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Already beyond the Standard Model

We already know neutrinos break the mold of the Standard Model. The question is: By how much?

For Symmetry Magazine:

Tested and verified with ever increasing precision, the Standard Model of particle physics is a remarkably elegant way of understanding the relationships between particles and their interactions. But physicists know it’s not the whole story: It provides no answer to some puzzling questions, such as the identity of the invisible dark matter that constitutes most of the mass in the universe.

As a result, in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, one area of notably keen interest continues to be neutrinos.

In the Standard Model, neutrinos come in three kinds, or flavors: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. This mirrors the other matter particles in the Standard Model, which each can be organized into three groups. But some experiments have shown hints for a new type of neutrino, one that doesn’t fit neatly into this simple picture.

[Read the rest at Symmetry Magazine…]