A study of atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the MINOS far detector Page: 16 of 257
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe. However, it is difficult
to measure their properties since their interactions with matter are so weak that they
are able to pass through several light years of material without deviation. Physicist
Fred Reines appropriately described neutrinos as: "the most tiny quantity of reality
ever imagined by a human being". This ghostly nature makes neutrino physics a dif-
ficult science. Neutrino experiments require intense sources of particles and massive
underground detectors. Physicist John Bahcall once summed up the challenge to ex-
perimenters: "this makes looking for a needle in a haystack seem easy!". But physicists
have dine and again risen to the challenge and been rewarded by a rich array of results.
The concept of the neutrino was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli as a
solution to a problem observed ini measurements of nuclear beta decay. It was believed
that beta decay was a two-body process involving a nuclear transition and the emission
of an electron. However, the electron was found to have a continuous spectrum, an
observation which appeared to violate the principle of energy conservation. Pauli firmly
believed that this law should not be broken under any circumstances and he proposed
that a third invisible particle might be emitted in beta decay in addition to the electron
and daughter nucleus. This particle would have to be neutrally charged, very light and
interact only with the weak force. Pauli's idea was taken up by Enrico Fermi who in
1934 published a quantitative theory of beta decay incorporating the new particle, which
Fermi affectionately dubbed the neutrino ("little neutral one") [1].
Fermi's theory accurately described many experimental results and provided strong
evidence for the existence of the neutrino. However, the prospect for any direct ob-
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Blake, Andrew & U., /Cambridge. A study of atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the MINOS far detector, thesis or dissertation, August 1, 2005; Batavia, Illinois. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc884341/m1/16/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.