Planck Team Confirms Constraints On Neutrino Masses
The Planck Collaboration published its final set of papers on arxiv.org today. One key finding is a confirmation that their research indicates that the sum of the 3 neutrino masses is < 0.12 eV. This brings up a potential problem for particle physics. The minimum mass for this mass sum appears to be about 0.05 eV in order to save the hypothesis of neutrino oscillations, also known and flavor-changing or neutrino mixing.
You do not hear much about this problem for two reasons. (1) Almost everyone assumes that the mass sum must turn out to be somewhere in that little window between 0.05 eV and < 0.12 eV. (2) The idea that the neutrino is massless (as originally believed at its discovery) makes theorists apoplectic. There was a Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery of the neutrino oscillations hypothesis! Also, many strange results (like a factor of 6 under-abundance of neutrinos emitted by the Sun) depend on the hypothesis for an explanation. If the neutrino mass oscillations hypothesis fails, then theoretical physics will have more than egg on its face.
Stay tuned. You can be sure I will keep you updated.