Experiment: Photon propagating trough dense neutrino beam

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the propagation of photons through a dense neutrino beam and explores the implications for the understanding of light's speed in different media. Participants consider both established theories and alternative hypotheses regarding the interaction between photons and neutrinos, as well as the nature of gravity at small scales.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes an experiment to shine photons through a dense neutrino beam to test if light slows down or changes angle, suggesting that this could indicate an alternative explanation for light's speed in matter.
  • Another participant notes that personal theories are generally not permitted in the forum and points out that photons already interact with a significant number of neutrinos present on Earth.
  • A participant emphasizes that photons interact with charged particles, while neutrinos are neutral and have negligible gravitational effects, suggesting that neutrinos would not significantly affect photon propagation.
  • Another participant mentions that neutrinos can interact with photons through weak interactions, but the probability of such interactions is extremely low, implying that any effect on the speed of light would be negligible.
  • A later reply challenges the validity of the previous claim about quantum corrections, stating that they are zero for neutrinos due to gauge invariance in electromagnetism.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express disagreement regarding the validity of personal theories and the potential interactions between photons and neutrinos. There is no consensus on the implications of the proposed experiment or the nature of light's propagation through different media.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the need for established sources when discussing alternative theories. The discussion also reflects uncertainty regarding the definitions of "dense" and the nature of interactions between neutrinos and photons.

Edi
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Greetings. I thought about how/ why light propagates slower trough matter than vacuum. Generally it is excepted that it happens because photons are absorbed and then emitted by the atoms and it kinda makes sense. But I see other possibilities.
I propose and experiment:
How about shining photons trough a dense beam of neutrionos - the stuff that only interacts with gravity [and strong.. or week nuclear force?] - if the beam is slowed down [and the angle is changed] then there would have to be another explanation for why light slows down, wouldn't there?

A possible alternative could be, for example, that gravity on the really small scale doesn't follow the inverse square law and gets way stronger - curving the space much more and, like all gravity does, creating a region of .. well.. "larger on the inside", which means more time for light to pass trough.
 
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Personal pet theories are not really allowed here at PF, so unless you have some sources talking about your "alternative" then, I think this thread might get closed.

Photons travel through a "dense" (depending on your definition of dense of course) beam of neutrinos all the time. There are ~10^11 neutrinos per square centimeter traveling through the surface of the Earth per second.
 
Photons interact with charged particles. Neutrinos have zero charge. And extremely small masses, so their gravitational interaction would also be immeasurably small. In fact, the gravitational interaction of all elementary particles is immeasurably small.
 
Neutrinos _can_ interact with photons.

Since neutrinos participate in weak interaction, they have quantum corrections in a form of W boson loops. And those particles, being charged, interact with with photons.

But the probability of this particular virtual interaction is astronomically tiny because of W boson mass, the correction to vacuum spped of light will be similarly astronomically tiny.
 
This thread got off to a bad start and is getting worse.

As pointed out, we don't discuss personal theories here.
Also, the sort of quantum corrections described by nikkom are zero for the neutrino because of the gauge invariance of electromagnetism.
 

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