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antineutrino

 
Dictionary: an·ti·neu·tri·no   (ăn'tē-nū-trē'nō, -nyū-, ăn'tī-) pronunciation
n., pl., -nos.
The antiparticle of the neutrino.


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WordNet: antineutrino
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the antiparticle of a neutrino


Wikipedia: Antineutrino
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Antineutrino
Composition: Elementary particle
Family: Fermion
Group: Lepton, Anti-Lepton
Interaction: weak force and gravity
Symbol(s): νe,νμ, ντ
Antiparticle: Neutrino (Possibly identical to the antineutrino.)
Theorized: 1930
Discovered: 1956
Types: 3 - electron, muon and tau
Electric charge: 0
Color charge: 0
Spin: 1/2
Lepton number: -1

In physics, antineutrinos are the antiparticles of neutrinos, which are neutral particles produced in nuclear beta decay. These are emitted in beta particle emissions, where a neutron turns into a proton. They have a spin of 1/2, and they are part of the lepton family of particles. The antineutrinos observed so far all have right-handed helicity (i.e., only one of the two possible spin states has ever been seen), while the neutrinos are left-handed. Antineutrinos interact with other matter only through the gravitational and weak forces, making them very difficult to detect experimentally. Neutrino oscillation experiments indicate that antineutrinos have mass, but beta decay experiments constrain that mass to be very small.

Because antineutrinos and neutrinos are neutral particles it is possible that they are actually the same particle. Particles which have this property are known as Majorana particles. If neutrinos are indeed Majorana particles then the neutrinoless double beta decay process is allowed. Several experiments have been proposed to search for this process.

Researchers around the world have begun to investigate the possibility of using antineutrinos for reactor monitoring in the context of nonproliferation.[1][2][3]

Contents

First Detection

Antineutrinos were first detected as a result of their interaction with cadmium nuclei in a large tank of water. This was installed next to a nuclear reactor as a controllable source of the antineutrinos.

See also

References

  1. ^ LLNL/SNL Applied Antineutrino Physics Project. LLNL-WEB-204112 (2006): http://neutrinos.llnl.gov/
  2. ^ Applied Antineutrino Physics 2007 workshop: http://www.apc.univ-paris7.fr/AAP2007/
  3. ^ DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2008, March 13). New Tool To Monitor Nuclear Reactors Developed. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313091522.htm

External links

Antimatter
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Annihilation
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antilepton (atomic physics)
neutrino bremsstrahlung (nuclear physics)
two-component neutrino theory (particle physics)

When a neutron decays into a proton and releases an electron and an antineutrino how does the atom maintain an electron balance if it ejects the electron as beta radiation? Read answer...

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Antineutrino" Read more