are, however, more energetic than those making up the → cosmic neutrino background.

→ low; → energy; → neutrino.

An → elementary particle with zero → charge, → spin 1/2, and very small → rest mass. The three types of neutrino (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino) experience only the → weak nuclear force and gravitational force, and pass easily through matter. The neutrino undergoes a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which → neutrino flavor changes spontaneously to another flavor (→ neutrino oscillation). The neutrino was first postulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1931 to account for the problem of energy → conservation in → beta decay. It was discovered in 1956.
See also: → antineutrino, → atmospheric neutrino, → cosmic neutrino background (CNB), → cosmogenic neutrino, → high-energy neutrino, → low-energy neutrino, → solar neutrino, → solar neutrino problem, → solar neutrino unit (SNU), → sterile neutrino, → ultra-high-energy neutrino.

Neutrino, coined by Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), from neutr(o)→ neuter + -ino diminutive suffix.

Any of the six different varieties of the neutrinos: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, tau neutrinos, and their antiparticles.

→ neutrino; → flavor.

The transition between neutrino types (→ neutrino flavor) which is a probabilistic consequence of → quantum mechanics. A neutrino, when produced, is in a quantum state which has three different masses. Therefore, an electron neutrino emitted during a reaction can be detected as a muon or tau neutrino. In other words, the flavor eigenstates are different from the propagation eigenstates. This phenomenon was discovered in → solar neutrinos as well as in → atmospheric neutrinos. Neutrino oscillation violates the conservation of the → lepton number; it is possible only if neutrinos have a mass. First predicted by Bruno Pontecorvo in 1957, neutrino oscillation has since been observed by several experiments. It resolved the long-standing → solar neutrino problem. The smaller the mass difference between the flavors, the longer the oscillation period, so that oscillations would not occur if all of the flavors were equal in mass or were massless. Moreover, the oscillation period increases with neutrino energy.

→ neutrino; → oscillation.

A neutrino generated in the → Sun. The main source of solar neutrinos is the → proton-proton chain of reactions: 4 × p→ He + 2e⁺ + 2ν_e, in which an energy of +28 MeV is shared between the reaction products. These are called → low-energy neutrinos. There are less important reactions in the Sun yielding a smaller flux of higher energy neutrinos. The solar neutrino flux can be estimated from the → solar luminosity (L), as follows Since there are two neutrinos for each 28 MeV of energy, the neutrino flux at the Earth distance (d) is given by: ν flux = 2Lsun/(28 MeV) × (1/4πd²) = 6 × 10¹⁰ cm^-2 s^-1. See also the → solar neutrino problem.

→ solar; → neutrino; → flux.

A major discrepancy between the flux of neutrinos detected at Earth from the solar core and that predicted by current models of solar nuclear fusion and our understanding of neutrinos themselves. The problem, lasting from the mid-1960s to about 2002, was a considerably lesser detected number of neutrons compared with theoretical predictions. The discrepancy has since been resolved by new understanding of neutrino physics, requiring a modification of the → standard model of particle physics, in particular → neutrino oscillation.

→ solar; → neutrino; → problem.

A measure of the flux of neutrinos from the Sun reaching the Earth. 1 SNU is equal to 10^-36 solar neutrinos captured per target atom per second.

→ solar; → neutrino; → unit.

A hypothetical type of → neutrino which does not participate in the → weak interaction. It would arise only from ordinary neutrinos oscillating into a sterile form (singlet, right handed → helicity). The sterile neutrino is a candidate for the → dark matter. Sterile neutrinos might have been produced in primordial plasma in the → early Universe. The idea of sterile neutrino was first proposed by Bruno Pontecorvo (1967) in a paper which also discussed neutrino oscillations.

→ sterile; → neutrino.

A neutrino particle accelerated to energies above 10¹⁸ → electron-volts. They are produced by the interaction of → ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR)s with the → cosmic microwave background radiation. Also called → cosmogenic neutrinos. See also → Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit.

→ ultra-; → high; → energy; → neutrino.