Musk is Right: Neutrinos Are Evidence for New Physics

Elon Musk made a surprising tweet about neutrinos, writing that “Anything that potentially challenges the Standard Model is a very interesting experiment.” What is he going on about? Is he correct? Let’s have a look.

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[MTristanHurst]

I'm a graduate student currently working on the CUORE experiment. Fun fact about the detectors, they operate at a few 10's of mK (~0.010 K). At that temperature, electrons emitted during beta decay increase the temperature of our detectors enough to be picked up by our resistive thermometers. But then again, any stray charged particle would have enough deposit enough energy to be picked up by the thermometers. So, in order to shield the detectors from cosmic ray showers, it's located 1400 meters underground at the Gran Sasso Laboratory. Even with good isolation systems, the detectors are so sensitive they pick up heat generated by stray vibrations from all sorts of sources such as earthquakes, lightning strikes, etc. A faint signal can even be seen from sea waves causing noise in the data, even though the detector is 50 km inland away from the sea!

[ThestDukeDroklar]

I would argue that "Failed experiments" are an extremely important part of science and deserve more credit than they get. It is a process of elimination that helps scientists narrow the field of theoretical possibilities, helping to point the way toward the light of scientific truth.

[Cosmodjinn]

X-Pensive is actually a good name when you think about the definition of pensive...

[mahin]

Saying I have to work before saying I love you and hanging up was TOO realistic

[mjr]

Big respect for buying a giant inflatable phone for that one second visual gag. That's the hard hitting science that keeps me coming back.

[Thomas-gk]

Fascinating topic, wonderful video. The life story of Ettore Majorana would be worth a whole video too, I suggest.

[czerskip]

That was the most honest, heartfelt "love you too" I've heard in my life 🙀😹

[ianstopher]

I was surprised that Sabine did not mention the reason the right-handed neutrinos are so heavy is also why the left-handed neutrinos are so light, via the seesaw mechanism. I'm sure there are more complex explanations, but the seesaw seemed very appealing to my young self.

[jorgwei]

For some reason I find it oddly pleasing that the creator delivering the sickest burns on YouTube is a middle aged lady with a German accent, talking about particle physics. What a time to be alive.

[aholland]

I wish I could give two thumbs up for that larger detector at the end!

[HXTz]

4:08 The reason he said it was in response to the Terrence Howard drama at the time. Here he was trying to point to something actually interesting that challenges the standard model

[marcushladek]

Maiorana's uncleared fate is also a topic in the Catholic church, by the way, because he seems to have been a very pious catholic person and there were rumours, after his disappearance, he might have become a monk in some religious order and willingly vanished from the eyes (if not the face) of the earth. There is a German novel, "Der Ratschlag - eine Mystifikation", in which a figure who is given the name of Maiorana but who is not identical with him tells about quantum physics and metaphysics - the substance of which referees the content of the books that the Cambridge quantum physicist John Polkinghorne wrote about God and science after he had ended his scientific career and studied theolgy to become an Anglican priest.

[Vondoodle]

So in the 90s Phone detectors were bigger ?

[arctic_haze]

I still think the Majorana solution is the most elegant one. But I read Sabine's book and know it does not make it automatically the true one.

[Sara-lkyr]

I am Italian. J of Majorana is an "i" and not a "g". With the g sound it becomes very close to maggiorana, the herb marjoram...😅😂

[yoursoulisforever]

When Sabine pulled out that big phone, I busted out laughing. 👍👍👍

[BananaTie]

Sabine: Your sense of humor, mixed in here and there, is amazing! Science and comedy can co-exist! Keep it up.

[RoryJamesFord-rnyu]

I've noticed a lack of jokes until today's "bitezilla" and I'm happy you are back at it, bc honestly, ypu are good at it and it makes me laugh every time. Thanks!

[rozzgrey]

Neutrinos are, as the name suggests, Italian in nature. They have a keen sense of style and perform frequent costume changes.

[segevstormlord]

I still think that, if we had not had a period of time where we dismissed the luminiferous Aether as a "failed theory" before we discovered the theory of the Higgs Field, we would have _called_ the theory of the Higgs Field a mathematical model of the Luminiferous Aether.