From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Wed Aug 18 1999 - 10:28:49 MDT
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Joseph C Fineman <jcf@world.std.com> Wrote:
>Its [the neutrino's] handedness is determined by its spin _relative to
>its momentum_. If its rest mass is zero, that is an unambiguous
>definition, because there is no frame of reference in which the
>momentum is reversed. But if the neutrino as a rest mass, then it has
>a rest frame, in which its momentum is zero, and the helicity is not
>even defined. Its spin, presumably, can be in any direction whatever.
Spin is a function of angular momentum not linear momentum.
The spin of a neutrino can be of only two values, +1/2 or - 1/2,
it's called the spin up and the spin down orientations and exactly the same
thing is true of a antineutrino. The difference between the neutrino and
the antineutrino is in the polarity of their magnetic field. Of course sub atomic
particles don't really spin in the same way that balls do but a good analogy is
that If both particles are spin up and you look at the pole of the neutrino
that makes the particle look like it's rotating counterclockwise then that's
the north magnetic pole, on the antineutrino it's the south.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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