# Presentation: 302221

## Norton Nabs a Nu!

**Norton Nabs a Nu!**

*Paul Nienaber *
**(with apologies to Dr Seuss...)**

## canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

**Some scientists working on nuclear breakup**
**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

- Some nuclei (the unimaginably dense kernels at the core of all atoms) are unstable, and spontaneously split apart.  Most of these decays produce one of three kinds of ejecta:
- 	- alpha (α) particles  (identified as nuclei of helium)
- 	- beta (β) particles     (identified as electrons/positrons)
- 	- gamma (γ) particles  (identified as photons)

**ca. 1927**

## Some scientists working on nuclear breakup
Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.
“These beta-producers defy explanation!
They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”

**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

- When a nucleus α-decays,
-      the emitted α always comes out with the same energy
-        – just as you’d expect:
-                                               because it’s a TWO BODY decay

**x**

**x****'**

- canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

**α**

**ca. 1927**

## Some scientists working on nuclear breakup
Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.
“These beta-producers defy explanation!
They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”

**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

- canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

- If you observed a large number of these decays,
-       and measured the α’s energy in each case,
-            you’d get a graph that looked something like this:

- number of α’s

- energy

**α**** emitted with energy E**

**E**

## Some scientists working on nuclear breakup
Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.
“These beta-producers defy explanation!
They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”

-    since we only see one β coming out, we expect the same thing:
-      all β’s with the same energy...
-                                                                                 but that’s **NOT**
-                                                                                   what we get!

**Some scientists working on nuclear breakup**
**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

**Y**

- canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

- number of β’s

- energy

**β**** emitted with energy E**

**E**

**Y****'**

**β**

## Some scientists working on nuclear breakup
Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.
“These beta-producers defy explanation!
They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”

**Some scientists working on nuclear breakup**
**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

- canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

- number of β’s

- energy

- This graph, or *spectrum*, is at the heart of the β-decay puzzle:

- sometimes energy appears to be conserved...

- and sometimes not, by a lot!

**ca. 1927**

## Some scientists working on nuclear breakup
Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.
“These beta-producers defy explanation!
They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”

**Saw something that gave all their theories a shake-up.**
**“****These beta-producers defy explanation!**
**They’re showing us energy non-conservation!”**

- canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

**Another researcher, a theorist named Pauli**
**Remarked, “I have solved it!  Eureka, by golly!**
**You think these decays to be just bifurcation –**
**But TRIOS are really the split situation!”**

**Y**

**Y****'**

**β**

**Wolfgang Pauli**

**ca. 1927**

## canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

**Both chargeless and massless, it’s downright reclusive!**
**It zips through detectors; your catchers all miss it!**
**It carries the leftover energy with it!”**

**Another researcher, a theorist named Pauli**
**Remarked, “I have solved it!  Eureka, by golly!**
**You think these decays to be just bifurcation –**
**But TRIOS are really the split situation!”**

**Wolfgang Pauli**

**“****The nucleus doesn’t just spit out a beta,**
**A ‘ghost’ comes out, too – this will fix up your data!**
**‘****But where’s the third piece?’  **
**                              ****I can hear you protesting,**
**‘****We’ve looked, we saw nothing!’ **
**                             ****Here’s what I’m suggesting...”**

** ****zero electric charge**
** ****zero mass**
** ****interacts very feebly,**
**        ****if at all**

## canto 1:  golly, golly, Dr. Pauli!

**“****A new sort of beastie – aloof and elusive,**
**Both chargeless and massless, it’s downright reclusive!**
**It zips through detectors; your catchers all miss it!**
**It carries the leftover energy with it!”**

** ****zero electric charge**
** ****zero mass**
** ****interacts very feebly,**
**        ****if at all**

**So people agreed to accept this new thingy,**
**Though extra ghost particles seemed a bit ding-y.**
**Quipped Fermi, “How should we denote this bambino?**
**It’s little!  It’s neutral!  Let’s call it neutrino!”**

**ν**

**ca. 1927**

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**For thirty-odd years, that was status neutrino:**
**No hits and no runs – they remained quite unseen-o.**
**Fred Reines and colleague Clyde Cowan decided**
**To search for these particles, as yet unsighted.**
**Two things were required to catch sight of these specters:**
**A copious source and a large-scale detector.**

**ca. 1955**

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**So Cowan and Reines concocted a plan which**
**Used stacked photon-catchers                         **
**                             – ****a strange sort of sandwich.**
**To glimpse a clear footprint that all would believe**
**They needed a hallmark that only** **ν****’s leave.**

**Notes:**
scintillator boxes: 6’ x 4.5’ x 2’; water boxes: 6’ x 4.5’ x 3”

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**By chance, a neutrino encount’ring a proton,**
**Will alter, by putting a positive coat on,**
**Becoming an anti-electron, then turning**
**The proton to neutron.                   **
**                            ****Quite simple?  You’re learning...**

**ν**

**p**

**e****+**

**n**

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**The signal’s distinctive – here’s how you can tap in:**
**The anti-electron’s a time-bomb unfailing --**
**E-plus plus e-minus makes photons go sailing**.

**ν**

**p**

**e****+**

**n**

**e****-**

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**ν**

**p**

**e****+**

**n**

**The neutron will wander, then find a new home,**
**And out some additional photons will come.**
**These light-bursts together – a marker so clear:**
**It’s as if the neutrino had yelled out, “I’m here!”**

**“****I’m here!”**

## canto 2:  Norton nabs a nu!

**Reactor (recall this took place in the Fifties!).**
**For nuclear plants would appear to shine bright**
**If your eyes saw neutrinos instead of just light.**

**They built their detector beneath the reactor**
**And looked for a year, and cross-checked all the factors.**
**At last they announced it: no smoke and no mirr-ahs:**
**Neutrinos no longer were Pauli’s chimeras.**

**Savannah River**
**nuclear reactor**

**-----------------------------**
**W E S T E R N   U N I O N**
**-----------------------------**
**               ****June 14, 1956**
**Dear Professor Pauli, **
**        **
**We are happy to inform you   **
**that we have definitely **
**detected neutrinos. . .**
**                 ****Fred Reines**
**                 ****Clyde Cowan**

**Notes:**
Savannah River plant built by DuPont in South Carolina

## canto 2:  Norton* nabs a nu!

***Footnotes:**
** ****1) the particles that reactors produce are really ANTIneutrinos – they collide to produce ANTIelectrons.  Neutrinos would make electrons.**
** ****2) Poetic license:  Neither Fred Reines nor Clyde Cowan are named “Norton,” nor are either of them exactly household names – though Cowan did give his first name to a type of experiment where particle beams crash into each other; they’re called:**

**“****CLYDE - RS”**

## canto 3: one neutrino, two neutrino, e neutrino, μ neutrino? part I

**Consider the curious puzzler, the muon:**
**It undergoes beta decay, not to two-ons**
**But three: one electron, and two tiny zipster**
**Neutrinos, and here’s the anomaly, hipsters:**
**You start with a ****μ**** ****; it decays to an e,**
**Which means you’ve two diff’rent neutrinos, you see:**
**Paired up with the e, you get one ****ANTI****-****ν**
**Another neutrino is left from the ****μ****.**
**Oh, my! Here’s a ****ν**** with an anti! you say:**
**Why don’t they make photons and vanish away?**

**ν**

**ν**

**γ**

**?**

**ca. 1960**

## But wait: we don’t get this! No muons we see
Have ever decayed into γ plus e !
We solve it, 
      by seeing what does and what doesn’t:
We say: these aren’t opposites 
                     – just, sort of, cousins...
For Nature, constructing the particle zoo,
Built separate compartments for e and for μ.
The muon decays to an anti- νe
And standard νμ, and electron, you see.
Neutrinos, type μ, simply will not combine
With antineutrinos that come in e kind.

**Have ever decayed into ****γ**** plus e !**
**We solve it, **
**      ****by seeing what does and what doesn’t:**
**We say: these aren’t opposites **
**                     – ****just, sort of, cousins...**
**For Nature, constructing the particle zoo,**
**Built separate compartments for e and for ****μ****.**
**The muon decays to an anti- ****ν****e**
**And standard ****ν****μ****, and electron, you see.**
**Neutrinos, type ****μ****, simply will not combine**
**With antineutrinos that come in e kind.**

**ν**

**ν**

**γ**

**ν****e**

**ν****μ**

**ca. 1960**

**canto 3: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part I**

## The kind of neutrinos we shoot at detectors
Determines the stuff that collects in collectors.
Electron neutrinos react to make e’s
And muon neutrinos make μ’s, Q.E.D.

**Determines the stuff that collects in collectors.**
**Electron neutrinos react to make e’s**
**And muon neutrinos make ****μ****’s, Q.E.D.**

**ca. 1960**

**canto 3: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part I**

## canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, e neutrino, μ neutrino? part II

**Our theory of how the world worked said, “ν****e****’s**
**Should stay as ν****e****’s, and ν****μ****’s, if you please,**
**Should stay as ν****μ****’s” **
**	****	****	****-- which sounds simple and stable,**
**But nature puts something quite else on the table.**
**Neutrinos aren’t massless, as once we had thought.**
**“****Just how do you know that?”  (We get that a lot. )**
**To “weigh” a neutrino requires application**
**Of something quite strange **
**	****	****	****	****that’s been dubbed “oscillation.”**

**ca. now**

## A stream of neutrinos – νμ’s, let us say
Starts out on a trip from point I to point J
If asked at point I, all neutrinos would chime:
“We’re muon neutrinos at this point in time;
But as from point I to point J we go zappin’,
A quirky and quantum effect might just happen.
By quantum mechanical rules, we behave:
A particle sometimes can act like a wave!”

**Starts out on a trip from point I to point J**
**If asked at point I, all neutrinos would chime:**
**“****We’re muon neutrinos at this point in time;**
**But as from point I to point J we go zappin’,**
**A quirky and quantum effect might just happen.**
**By quantum mechanical rules, we behave:**
**A particle sometimes can act like a wave!”**

**I**

**J**

**ν****μ**

**canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part II**

## How far does the wave stretch?  
					The length, crest to crest,
Is set by the particle’s mass, when at rest.
And waves interfere as they travel through space,
They add and subtract if they get out of phase.
Neutrinos do, too, if you get what I mean – 
They’re made of components, 
					they’re not quite pristine.

**	****	****	****	****	****The length, crest to crest,**
**Is set by the particle’s mass, when at rest.**
**And waves interfere as they travel through space,**
**They add and subtract if they get out of phase.**
**Neutrinos do, too, if you get what I mean – **
**They’re made of components, **
**	****	****	****	****	****they’re not quite pristine.**

**canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part II**

## Let’s say that the thing that we’ve named as νμ
Is made of two pieces: ν1 and ν2.
(I know what it sounds like – you don’t smell a rat!
This isn’t just cadged from “The Cat in the Hat!”)

**Is made of two pieces: ****ν****1**** and ****ν****2****.**
**(I know what it sounds like – you don’t smell a rat!**
**This isn’t just cadged from “The Cat in the Hat!”)**

**canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part II**

## wave 1

**wave 1**

**wave 2**

**wave 1 **
**+ wave 2**

**ν****μ**

**ν****μ**

## They started their travels, ν1 and ν2,
Combined to comprise each initial νμ.
Remember, however, 
			these two pieces’ masses
Are not quite the same, 
			so as travel time passes
The waves, as they’re waving, 
			wave one and wave two,
Move out of the pattern that made a νμ!
But after a few ups and downings have darted
The waves will wave back to the way that they started.

**Combined to comprise each initial ν****μ****.**
**Remember, however, **
**	****	****	****these two pieces’ masses**
**Are not quite the same, **
**	****	****	****so as travel time passes**
**The waves, as they’re waving, **
**	****	****	****wave one and wave two,**
**Move out of the pattern that made a ν****μ****!**
**But after a few ups and downings have darted**
**The waves will wave back to the way that they started.**

**canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part II**

## So what does this mean?  This combined undulation
Explains the phenomenon called oscillation.

**Explains the phenomenon called oscillation.**

**You start with ****ν****μ****’s at initial point I,**
**Off zipping they go; if you stop to say, “Hi”**
**Downstream at point J, **
**	****	****where you placed your detector,**
**Some distance away from the ****ν****μ**** projector,**
**You’ll find, if you ask, “Hey, neutrinos!  Are you**
**Neutrinos type e?  Or neutrinos type ****μ****?”**
**A tiny percentage have altered their stripe – **
**They were of type ****μ****, but are now of e type!**
**The way that this sort of effect comes to pass**
**Can “weigh” a neutrino, determine its mass.**

**canto 4: one neutrino, two neutrino, ****e neutrino, ****μ**** neutrino? part II**

## Coda

**Neutrinos have come a long way since Herr Pauli**
**Set physicists off on this particle trolley.**
**Neutrinos illumine how nuclei work,**
**How suns start to shine, what odd myst’ries lurk**
**Inside neutron stars, and much other fun stuff –**
**It seems that they just cannot teach us enough!**
**Stay tuned!  There are puzzles unsolved yet remaining,**
**More knots for untying, results for obtaining.**
**And thanks for perusing these verses abstruse:**
**Where Mr Neutrino has met Dr Seuss!**