Ghost particles in the universe: Neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology

Authors

  • Georg Gottfried Raffelt Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich (Germany).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8507

Keywords:

neutrinos, dark matter, supernova, flavor oscillations, astroparticle physics

Abstract

 

Neutrinos are nearly massless and very difficult to detect because they interact so very weakly. Sixty years after seeing the first of these «ghost particles» we know a lot about their properties. Today, observing them in nuclear reactors, the Sun, the Earth’s crust and atmosphere, and at high energies from distant cosmic sources is almost a routine task – they have become unique astrophysical messengers. They are important for a number of aspects: neutrinos shape some of the most dramatic astrophysical phenomena in the form of stellar-collapse supernova explosions, they may have created the excess of matter over antimatter in the universe, and neutrino-like «weakly interacting massive particles» may well account for the dark matter of the universe.

 

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Author Biography

Georg Gottfried Raffelt, Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich (Germany).

  Senior staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich (Germany). His research focuses on the areas of theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology. One of his specialities is supernova neutrinos and neutrino oscillations in dense media.  

References

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Published

2017-06-20

How to Cite

Raffelt, G. G. (2017). Ghost particles in the universe: Neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology. Metode Science Studies Journal, (7), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8507
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Violent universe. High-energy astrophysics and cosmology in the twenty-first century

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