Quantum world: how are sterile neutrinos and dark matter related?

(ORDO NEWS) — The most common particles in nature, with the exception of photons (particles of light), are neutrinos. They have no charge and come from the Sun, as well as from supernovae and other cosmic events. Moreover, about a trillion neutrinos are passing through your hand right now!

Scientists identify several types or varieties of neutrinos: electron, muon and tau neutrinos, and also hope for the existence of a fourth type – “sterile neutrinos”. If they really exist, then they would help solve several fundamental mysteries in physics, for example, why neutrinos have mass, while theories predict that these particles should not have mass?

Sterile neutrinos have also been linked to a mysterious substance that fills 85% of the observable universe – dark matter that permeates space. Previous experiments predicted the presence of these mysterious particles, but here’s the problem: the theory also predicts the possible existence of not only “sterile” neutrinos, but also many other, additional particles.

These neutrinos could interact with each other through their own secret forces somewhere in the back of the universe. But first things first.

What does everything around consist of?

Physically, we are composed of quarks and leptons. As Mikhail Vladimirovich Danilov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, explains in his video for Post-Science, neutrons consist of u-quarks and d-quarks and make up atomic nuclei. Atoms are formed from atomic nuclei and electrons, which are then combined into molecules, forming absolutely everything that we see around us.

Agree, a pretty simple picture. Electrons in atoms are held together by electromagnetic interaction, and its carrier is photons. The quarks inside the proton and neutron are held together due to the strong interaction, the carriers of which are gluons.

—

Online:

Contact us: [email protected]

Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.