[ExI] More on Neutrinos

[john clark]

On Fri, 9/30/11, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:
"A little context here for the ignorant: how well measured have these quantities been for supernovae in general? How many data points are there? Just want to see how likely this one might be an outlier or observational error -- or even just something mundane missing from the model of surpernovae events."
In 1987 3 detectors saw a neutrino burst just 3 hours before the light and gamma rays from the supernova could be seen, and that small 3 hour delay can be explained, possibly, by the dynamics of the star. The OPERA neutrinos supposedly move 20 parts per million faster than light and supernova SN-1987A was about 170,000 light years away (the exact distance is a bit uncertain), so if the supernova neutrinos moved as fast as the OPERA neutrinos they would have arrived on Earth 3 maybe 4 years before the light or gamma rays did, but that didn't happen. Or did it? 

If a neutrino burst happened much before 1987 would anybody have noticed? I'm not sure. Three detectors saw the supernova neutrinos in 1987, the Kamioka Observatory saw the most but it didn't become operational until April 1983, the IMB Neutrino Observatory went online in 1982 and the USSR's Baksan Neutrino Observatory in 1977; however none of them was in continuous operation in the years before 1987, they went on and off line, mostly off.

Also, OPERA used Muon neutrinos not Electron neutrinos, I know they oscillate but maybe the 450 mile 3 millisecond trip is not long enough for much oscillations to happen and Muon neutrinos travel at a much different speed than the Electron or Tau neutrino. There is no reason to think that all neutrinos move at the same speed; all electrons and protons don't move at the same speed so why should neutrinos?

But having said all that I must admit that the most likely explanation is that somebody just made a mistake. On the other hand this isn't cold fusion or psi, it there's an error it must be a very subtle one, Nobel Laureate Sam Ting called it "a extremely beautiful experiment very carefully done". So the bottom line is I don't know what the hell to think, but we should know for sure in a couple of years, maybe less; and if it's true it's the biggest discovery in physics in 90 years.

  John K Clark

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