As a follow up to a similar post from a week ago, Fermilab has also observed the transformation of muon neutrinos to electron neutrinos.
Here is the article:
Fermilab experiment weighs in on neutrino mystery
Scientists of the MINOS experiment at the Department of Energy's
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today (June 24) the
results from a search for a rare phenomenon, the transformation of muon
neutrinos into electron neutrinos. The result is consistent with and
significantly constrains a measurement reported 10 days ago by the
Japanese T2K experiment, which announced an indication of this type of
transformation.
The results of these two experiments could have implications for our
understanding of the role that neutrinos may have played in the
evolution of the universe. If muon neutrinos transform into electron
neutrinos, neutrinos could be the reason that the big bang produced more
matter than antimatter, leading to the universe as it exists today.
The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) at Fermilab
recorded a total of 62 electron neutrino-like events. If muon neutrinos
do not transform into electron neutrinos, then MINOS should have seen
only 49 events. The experiment should have seen 71 events if neutrinos
transform as often as suggested by recent results from the
Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment in Japan. The two experiments use
different methods and analysis techniques to look for this rare
transformation.
To measure the transformation of muon neutrinos into other
neutrinos, the MINOS experiment sends a muon neutrino beam 450 miles
(735 kilometers) through the earth from the Main Injector accelerator at
Fermilab to a 5,000-ton neutrino detector, located half a mile
underground in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota.
The experiment uses two almost identical detectors: the detector at
Fermilab is used to check the purity of the muon neutrino beam, and the
detector at Soudan looks for electron and muon neutrinos. The neutrinos'
trip from Fermilab to Soudan takes about one four hundredths of a
second, giving the neutrinos enough time to change their identities.
For more than a decade, scientists have seen evidence that the three
known types of neutrinos can morph into each other. Experiments have
found that muon neutrinos disappear, with some of the best measurements
provided by the MINOS experiment. Scientists think that a large fraction
of these muon neutrinos transform into tau neutrinos, which so far have
been very hard to detect, and they suspect that a tiny fraction
transform into electron neutrinos.
Article Continues Here
Additional Articles:
http://news.discovery.com/space/fermilabs-minos-experiment-confirms-neutrino-quick-change-110704.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/neutrino-particle-oscillation/
Neutrinos Probably Have Mass - Part II
Re: Neutrinos Probably Have Mass - Part II
