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The appearance and disappearance of the 17-keV neutrino

Allan Franklin

Allan Franklin

  • Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80302

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Rev. Mod. Phys. 67, 457 – Published 1 April, 1995

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.67.457

Abstract

It is a fact of life in empirical science that experiments often give discordant results. This is nowhere better illustrated than in the recent history of experiments concerning the existence of a heavy, 17-keV neutrino. The 17-keV neutrino was first "discovered" by Simpson in 1985. The initial replications of the experiment all gave negative results, and suggestions were made that attempted to explain Simpson's result using accepted physics, without the need for a heavy neutrino. Subsequent positive results by Simpson and others led to further investigation. Several of these later experiments found evidence supporting that claim, whereas others found no evidence for such a particle. Some theorists attempted to explain away the result, and others tried to explain it and to incorporate it within existing theory without the need for a new particle, or to look for the further implications of such a particle, or to propose a new theory that would incorporate the new particle. The question of the existence of such a heavy neutrino remained for several years. Recently, doubt has been cast on the two most convincing positive experimental results, and errors have been found in those experiments. In addition, recent, extremely sensitive experiments have found no evidence for the 17-keV neutrino. The consensus is that it does not exist. The discord has been resolved by a combination of finding errors in one set of experiments and a preponderance of evidence.

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Rev. Mod. Phys. 67, 457– Published 1 April, 1995

    © 1995 American Physical Society

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