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Particles and Fundamental Interactions pp 179–228Cite as

Weak Interactions and Neutrinos

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Part of the book series: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics ((ULNP))

Abstract

In this chapter, the weak interactions, WI 1 will be described. The history of weak interactions is closely connected with that of the neutral lepton called the neutrino by Fermi. We shall focus on the phenomena that led to hypothesize the existence of that particle, its experimental discovery and the discovery of different neutrino flavors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Weak interaction or interactions? The standard is defined by the Particle Data Group [P10], which indicates the plural. Initially, it seemed that the WIs amongst quarks and leptons slightly differed. Today, the plural indicates that charged currents (CC) and neutral currents (NC) are known. We shall often use the singular form to highlight the universality of the WI between quarks and leptons.

  2. 2.

    In a late 1957 lecture, Pauli explained: “This reads: exclusion principle (Fermi statistics) and half-integer spin for an odd number of particles; Bose statistics and integer spin for an even number of particles”.

  3. 3.

    This was true until the discovery of the strange particles. The decays with a strangeness variation ΔS = 1 are treated in Sect. 8.11.

  4. 4.

    The explanation of these concepts will be formalized in the theory presented in Sect. 8.16.

  5. 5.

    This part of the weak interaction theory is called PCAC, that is, Partially Conserved Axial-vector Current [8V84].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and INFN, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Sylvie Braibant, Giorgio Giacomelli & Maurizio Spurio

Authors
  1. Sylvie Braibant
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  2. Giorgio Giacomelli
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  3. Maurizio Spurio
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Correspondence to Sylvie Braibant .

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Braibant, S., Giacomelli, G., Spurio, M. (2011). Weak Interactions and Neutrinos. In: Particles and Fundamental Interactions. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2464-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2464-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-2463-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-2464-8

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

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