Neutrinos are the second most plentiful particles within the cosmos. Because they’re so ubiquitous, their properties have an vital affect on the construction of the universe.
An open query about neutrinos is whether or not they’re their own anti-particles. An experiment in Japan lately reported that it failed to seek out “strong evidence” that that is so, ruling out a number of theories attempting to clarify neutrinos’ many mysterious properties.
Every elementary particle has an anti-particle. If the 2 meet, they may destroy one another in a flash of vitality. The electron’s anti-particle is the positron. They might be distinguished as a result of they’ve reverse expenses. Similarly, neutrinos have anti-neutrinos.
However, neither is electrically charged, nor possesses some other properties to essentially differentiate between them.
But physicists working with the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Antineutrino Detector (KamLAND) in Japan lately reported that after analysing two years’ knowledge, they may not discover indicators that neutrinos could possibly be their own anti-particles.
KamLAND appears to be like for an occasion referred to as neutrinoless double beta-decay. In regular double beta-decay, two neutrons in an atom flip into two protons by emitting two electrons and two anti-neutrinos. In neutrinoless double beta-decay, the anti-neutrinos aren’t emitted, which might occur provided that anti-neutrinos are simply completely different sorts of neutrinos.
A KamLAND staff regarded for indicators of neutrinoless double beta-decay in 750 kg of xenon-136. It reported on January 30, in Physical Review Letters, that if a xenon-136 nucleus does bear neutrinoless double beta-decay, it occurs at most as soon as each 230 million billion billion years. Even the universe is simply 13.8 billion years outdated.
The consequence rejects theories that predict extra frequent occurrences of neutrinoless double beta-decay. The physicists plan to improve KamLAND and take a look at theories that predict decrease frequencies in future.
The frequency can be utilized to estimate the mass of neutrinos, defined Itaru Shimizu from the Research Centre for Neutrino Science, Tohoku University, and a KamLAND staff member.
So, 2.3×10 26 years implies “an effective neutrino mass of 36-156 meV,” he stated in an e mail. This is at the very least 5,000-times lighter than an electron.
Another unknown about neutrinos is their mass. So as KamLAND continues its quest for neutrinoless double beta-decay, it might be able to assist crack this thriller as nicely.
