You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: Space chameleons or space cowboys - neutrinos and their mysteries

in StemSocial3 years ago

Anything neutral always creates problems and this is why I dislike fencists :)

If neutrinos are confirmed to not be massless, does it means that the mass of one or two of the standard model particles have been overestimated? This is with respect to the law of conservation of mass.

You should probably start issuing a certificate in particle physics to the readers of your blog. That would be for those that are able to grab and relate with everything.

Sort:  
 3 years ago  

Thanks for passing by and this comment!

Anything neutral always creates problems and this is why I dislike fencists :)

Ahaha! Neutral beasts are indeed hard to detect.

If neutrinos are confirmed to not be massless, does it means that the mass of one or two of the standard model particles have been overestimated? This is with respect to the law of conservation of mass.

There are two things here.

First, while we can have a viable model with a single massless neutrino, the other two must be massive. Data is very solid about that. However, do we have a massless neutrino and two massive ones, or three massive neutrinos? This is a question we will hopefully be able to answer in a close future. For now, both options are allowed.

Next, there is no such a thing as conservation of mass in particle physics. Only energy (mass being one form of energy) is conserved in any given process. Therefore, mass can be converted in kinetic or potential energy, and vice versa. I am however not too sure about getting the second part of your question right. Do you mind elaborating a little? Thanks!

You should probably start issuing a certificate in particle physics to the readers of your blog. That would be for those that are able to grab and relate with everything.

Rofl! Maybe I could ask @arcange and the @hivebuzz team to create a dedicated badge if they have time. However, I would feel uncomfortable in deciding to who I should give it (although this may be fun).

 3 years ago  

I am however not too sure about getting the second part of your question right. Do you mind elaborating a little? Thanks!

I assumed all possible conversions have been considered before the mass of particles such as electrons et al were estimated. Now that we are proposing a mass of neutrinos, the mass needs to be accounted for somehow.

I don't know if I making any sense.

If we saw; A + B = 6

and we also say, A+B+C = 6

It means that C = 0, right? Now, if we say that C is not 0, then A+B cannot be equal to 6.

 3 years ago  

I don't understand your reply... sorry :D

Maybe the clarifying point is that neutrino masses are tiny, but non zero. Therefore, in many phenomena, the precise value has no effect (because it is negligibly small). We need to look at the right observable to get the impact of the mass visible, like neutrino oscillations. There without a mass there is no oscillation whilst with a mass there are oscillations. This cannot be missed.

Yes, that would be fun. Feel free to contact me on Discord or Telegram

 3 years ago  

Cool! I will do it tonight, when back from work!