Muon neutrino
| Composition | Elementary particle |
|---|---|
| Statistics | Fermionic |
| Generation | Second |
| Interactions | Weak, Gravity |
| Symbol | ν μ |
| Antiparticle | Muon antineutrino ( ν μ) |
| Theorized | (1940s) |
| Discovered | Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger (1962) |
| Mass | Small but non-zero. See neutrino mass. |
| Electric charge | 0 e |
| Color charge | No |
| Spin | 1/2 |
| Weak isospin | 1/2 |
| Weak hypercharge | −1 |
| Chirality | left-handed (for right-handed neutrinos, see sterile neutrino) |
The muon neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has the symbol
ν
μ and no net electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence the name muon neutrino. It was first hypothesized in the early 1940s by several people, and was discovered in 1962 by Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger. The discovery was rewarded with the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1962 Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger established by performing an experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory that more than one type of neutrino exists by first detecting interactions of the muon neutrino (already hypothesised with the name neutretto), which earned them the 1988 Nobel Prize.
In September 2011, OPERA researchers reported that muon neutrinos were apparently traveling at faster than light speed. This result was confirmed again in a second experiment in November 2011. These results have been viewed skeptically by the scientific community at large, and more experiments have/are investigating the phenomenon. In March 2012, the ICARUS team published results directly contradicting the results of OPERA.
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