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21 votes
3 answers
4k views

Why do people say that neutrinos are either Dirac or Majorana fermions?

The question of whether a given particle "is" a Dirac or Majorana fermion is more subtle than is sometimes presented. For example, if we just consider the "old" Standard Model with massless neutrinos, ...
tparker's user avatar
  • 49.4k
0 votes
0 answers
234 views

Time evolution of a massive fermion produced in a state of definite chirality

But for massive particles like an electron, the chirality is not conserved in time i.e. if an electron is produced in the state $e_L$ at time t=0, at a later time it becomes a mixture of left-handed ...
SRS's user avatar
  • 27.2k
5 votes
1 answer
421 views

Photons are self-conjugate but neutrinos may or may not: why is that?

Caution: This may be a very naive question but I find it confusing. Moreover, I believe this question is based on potential misconception. I would like it to be clarified. Although the neutrinos are ...
SRS's user avatar
  • 27.2k
32 votes
5 answers
3k views

Why do or don't neutrinos have antiparticles?

This was inspired by this question. According to Wikipedia, a Majorana neutrino must be its own antiparticle, while a Dirac neutrino cannot be its own antiparticle. Why is this true?
Peter Shor 's user avatar