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Physicists Discover "Violation of a Fundamental Symmetry of the Universe"
i09.com ^ | November 3, 2010 | Staff

Posted on 11/04/2010 12:31:54 PM PDT by lbryce

Today physicists announced that they may have found the key to explaining dark matter in the universe. It all has to do with the potential discovery of a "sterile neutrino."

According to a release about the new study:
Neutrinos are neutral elementary particles born in the radioactive decay of other particles. The known "flavors" of neutrinos are the neutral counterparts of electrons and their heavier cousins, muons and taus. Regardless of a neutrino's original flavor, the particles constantly flip from one type to another in a phenomenon called "neutrino flavor oscillation."

An electron neutrino might become a muon neutrino, and then later an electron neutrino again. Scientists previously believed three flavors of neutrino exist. In this Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment, dubbed MiniBooNE, researchers detected more oscillations than would be possible if there were only three flavors.

"These results imply that there are either new particles or forces we had not previously imagined," said Byron Roe, professor emeritus in the Department of Physics, and an author of a paper on the results newly published online in Physical Review Letters.

"The simplest explanation involves adding new neutrino-like particles, or sterile neutrinos, which do not have the normal weak interactions."

The three known types of neutrino interact with matter primarily through the weak nuclear force, which makes them difficult to detect. It is hypothesized that this fourth flavor would not interact through the weak force, making it even harder to find.

The existence of sterile neutrinos could help explain the composition of the universe, said William Louis, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who was a doctoral student of Roe's at U-M and is involved in the MiniBooNE experiment.

(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: cosmology; darkenergy; darkforce; darkmatter; muonneutrino; neutrinos; physics; science; speedofdark; sterileneutrino; stringtheory
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To: lbryce

err...

http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/honeycomb-cloud-pattern-explained-0438/


61 posted on 11/04/2010 1:38:10 PM PDT by battlecry
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To: lbryce

In my parallel universe, we are asymmetric but equal.


62 posted on 11/04/2010 1:40:20 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: DocRock
Saturn's North Pole Hexagon


63 posted on 11/04/2010 1:40:36 PM PDT by lbryce (Obama Notwithstanding, America's Best Days Are Yet To Be .)
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To: lbryce

“sterile neutrinos” cannot reproduce.
Ergo they will eventually become extinct.


64 posted on 11/04/2010 1:42:31 PM PDT by bunkerhill7
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To: starlifter
Dude! NSFW!! Cat Pictures, Images and Photos
65 posted on 11/04/2010 1:45:01 PM PDT by TexasPatriot1 ("Tyranny is defined as that which legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry" Jefferson)
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To: bunkerhill7

” “sterile neutrinos” cannot reproduce.
Ergo they will eventually become extinct. “

Nope - they’ll organize ‘Neutrino Pride Parades’ and demand that ‘Neutrino Appreciation’ be taught in the schools, so they can recruit more Neutrinos.....


66 posted on 11/04/2010 1:49:17 PM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Aevery_Freeman
Funny and smart. Good combination.

Takes one to know one, bud!

May the Schwartz be with you.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

67 posted on 11/04/2010 1:50:27 PM PDT by The Comedian (I really missed you. Next time, I'll adjust for windage.)
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To: lbryce
"The simplest explanation involves adding new neutrino-like particles, or sterile neutrinos, which do not have the normal weak interactions."

Well, no.... the simplest explanations involve hardware, software, or measurement errors.

Just saying....

68 posted on 11/04/2010 1:53:39 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: Huebolt

This “travel at the speed of light” thing. The red shift is used to measure distances right? That means infrared must travel at a different speed than ultraviolet, and that is not getting into the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum like x-ray or gamma rays. So what does speed of light mean since all the frequencies travel at different speeds? Maybe we could travel at the speed of red light and still not have infinite mass?


69 posted on 11/04/2010 1:54:30 PM PDT by Gadsden1st
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To: antiRepublicrat
"What do you get if you multiply six by nine"?

"Six by nine. Forty two."

"That's it. That's all there is."

"I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe."

I'm glad I read through the thread before I went and scrounged around for that quote.

70 posted on 11/04/2010 1:55:18 PM PDT by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: lbryce

I wish they’d just bring back “ether” and be done with it.


71 posted on 11/04/2010 1:55:43 PM PDT by InternetTuffGuy
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To: lbryce

They really don’t have a clue.


72 posted on 11/04/2010 1:56:34 PM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (Annoying liberals is my goal. I will not be silenced.)
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To: Gadsden1st

” infinite mass? “

Is that a Michelle Obama reference???


73 posted on 11/04/2010 1:58:12 PM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: battlecry
Thanks for posting the article.

The phenomena as explained in your posted article does not address, account for the seemingly natural forces having created the six-sided geometric shape positioned on Saturn's north pole as seen in the images I recently posted.

74 posted on 11/04/2010 1:58:26 PM PDT by lbryce (Obama Notwithstanding, America's Best Days Are Yet To Be .)
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To: lbryce
That's exactly what a gas giant looks like just before a monolith at the pole ignites a sustained fusion reaction.

Probably a good idea to attempt no landings there.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

75 posted on 11/04/2010 1:58:41 PM PDT by The Comedian (I really missed you. Next time, I'll adjust for windage.)
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To: Gadsden1st
The red shift is used to measure distances right? That means infrared must travel at a different speed than ultraviolet

No.

For any wave, speed of propagation is equal to the wavelength times the frequency of the oscillation.

For light, it's

c = f * lambda

Where c = speed of light (constant), f = frequency, and lambda = wavelength.

The frequency for IR is lower than it is for UV. The wavelengths are correspondingly higher. The waves travel at the same speed.

76 posted on 11/04/2010 2:01:57 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: InternetTuffGuy

Haven’t heard of the zero popint field I see ... the ‘ether’ is so yesterday when you have zero point to refer to. Just dip your consciousness in the quantum foam and become enlightened don’tchaknow.


77 posted on 11/04/2010 2:03:08 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: InternetTuffGuy

Haven’t heard of the zero point field I see ... the ‘ether’ is so yesterday when you have zero point to refer to. Just dip your consciousness in the quantum foam and become enlightened don’tchaknow.


78 posted on 11/04/2010 2:03:21 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: r9etb

Couldn’t have wave packets otherwise ...


79 posted on 11/04/2010 2:04:34 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: The Comedian

As long as they keep buying our bonds, I don't care.

80 posted on 11/04/2010 2:05:28 PM PDT by frithguild (The Democrat Party Brand - Big Government protecting Entrenched Interests from Competition)
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