Exploring Neutrinos: Sources, Containment, and Generation

[BigStelly]

Hey,

I am just asking a few questions about neutrinos...


Are they affected by gravitational, electromagnetic, or nuclear forces?
In other words is there any means of containment for neutrino particles?
Also how would one generate neutrinos... if its possible?

 

[jtbell]

Neutrinos interact by way of the weak nuclear interaction, which can either create or destroy them. So there's no way to "contain" them the way you can contain charged particles using electric and magnetic fields.

Beams of neutrinos are produced at particle accelerators (e.g. Fermilab and CERN) by producing beams of other particles that decay into neutrinos. For example, they can produce a beam of pions, which decay into muons and neutrinos. Then they let the muons and neutrinos pass through a thick barrier or rock and/or steel, which absorbs the muons so only the neutrinos are left.

 

[Nereid]

Neutrinos do 'feel' the gravitational force.

However, since they have such a small mass, are (always?) 'born' with such high energies (relative to their masses), and react so weakly, it's hard to see what sort of containment strategy would be possible, even in principle (except, of course, that of the whole universe).

In one sense, they are indeed 'hot dark matter' - they travel at relativistic speeds, they do not interact with the rest of the universe via the electromagnetic force, and they have mass!

 

[Creator]

...how would one generate neutrinos... if its possible?

There are many neutrino sources.

Nuclear reactors were the man-made source of neutrinos when they were first experimentally 'detected', and they are still useful today in providing neutrino flux, energy spectra, and cross section data.

Nuclear explosions are also a means of neutrino production but the side effects are quite unpleasant.

Creator