Astrophysics and cosmology closing in on neutrino masses

Journal Article · Fri Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.250.4987.1529· OSTI ID:5812520

Dar, A ^[1]

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1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

Massive neutrinos are expected in most grand unified theories that attempt to unify the strong and electroweak interactions. So far, heroic laboratory experiments have yielded only upper bounds on the masses of the elusive neutrinos. These bounds, however, are not very restrictive and cannot even exclude the possibility that the dark matter in the universe consists of neutrinos. The astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the masses of the muon and tau neutrinos, m{sub {nu}{sub {mu}}} and m{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}}, which already are much more restrictive than the laboratory bounds, and the laboratory bound on the mass of the electron neutrino, m{sub {nu}{sub e}}, can be improved significantly by future astrophysical and cosmological observations that perhaps will pin down the neutrino masses. Indeed, the recent results from the solar neutrino experiments combined with the seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses suggest that m{sub {nu}{sub e}} {approximately}10{sup {minus}8} electron volts, m{sub {nu}{sub {mu}}} {approximately}10{sup {minus}3} electron volts, and m{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} {approximately}10 electron volts, which can be tested in the near future by solar neutrino and accelerator experiments.

• OSTI ID: 5812520
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 250:4987; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
NEUTRINOS
MASS
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
LABORATORIES
LIMITING VALUES
MUON NEUTRINOS
NEUTRINO OSCILLATION
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PARTICLE DECAY
SOLAR NEUTRINOS
STANDARD MODEL
TAU NEUTRINOS
DECAY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
HEAVY LEPTONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
PARTICLE MODELS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
RADIATIONS
SOLAR PARTICLES
SOLAR RADIATION
STELLAR RADIATION
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
662430* - Properties of Leptons- (1992-)