SEMINARS

First steps towards understanding neutrinos

by Dr Francesco Vissani (INFN - LNGS)

Europe/Rome
M.B.Ceolin

M.B.Ceolin

Description

We retrace the first steps towards understanding neutrinos, particles predicted by Pauli in 1930 to avoid a supposed violation of time-translation symmetry. Although there is a tendency to reduce the whole story to his intuition and the skill of Reines and Cowan, according to history great strides were made thanks to precious intellectual tools that combined ideas and mathematics. I refer primarily to the contribution of Fermi, who proposed in 1933 a particular theory in which matter particles can appear and disappear, prototypical of those at the basis of today’s particle physics.

Fermi’s theory, despite the limitations of the formalism available at the time, led physicists towards the observation of neutrinos, paved the way for further fruitful developments – for example, it anticipated the characteristic of crossing symmetry – and had impressive scientific legacy. We reconstruct the chain of arguments by highlighting conceptual aspects, emphasising the role of theoretical physics and reflecting on some alternative assessments of the value of Fermi’s contribution.

Organised by

Fabiana Gramegna