MadSci Network: Astronomy
Query:

Re: What is the latest news on the neutrino telescope? Any results?

Area: Astronomy
Posted By: Aaron Romanowsky, grad student,Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Date: Tue Jul 15 18:02:55 1997
Area of science: Astronomy
ID: 866661612.As
Message:
There are currently several neutrino detectors/telescopes
in operation, with many different types of experiments running.
I will assume you are inquiring about the experiments relevant
to the solar neutrino problem.

And a real problem it is, as the cumulative data from four 
different detectors around the world have now shown:  the number 
of neutrinos detected is far less than the number predicted by
the "standard solar model".  This has often led to a questioning
of this model (which seems well-confirmed by helioseismology
experiments), but the latest data show that there are discrepancies
between the data from different detectors which cannot be
explained by even drastic errors in the solar model.

The best conclusion thus seems to be that the "standard model" 
of electroweak theory is wrong, and needs the addition of some
"new physics", (e.g. flavor oscillations in non-massless
neutrinos).  

There are some new experiments which will check some of the
predictions of these new models, and may thus resolve the
problem in the near future.

For more information, see

The Neutrino Oscillation Industry
or 
Implications of Solar Neutrino Experiments.

-Aaron


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