The fields related to neutrino particles and astrophysics are rich, diverse and developing rapidly. So it is impossible to try to summarize all of the activities in the field in a short note. That said, current questions attracting a large amount of experimental and theoretical effort include the following: What are the masses of the various neutrinos? How do they affect Big Bang cosmology? Do neutrinos oscillate? Or can neutrinos of one type change into another type as they travel through matter and space? Are neutrinos fundamentally distinct from their anti-particles? How do stars collapse and form supernovae? What is the role of the neutrino in cosmology?

One long-standing issue of particular interest is the so-called solar neutrino problem. This name refers to the fact that several terrestrial experiments, spanning the past three decades, have consistently observed fewer solar neutrinos than would be necessary to produce the energy emitted from the sun. One possible solution is that neutrinos oscillate--that is, the electron neutrinos created in the sun change into muon- or tau-neutrinos as they travel to the earth. Because it is much more difficult to measure low-energy muon- or tau-neutrinos, this sort of conversion would explain why we have not observed the correct number of neutrinos on Earth.

3 Comments

1. 1. Peter4444 06:59 PM 10/3/09

   Iam intrested in the neutrino has a possible trans-dimensional seed. Sincee they interact with nothing and have no detectable mass, their travels through the universe would not be interrupted by gravity (or space-time warps).At one point, there is a strong possibility of their sliding through our detectable dimensions and producing further 'big bangs'.This, of course, would assume that they would have to gather, at very least, the cosmological characteristics of every single piece of matter and energy in our known universe. I don't have the math to work on that one, but is if were true, the neutrino in question would adopt the characteristics of a singularity at t=0--a ripe moment for the creation of another universe, or, at very least, quantities of 'dark' matter and energy, whose existence is presenting problems in the calculations of mass and energy in OUR universe. Anyone got any suggestions about lines of inquiry in this direction?

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2. 2. VICE 10:56 PM 6/5/10

   I don't know if they would gather characteristics of other elements, since they pass through damn near everything. But I wonder... Do they pass through eachother? Do they change flavors because they collide with eachother. do like nuetrinos tend to gather with other like nuetrinos? Is their density enough that we can "Modulate them" and use them to transmit a "Signal"?

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3. 3. VICE 11:01 PM 6/5/10

   Oh, almost forgot...what effect does magnetism have on them?, or how can they be affected by magnetism?

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