What are Neutrinos?

26-08-2023

10:18 AM

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1 min read
What are Neutrinos? Blog Image

Overview:

Recently, the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Antineutrino Detector (KamLAND) experiment in Japan has found no evidence that neutrinos are their antiparticles.

About Neutrinos:

  • Neutrinos are mysterious particles, produced copiously in nuclear reactions in the Sun, stars, and elsewhere.
  • They also "oscillate"-- meaning that different types of neutrinos change into one another.
  • A neutrino is a fermion that interacts only via weak interaction and gravity.
  • Probing of oscillations of neutrinos and their relations with mass are crucial in studying the origin of the universe.
  • Neutrinos are created by various radioactive decay; during a supernova, by cosmic rays striking atoms etc.
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What is antiparticle?

  • In quantum theory, every type of particle is associated with an antiparticle with the same mass but with opposite physical charges. For example, the antiparticle of the electron is the positron

 


Q1: What is an electron?

An electron is a negatively charged subatomic particle that together with protons and neutrons forms an atom's nucleus.

Source: Explained | Are neutrinos their own antiparticles?