Related papers: First steps towards understanding neutrinos
The conceptual bases of Fermi's $\beta$-ray theory (at its 90th anniversary) are examined, highlighting the innovative drive and inspirational role for the progress that followed just afterwards. Moreover, the three different ideas of the…
As in Greek mythology, the neutrino was born in the mind of Wolfgang Pauli to salvage a fundamental principle. Its existence met with universal skepticism by a scientific community used to infer particles from experiment. Its detection in…
Fermi helped establish a new framework for understanding matter, based on quantum theory. This framework refines and improves traditional atomism in two crucial respects. First, the elementary constituents of matter belong to a very small…
Dawning neutron physics was more complex than one might expect. The chance that the neutron comprised a proton and an electron was diffusely taken into account after the discovery of the neutron. Moreover, uncertainties persisted about the…
In October 1934 Fermi discovered that neutrons became particularly effective in rendering the elements radioactive after being slowed down by hydrogenous substances. His was described as an absolutely unpredictable scientific discovery. In…
This is a pedagogical overview of neutrino physics from the invention of neutrino by Pauli in 1930 to the precise measurement of neutrino mass and mixing parameters via neutrino oscillation experiments in recent years. I have tried to pitch…
In this paper I discuss Enrico Fermi's view of identical particles, taking a lecture that he gave in 1933 as a starting point. Fermi used his lecture as a basis for a paper that was published in 1934: the paper is in italian and is not…
A general overview of neutrino physics is given. The history of the neutrino starting from Pauli and Fermi is briefly presented. Two-component neutrinos, the phenomenological V-A theory and the standard model are discussed. The problem of…
Since their "discovery" by Pauli in 1930, neutrinos have plaed a key part in confirmation of the structure of the standard model of strong and electroweak interactions. After reviewing ways in which this has been manifested in the past, we…
The most abundant particles in the Universe are photons and neutrinos. Both types of particles are whirling around everywhere, since the early Universe. Hence the neutrinos are all around us, and permanently pass through our planet and our…
The Standard Model is an up-to-date theory that best summarizes current knowledge in particle physics. Although some problems still remain open, it represents the leading model which all physicists refer to. One of the pillars which…
In 1932 Ettore Majorana published an article proving that relativity allows any value for the spin of a quantum particle and that there is no privilege for the half integer spin. The Majorana idea was so innovative for the time that the…
In this contribution, which introduces the "Crossing the Portal" session of the NOW 2024 meeting, I discuss the value of the concepts of interdisciplinarity and innovation for neutrino physics. After some historical considerations, which…
In a first historical part I shall give a detailed description of how Pauli discovered --before the advent of the new quantum mechanics -- his exclusion principle. The second part is devoted to the insight and results that have been…
The general status of neutrino physics are given. The history of the neutrino, starting from Pauli and Fermi, is presented. The phenomenological V-A theory of the weak interaction and the unified theory of the weak and electromagnetic…
About 40 years ago, the neutrino was ruled out as the dark matter particle based on several arguments. Here I use the well-established concept of quantum uncertainties of position and momentum to describe the decoupling of neutrinos from…
Neutrinos are the only fundamental fermions which have no electric charges. Because of that neutrinos have no direct electromagnetic interaction and at relatively small energies they can take part only in weak processes with virtual…
The coming into light of the neutron is discussed. It is remarked that some experiments had already suggested that the penetrating radiation from beryllium had an electromagnetic component, before Joliot-Curies suggested the beryllium…
Some important topics from history of neutrino physics over the last fifty years are discussed. History of neutrinos is older, at 4th December 2010 it will be eightieth anniversary of the "neutrino birth". In that day W. Pauli wrote the…
In 1956 Reines & Cowan discovered the neutrino using a liquid scintillator detector. The neutrinos interacted with the scintillator, producing light that propagated across transparent volumes to surrounding photo-sensors. This approach has…