8 From Idea to Reality: The Neutrino Story Unfolds in Slow Motion
59
theory of beta decay to the famous science journal Nature, which rejected it,
“because it contained speculations too remote from reality to be of interest to
the reader.” This view of Nature journal regarding Fermi’s theory reflected the
general attitude towards the neutrino idea in the physics community at the
time. Apparently, Nature later admitted the rejection to be one of the great
editorial blunders in its history. Fermi then submitted a revised version of the
paper to the Italian journal Il Nuovo Cimento, which accepted and published to
the Italian in 1933 (Italian title:“Tentativo di una teoria dell emissione diraggi
beta?), and the German journal Zeitschrift fur Physik in 1934, limiting a wider
dissemination to the international community. The paper did not appear at
the time in any primary publication in English. An English translation of the
seminal paper was published in the American Journal of Physics only in 1968
[source: Wikipedia.org]. The strength of the beta decay force that caused the
neutrino to be emitted is denoted by G F (with “F” for Fermi), as mentioned
earlier. This parameter is known to be a very small number, ∼10
−5 compared
to one for nuclear force. This meant that the nucleus takes a long time to
undergo the beta emission process. This should be compared with the nuclear
fragmentation time scale, which is miniscule. For example, a free neutron
undergoing beta decay takes about 15 min, whereas a nuclear fragmentation
time takes 10
−24 s.
8.2 Can the Neutrino Be Found?
This is not really a question for physicists in the twenty-first century since there
are now copious known sources of neutrinos, both man-made and natural (in
the sky). Also, sophisticated experiments are being performed to uncover the
various properties of the neutrino. There are even hopes for using them for
societal benefits. But in the 1930s, soon after Pauli’s proposal, it was a genuine
question as to whether the neutrino exists at all. Nowadays, physicists postulate
new particles every day. But in those days, postulating a new particle was a big
deal, and even Pauli exhibited a sense of unease for having physicists struggle
with his suggestion.
However, one person who took Pauli’s idea seriously was Enrico Fermi
(Figs. 8.2), and he was serious enough to write a theory for it, as just noted.
Soon after Fermi’s paper, more physicists started to get interested and started
doing estimates of how many and how fast the neutrinos can be produced,
so that they could be looked for in experiments and their existence could
be established. Hans Bethe and Rudolf Peierls, who were both at University
of Manchester at the time, were among the first to write a paper entitled
59
theory of beta decay to the famous science journal Nature, which rejected it,
“because it contained speculations too remote from reality to be of interest to
the reader.” This view of Nature journal regarding Fermi’s theory reflected the
general attitude towards the neutrino idea in the physics community at the
time. Apparently, Nature later admitted the rejection to be one of the great
editorial blunders in its history. Fermi then submitted a revised version of the
paper to the Italian journal Il Nuovo Cimento, which accepted and published to
the Italian in 1933 (Italian title:“Tentativo di una teoria dell emissione diraggi
beta?), and the German journal Zeitschrift fur Physik in 1934, limiting a wider
dissemination to the international community. The paper did not appear at
the time in any primary publication in English. An English translation of the
seminal paper was published in the American Journal of Physics only in 1968
[source: Wikipedia.org]. The strength of the beta decay force that caused the
neutrino to be emitted is denoted by G F (with “F” for Fermi), as mentioned
earlier. This parameter is known to be a very small number, ∼10
−5 compared
to one for nuclear force. This meant that the nucleus takes a long time to
undergo the beta emission process. This should be compared with the nuclear
fragmentation time scale, which is miniscule. For example, a free neutron
undergoing beta decay takes about 15 min, whereas a nuclear fragmentation
time takes 10
−24 s.
8.2 Can the Neutrino Be Found?
This is not really a question for physicists in the twenty-first century since there
are now copious known sources of neutrinos, both man-made and natural (in
the sky). Also, sophisticated experiments are being performed to uncover the
various properties of the neutrino. There are even hopes for using them for
societal benefits. But in the 1930s, soon after Pauli’s proposal, it was a genuine
question as to whether the neutrino exists at all. Nowadays, physicists postulate
new particles every day. But in those days, postulating a new particle was a big
deal, and even Pauli exhibited a sense of unease for having physicists struggle
with his suggestion.
However, one person who took Pauli’s idea seriously was Enrico Fermi
(Figs. 8.2), and he was serious enough to write a theory for it, as just noted.
Soon after Fermi’s paper, more physicists started to get interested and started
doing estimates of how many and how fast the neutrinos can be produced,
so that they could be looked for in experiments and their existence could
be established. Hans Bethe and Rudolf Peierls, who were both at University
of Manchester at the time, were among the first to write a paper entitled