
Do Neutrinos Explain Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry? - jonbaer
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160728-neutrinos-hint-matter-antimatter-asymmetry/?href=
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Aelinsaar
Someone mentioned in one of the comments here, that the articles with the
titles, "Some kind of question?" almost invariably could be summarized by the
single word, "No."

...And this one is no exception to that rule, is the end of that sentence.

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andrewflnr
Someone correct me if I'm misunderstanding, but it looks like the actual
answer to the headline is "95% chance of yes". I actually thought it was
remarkable for being a counterexample to Betteridge's law.

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T0T0R0
The rule (betteridge's law) says more about the journalists who craft
headlines, than it does about news articles ending in question marks.

99% of journalists using interrogative headlines are not being scrupulous,
when they do so. This is especially true, if the question seems shocking, or
even slightly surprising, in some way.

A semi-scientific article about neutrinos doesn't carry very much emotional
investment among ordinary folk.

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Aelinsaar
Betteridge, eh? I thought it was Hinchliffe? I'm so confused. :|

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scotty79
Neutrinos pass through Earth and our experimental equipment. I was always
wondering if asymmetry between matter and antimatter couldn't be explained
with unaccounted for interactions with ambient neutrinos. And those are
asymmetric because all of nearby neutrino sources are built of matter not
antimatter.

Intergalactic void is so empty that next galaxy could be made of anti-matter
(it probably isn't) and we couldn't tell.

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InclinedPlane
> _" Intergalactic void is so empty that next galaxy could be made of anti-
> matter (it probably isn't) and we couldn't tell."_

This isn't actually true, there's enough matter in intergalactic space that if
there were galaxies made of anti-matter anywhere in the visible universe the
interface between regular and anti-matter would shine more powerfully than the
galaxy, and have a very characteristic spectrum as well. Nothing of the sort
has been observed.

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cperciva
_the interface between regular and anti-matter would shine_

Assuming, of course, that matter and antimatter came into contact rather than
being separated by a "neutral zone". If the gravitational force between matter
and antimatter were repulsive -- and as far as I'm aware nobody has ever
succeeded in measuring its sign -- then matter and antimatter might coexist on
intergalactic scales without coming into contact.

(Even more speculative: If antimatter also repelled _itself_ , the resulting
"pressure" would have sign consistent with both the "dark matter" which
results in elevated galactic rotation rates and the "dark energy" which pushes
galaxies apart.)

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akiselev
If the gravitational force between the two is repulsive, wouldn't that imply
negative mass because of what we know of the Higgs field? Then we'd be deep
into exotic matter territory and theoretically, even a small amount can warp
space time very differently than regular matter so at galactic scales,
shouldn't we see some pretty extreme evidence of this?

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cperciva
Given how little we know about the Higgs -- namely, that we're pretty certain
that at least one particle exists which probably behaves in the same manner as
a Higgs boson would on several tests -- I'd hesitate to draw conclusions on
the basis of how a particular model suggests that the Higgs field behaves.

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spedru
Betteridge's law is realized.

