So what did they see that made it line up exactly to the energy level of a neutrino? And why can't just use neutron charge to define it? Is it because we don't directly know the neutron charge and thus, makes it more complicated?
The eV is defined as the kinetic energy obtained by an electron when accelerated from rest in an electric potential difference of 1V. It is based on the law
E = q V
For neutral particles, q = 0: neutral particles cannot be accelerated with an electric field.
Using Einstein's special relativity, we can express the masses of the different particles in eV (which is the standard way in particle physics).
Now, why the masses have the values they have is the same question as why the particles couple to the Higgs boson as they do. This is one of the numerous open questions today that we hope the LHC will shed light on.
I hope this answers your question (otherwise, please come back to me).
Not really as you need an electric charge to define the energy this way (after all, the electron mass is 511000 eV in those units) ;)
So what did they see that made it line up exactly to the energy level of a neutrino? And why can't just use neutron charge to define it? Is it because we don't directly know the neutron charge and thus, makes it more complicated?
The eV is defined as the kinetic energy obtained by an electron when accelerated from rest in an electric potential difference of 1V. It is based on the law
E = q VFor neutral particles, q = 0: neutral particles cannot be accelerated with an electric field.
Using Einstein's special relativity, we can express the masses of the different particles in eV (which is the standard way in particle physics).
Now, why the masses have the values they have is the same question as why the particles couple to the Higgs boson as they do. This is one of the numerous open questions today that we hope the LHC will shed light on.
I hope this answers your question (otherwise, please come back to me).