Neutrinos Page 1 of 2

Super-Kamiokande Neutrino
Detector
Inside Mount Ikenoyama in Japan within an active zinc mine is a remarkable
tank of ultrapure water which is the world's most sensitive neutrino detector as
of 1999.

The 50,000 tons of water in the tank detector is so pure and

transparent that light passes 70 meters before its intensity
drops to half, compared to a few meters in a typical swimming
pool. The 11,000 hand-blown photomultiplier tubes are half a
meter in diameter and coated inside with a thin layer of alkali Index
metal to detect the Cerenkov radiation from the interactions of
either electron neutrinos or muon neutrinos. Particle
concepts
Kearns, Kajita and Totsuka report the detection of 5000
neutrino events in two years of measurement. From the nature Reference
of the interactions of cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere, Kearns, et
two muon neutrinos are expected for every electron neutrino, al.
but they found a ratio of only 1.3 to 1. Their interpretation of
this result is that the deficiency is caused by "neutrino
oscillation" in which a number of muon neutrinos are
transmuted into tau neutrinos which are undetectable.
Neutrino oscillation has been hotly debated over the past few
years because its existence implies a mass for the neutrinos.
Further detailed analysis of this data from Super-Kamiokande
is consistent with neutrino oscillation, so this is the first clear
experimental evidence supporting a non-zero mass for the
neutrino.
Does the neutrino have any mass?
Accident at Super-Kamiokande

Go Back
HyperPhysics***** Quantum Physics R Nave

Muon and Tau Neutrinos

The massive leptons are the electron, muon and tau, and each of them has an
associated neutrino. The current generation of neutrino detectors such as the
Super-Kamiokande can detect and distinguish between electron and muon
neutrinos. When a muon neutrino interacts with a nucleus, it can produce an
energetic muon which travels only a short distance, emitting a sharply
outlined cone of Cerenkov radiation which can be detected by
photomultiplier tubes. An electron neutrino interaction can produce an
energetic electron, but the Cerenkov cone from this interaction differs

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/neutrino2.html 2006/12/04
Neutrinos Page 2 of 2

significantly from that of the muon. The electron generates a shower of

electrons and positrons, each with its own Cerenkov cone. This smears out
the circle of light which hits the detectors; the diffuse circle at the
photomultipliers is the signature of the electron neutrino. Tau neutrinos are
not detected by these detectors because the neutrino energies are not
sufficient to produce tau particles (which are about 3500 times the mass of
an electron).
Index
The first clear experimental evidence for the difference between electron and
muon neutrinos came from an experiment conducted at Brookhaven in 1962. Particle
The two reactions indicated would have been equally probable if electron concepts
and muon neutrinos were the same.
Reference
Kearns, et
al.

Griffiths
Sec 1.5

G. Danby, et al.,Phys. Rev. Lett. 9,36 (1962) . Also see L. Lederman,

Scientific American, (March 1963).

Since the electron and muon neutrinos are distinct, the second reaction above
violates conservation of lepton number.

R Go Back
HyperPhysics***** Quantum Physics Nave

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/neutrino2.html 2006/12/04