Neutrino Oscillations and Solar Neutrinos

JUL 01, 1989

The hypothesized quantum mechanical process in which neutrinos transform from one ‘flavor’ into another can be studied by observing solar neutrinos with a new generation of highly sensitive detectors.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881173

Lincoln Wolfenstein

Eugene W. Beier

The neutrino is the elementary particle postulated by Wolfgang Pauli to account for the apparent nonconservation of energy in nuclear beta decay. Neutrinos are now believed to exist in at least three varieties, or “flavors,” labeled $ν_{e},$ $ν_{μ}$ and $ν_{τ}$ and distinguished by the way they interact. There are also three antineutrinos, ${ν̄}_{e},$ ${ν̄}_{μ}$ and ${ν̄}_{τ} .$

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More about the Authors

Lincoln Wolfenstein. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Eugene W. Beier. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.