Table of Contents
Has the sterile neutrino been found?
Sterile neutrinos are a special kind of neutrino that has been proposed to explain some unexpected experimental results, but they have not been definitively discovered. Scientists are looking hard for them in many different experiments.
Are sterile neutrinos dark matter?
So astronomers have looked to another theoretical particle known as sterile neutrinos. Neutrinos are a form of dark matter, because they have mass, and weakly interact with light. But neutrinos have such a small mass and high energy that they move through the universe at nearly the speed of light.
Are all neutrinos left-handed?
Experiments have shown that neutrinos (ν) are always left-handed. Since right-handed neutrinos do not exist in the Standard Model, the theory predicts that neutrinos can never acquire mass.
Can neutrinos spin?
Neutrinos have half-integer spin ( 1/2ħ); therefore they are fermions. Neutrinos are leptons. They have only been observed to interact through the weak force, although it is assumed that they also interact gravitationally.
Is dark matter right-handed neutrino?
Section 6 of this paper specifically considers the possibility that sterile neutrinos (i.e., right-handed neutrinos) may constitute dark matter. Left-handed neutrinos are ruled out as dark matter candidates because their “free streaming length” is not consistent with observed large-scale structures in the cosmos.
What is the heaviest neutrino?
ν3
In the “normal mass ordering,” ν1 is the lightest, ν2 is the middle-weight, and the ν3 is the heaviest. This is called normal because it mirrors the masses of the particles that are associated with neutrinos.
What is the 4th neutrino?
For more than two decades, this proposed fourth neutrino, the sterile neutrino, has remained a promising explanation for anomalies seen in earlier physics experiments. Finding a new particle would be a major discovery and a radical shift in our understanding of the universe.