Lisäneutrinoita

Lisäneutrinoita, also known as sterile neutrinos, are hypothetical elementary particles that interact only through gravity and possibly the Higgs field, unlike the known neutrinos which also interact via the weak nuclear force. This lack of interaction with the weak force makes them "sterile" in comparison to their "active" counterparts. Currently, three types of active neutrinos are known: electron neutrino, muon neutrino, and tau neutrino.

The concept of sterile neutrinos arises in various theoretical extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, particularly in attempts to explain the masses of the known neutrinos and phenomena such as dark matter. Some models propose that sterile neutrinos could be responsible for the observed masses of active neutrinos through a mechanism called the "seesaw mechanism."

Experimental searches for sterile neutrinos are ongoing, but none have been definitively detected. These searches involve looking for evidence of their existence in neutrino oscillation experiments, beta decay measurements, and cosmological observations. The existence and properties of sterile neutrinos remain a subject of active research and theoretical speculation within the particle physics community. If confirmed, they would represent a significant discovery, potentially opening new avenues for understanding the universe's fundamental constituents and evolution.