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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

18/06/21 10:25 AM IST

Space-time induces neutrino oscillations

In news

Scientists have shown that the geometry of space-time can cause neutrinos to oscillate. Neutrinos are mysterious particles, produced copiously in nuclear reactions in the Sun, stars, and elsewhere.

Highlights
  • They also "oscillate" meaning that different types of neutrinos change into one another – as has been found in many experiments.
  • Probing of oscillations of neutrinos and their relations with mass are crucial in studying the origin of the universe.
    Neutrinos interact very weakly with everything else – trillions of them pass through every human being every second without anyone noticing; a neutrino’s spin always points in the opposite direction of its motion, and until a few years ago, neutrinos were believed to be massless.
  • It is now generally believed that the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations requires neutrinos to have tiny masses.
  • Einstein’s theory of general relativity says that gravitation is the manifestation of space-time curvature.
  • According to the SNBNCBS team, neutrinos, electrons, protons and other particles which are in the category of fermions show a certain peculiarity when they move in presence of gravity.
  • Space-time induces a quantum force in addition to gravity between every two fermions.
  • This force can depend on the spin of the particles and causes massless neutrinos to appear massive when they pass through matter, like the Sun’s corona or the Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Something similar happens for electroweak interactions, and together with the geometrically induced mass, it is enough to cause oscillation of neutrinos.
Source: PIB

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