Neutrinos: the lightest matter can have the heaviest consequences!

Colloquium

Neutrinos: the Lightest Matter Can Have the Heaviest Consequences!

David Wark

Oxford University and STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

         
        The neutrino is the problem child of the Standard Model of Particle Physics - it was originally proposed because of problems it caused to other measurements, and it has rarely had the good manners to behave as theorists predict it will. Understanding neutrinos is, however, critical to an understanding of the most fundamental laws governing the universe and of the properties of the universe on all scales. The importance of understanding neutrinos was recognized by the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics and the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Physics, but we nonetheless are far from a complete description of how they fit into our world. The talk will give a brief history of how we got to where we are, and a look ahead at some experiments that are coming up and where potential new surprises could lie.