Misplaced Pages

The tau neutrino or tauon neutrino is an elementary particle which has the symbol
ν
_τ and zero electric charge. Together with the tau (τ), it forms the third generation of leptons, hence the name tau neutrino. Its existence was immediately implied after the tau particle was detected in a series of experiments between 1974 and 1977 by Martin Lewis Perl with his colleagues at the SLAC–LBL group. The discovery of the tau neutrino was announced in July 2000 by the DONUT collaboration (Direct Observation of the Nu Tau). In 2024, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory published findings of seven astrophysical tau neutrino candidates.

Discovery

The DONUT experiment from Fermilab was built during the 1990s to specifically detect the tau neutrino. These efforts came to fruition in July 2000, when the DONUT collaboration reported its detection. The tau neutrino is last of the leptons, and is the second most recent discovered particle of the Standard Model (i.e., it was observed 12 years before the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012).

See also

• Electron neutrino
• Muon neutrino
• PMNS matrix

References

1. Perl, M.L.; et al. (1975). "Evidence for anomalous lepton production in
   e
   
   e
   annihilation". Physical Review Letters. 35 (22): 1489. Bibcode:1975PhRvL..35.1489P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.35.1489.
2. ^ Jackson, Judy; et al. (20 July 2000). "Physicists find first direct evidence for tau neutrino at Fermilab" (Press release). Batavia, IL: Fermilab.
3. ^ Kodama, K.; et al. (DONUT collaboration) (2001). "Observation of tau neutrino interactions". Physics Letters B. 504 (3): 218–224. arXiv:hep-ex/0012035. Bibcode:2001PhLB..504..218D. doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(01)00307-0. S2CID 119335798.
4. Lea, Robert (March 14, 2024), "Scientists may have just caught 7 exotic "ghost particles" as they pierced through Earth", Space.com, retrieved 16 March 2024
5. Pennsylvania State University (March 13, 2024), "IceCube identifies seven astrophysical tau neutrino candidates", phys.org, retrieved 16 March 2024

v t e Particles in physics
Elementary	Fermions Quarks Up (quark antiquark) Down (quark antiquark) Charm (quark antiquark) Strange (quark antiquark) Top (quark antiquark) Bottom (quark antiquark) Leptons Electron Positron Muon Antimuon Tau Antitau Neutrino Electron neutrino Electron antineutrino Muon neutrino Muon antineutrino Tau neutrino Tau antineutrino Bosons Gauge Photon Gluon W and Z bosons Scalar Higgs boson Ghost fields Faddeev–Popov ghosts Hypothetical Superpartners Gauginos Gluino Gravitino Photino Others Axino Chargino Higgsino Neutralino Sfermion (Stop squark) Others Axion Curvaton Dilaton Dual graviton Graviphoton Graviton Inflaton Leptoquark Magnetic monopole Majoron Majorana fermion Dark photon Preon Sterile neutrino Tachyon W′ and Z′ bosons X and Y bosons
Composite	Hadrons Baryons Nucleon Proton Antiproton Neutron Antineutron Delta baryon Lambda baryon Sigma baryon Xi baryon Omega baryon Mesons Pion Rho meson Eta and eta prime mesons Bottom eta meson Phi meson J/psi meson Omega meson Upsilon meson Kaon B meson D meson Quarkonium Exotic hadrons Tetraquark (Double-charm tetraquark) Pentaquark Others Atomic nuclei Atoms Exotic atoms Positronium Muonium Tauonium Onia Pionium Protonium Superatoms Molecules Hypothetical Baryons Hexaquark Heptaquark Skyrmion Mesons Glueball Theta meson T meson Others Mesonic molecule Pomeron Diquark R-hadron
Quasiparticles	Anyon Davydov soliton Dropleton Exciton Fracton Hole Magnon Phonon Plasmaron Plasmon Polariton Polaron Roton Trion
Lists	Baryons Mesons Particles Quasiparticles Timeline of particle discoveries
Related	History of subatomic physics timeline Standard Model mathematical formulation Subatomic particles Particles Antiparticles Nuclear physics Eightfold way Quark model Exotic matter Massless particle Relativistic particle Virtual particle Wave–particle duality Particle chauvinism
Physics portal

• Neutrinos
• Leptons
• Elementary particles
• 2000 in science