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Hoofbeat
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Homework Statement
"Discuss the evidence for the law of conservation of lepton generation number. What is the evidence that neutrinos of different generations are distinct?" [8 marks]
Homework Equations
N/A
The Attempt at a Solution
I understand the concept of lepton generation numbers and that within the standard model, if neutrinos have zero mass (although we know they're now massless), that each lepton number law is a separate conservation law, but what particular evidence is there that this is the case, apart from say the decay of a W-boson to a lepton and its neutrino (which in itself might only be showing that lepton number is conserved, rather than each lepton generation number)?
Also, for the second part of the question about the 3neutrinos being distinct what evidence is there to show this? I thought that because of neutrino oscillations, the 3 different neutrino types are not distinct since their flavour can change as they propagate?
Thanks very much