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The Solar Neutrino Deficit Puzzle.
...In classical General Relativity, one implicitly assumes that the universe consists of a single sheet. Some argue, however, that there is no need to consider a different configuration.
Perhaps.
The fusion reactions occurring in the Sun's core produce energy in the form of:
- Photons — Neutrinos.
...Neutrinos interact very weakly with matter, so they escape the Sun unimpeded. Energy in the form of photons, on the other hand, slowly makes its way toward the Sun's surface and chromosphere through successive absorption and re-emission, aided by convection within the star. When this energy reaches the chromosphere, it is emitted as photons.
...On Earth, we thus detect, modulo this delay, both photons and neutrinos. Until fairly recently, we were unable to measure the neutrino flux, even though each cubic centimeter of our bodies is traversed every second—unless I'm mistaken—by ten billion neutrinos.
...Measuring this flux revealed a troubling fact: we detect only about half the expected number of neutrinos. This is the solar neutrino deficit—the shortage of solar neutrinos. We must eventually find an explanation for this phenomenon, otherwise our entire understanding of the Sun's (and stars') dynamics collapses.
...In my latest book, published by Albin Michel, titled "We've Lost Half of the Universe," I wrote in the first part that our theoretical understanding of stellar functioning was considered satisfactory. But since things are evolving, in the next book I'll have to include a chapter titled:
We've Lost Half of the Solar Neutrinos.
...Some theoretical physicists are dismayed, while others are delighted. Indeed, this is the first phenomenon that genuinely challenges quantum mechanics. It will be necessary to re-examine the foundations.
One Universe, or Two?
What speculative ideas are currently being explored?
Two key references:
R. Foot and R.R. Volkas, Phys. Rev. D, Vol. 52, No. 11, December 1, 1995
Z.G. Berezhiani and R.N. Mohapatra, Phys. Rev., Vol. 52, No. 11, December 1, 1995.
...Foot and Volkas suggest that the universe comprises two "sectors": our own, and a "mirror sector," a mirror image, enantiomorphic—i.e., "P-symmetric." The energy produced by fusion would thus involve both "ordinary" neutrinos and "mirror neutrinos," neutrinos belonging to the second sector (three types: electron, muon, and tau neutrinos, and, of course, their antiparticles). Sector, sheet, layer: synonymous terms.
...Our universe is not symmetric. It exhibits what is known as the violation of parity. Reactions that proceed "to the right" do not occur at the same rate as their mirror images. Classic reference:
T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang, Phys. Rev. 104, 254 (1956)
...Foot and Volkas "symmetrize" the universe by assuming it has a twin, the mirror universe, where parity violation occurs in the opposite direction. Along the way, we constructed a model in which neutrinos possess "little brothers" that are CPT-symmetric, using group theory.
...See: "J.P. Petit & P. Midy: Geometrization of antimatter through coadjoint action of a group on its momentum space." 3: Twin group. [On site: Geometrical Physics B, 1-3], 1998.
...There is another problem that leads us to consider two universes instead of one: the absence of primordial antimatter in our universe. Normally, in its most primitive state, the universe consisted—using Steven Weinberg's words—of "all kinds of radiation." Photons gave rise to particle-antiparticle pairs, which quickly rushed to annihilate each other elsewhere (electrons and positrons, for example, with opposite electric charges, attract one another). The early universe (the Hebrew "tohu-bohu") was thus a highly turbulent mixture in which radiation constantly transformed into matter-antimatter and vice versa. Then, as the universe expanded, the photons lost energy and could no longer produce these hostile twin pairs. The universe rapidly emptied. After thirteen seconds, everything was settled. Question: Why are we here? Why wasn't annihilation complete? Answer: No answer.
...Hence the few papers by Andrei Sakharov, who was the first to suggest that two universes might have formed simultaneously, rather than just one.
A. Sakharov: "CP violation and baryonic asymmetry of the Universe." ZhETF Pis'ma 5: 32–35 (1967); Translation JETP Lett. 5: 24–27 (1967)
A. Sakharov: "A multisheet Cosmological model." Preprint, Institute of Applied Mathematics, Moscow, 1970
A. Sakharov: "Cosmological model of the Universe with a time vector inversion." ZhETF 79: 689–693 (1980); Translation in Sov. Phys. JETP 52: 349–351 (1980)
A. Sakharov: "Topological structure of elementary particles and CPT asymmetry" in "Problems in theoretical physics," dedicated to the memory of I.E. Tamm, Nauka, Moscow, 1972, pp. 243–247
Detail: In these two universes, the arrows of time are opposite. In some of his publications, Andrei Sakharov also suggested that these "twin universes" might also be enantiomorphic, mirror images of each other.
Another approach: superstrings. These are suggestions formulated by Schwarz (Caltech), Green (Queen Mary College), and Nobel laureate Abdus Salam (Director of the Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Professor at Imperial College London).
Starting point: groups and the E8 × E8 model. Reference: "Superstrings, a theory of everything?" P.C.W. Davis & J. Brown, Cambridge University Press, 1988.
John Schwarz:
The second E8 symmetry refers to another kind of matter, often called shadow matter. Objects formed from this constituent would be completely invisible to us.
Michael Green:
One prediction emerging from these theories concerns a new type of matter that we would not be able to observe directly, but which would interact with our own through gravity, even though these shadow matter particles could influence one another via other forces.
Abdus Salam:
From superstring theory emerges a kind of universe that would be a twin of our own, but which could only communicate with ours through gravitational forces. What is interesting is that this universe would determine how supersymmetry is broken in our own universe and could shed light on the specific values of the masses of different particles.
But for now, that's as far as it goes. Superstrings, too, haven't advanced beyond this stage.
...That said, how can we represent two closely interwoven universes, communicating only through gravity? We might imagine two teams of players wearing filtering goggles, who would thus be unable to see the pieces of the opposing team. Nevertheless, each team could infer the presence of an opponent's piece nearby, on a "malleable checkerboard":
...The matter piece (played on black squares) does not see the queen belonging to the "phantom team," but detects its presence through the curvature it induces on the board (gravity). See below:
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