Neutrino oscillation

Beyond the Standard Model
Simulated Large Hadron Collider CMS particle detector data depicting a Higgs boson produced by colliding protons decaying into hadron jets and electrons
Standard Model
Evidence
Theories
Supersymmetry
Quantum gravity
Experiments

Neutrino oscillation is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which a neutrino created with a specific lepton family number ("lepton flavor": electron, muon, or tau) can later be measured to have a different lepton family number. The probability of measuring a particular flavor for a neutrino varies between three known states, as it propagates through space.[1]

First predicted by Bruno Pontecorvo in 1957,[2][3] neutrino oscillation has since been observed by a multitude of experiments in several different contexts. Most notably, the existence of neutrino oscillation resolved the long-standing solar neutrino problem.

Neutrino oscillation is of great theoretical and experimental interest, as the precise properties of the process can shed light on several properties of the neutrino. In particular, it implies that the neutrino has a non-zero mass outside the Einstein-Cartan torsion,[4][5] which requires a modification to the Standard Model of particle physics.[1] The experimental discovery of neutrino oscillation, and thus neutrino mass, by the Super-Kamiokande Observatory and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatories was recognized with the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics.[6]

  1. ^ a b Barger, Vernon; Marfatia, Danny; Whisnant, Kerry Lewis (2012). The Physics of Neutrinos. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12853-5.
  2. ^ "Mesonium and anti-mesonium". Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 33 (2): 549–551. February 1957. reproduced and translated in B. Pontecorvo (February 1957). "Mesonium and Antimesonium". Sov. Phys. JETP. 6 (2): 429–431. Bibcode:1958JETP....6..429P.
  3. ^ Pontecorvo, Bruno (May 1968). "Neutrino Experiments and the Problem of Conservation of Leptonic Charge". Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 53: 1717–1725. Bibcode:1968JETP...26..984P. reproduced and translated in B. Pontecorvo (May 1968). "Neutrino Experiments and the Problem of Conservation of Leptonic Charge". Sov. Phys. JETP. 26: 984–988. Bibcode:1968JETP...26..984P.
  4. ^ De Sabbata, V.; Gasperini, M. (1981). "Neutrino oscillations in the presence of torsion". Il Nuovo Cimento A (1971–1996). 65 (4): 479–500. Bibcode:1981NCimA..65..479S. doi:10.1007/BF02902051.
  5. ^ Chakrabarty, Subhasish; Lahiri, Amitabha (2019). "Geometrical contribution to neutrino mass matrix". The European Physical Journal C. 79 (8): 697. arXiv:1904.06036. Bibcode:2019EPJC...79..697C. doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7209-2.
  6. ^ Webb, Jonathan (6 October 2015). "Neutrino 'flip' wins physics Nobel Prize". BBC News. Retrieved 6 October 2015.