What are the Origins and Characteristics of Cosmic Neutrinos?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the origins and characteristics of cosmic neutrinos, specifically their temperature and the nuclear reactions that produce them. Cosmic neutrinos become 'transparent' to the universe at temperatures around a few MeV, at which point they decouple from the cosmic background. The exact origins of the first neutrinos remain uncertain, but they are produced through various interactions involving leptons and quarks. The temperature of cosmic neutrinos is not fixed, as it is a decreasing function over time.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of cosmic background radiation
  • Familiarity with particle physics, specifically neutrino interactions
  • Knowledge of nucleosynthesis processes
  • Basic concepts of thermodynamics as applied to the universe
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the role of neutrinos in nucleosynthesis
  • Study the interactions of neutrinos with leptons and quarks
  • Explore the implications of cosmic transparency in cosmology
  • Investigate the temperature evolution of the universe
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Astronomers, physicists, and students of cosmology interested in the fundamental properties and origins of cosmic neutrinos.

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Cosmic Neutrino Background...


What was the temperature and age of the Universe, when it became 'transparent' to cosmic neutrinos?

From what type of nuclear reaction did cosmic neutrinos originate?

What is the peak temperature of cosmic neutrinos?
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Orion1 said:
What was the temperature and age of the Universe, when it became 'transparent' to cosmic neutrinos?
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About a few MeV, if you use units of energy for temperature. Below this temperature, neutrinos "de-couple" from the rest of the cosmic soup, though they still react with neutrons and protons, and so still affect nucleosynthesis.

Orion1 said:
From what type of nuclear reaction did cosmic neutrinos originate?
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Originate I'm not sure, if you mean how the very first neutrinos were produced. In fact nobody knows the answer to such questions, for any type of particle; we just know that at high T we ought to have a soup consisting of all particles that exist.

But as for reactions involving neutrinos, there are for example things like

\nu_i + \bar\nu_i \leftrightarrow \bar{l}_i + l_i
\nu_i + l_i \leftrightarrow \nu_i + l_i
\nu_i + \bar\nu_i \leftrightarrow \nu_j + \bar\nu_j

where l_i denotes the ith flavor lepton (e,muon,tau). There are also analogous reactions between neutrinos and quarks.

Orion1 said:
What is the peak temperature of cosmic neutrinos?
[/Color]

The temperature of the universe is a monotonically decreasing function of time, so I'm not sure if it makes sense to ask what the maximum T of neutrinos are.
 
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