LIVING WITH THE NEUTRINO

Victor Bloom MD

The slogan of the New York Times is "all the news that's fit to print". And the Times sees fit to publish lengthy articles about a new and important discovery by particle physicists, one that is hailed around the world, and one which scientists find hard to explain.

So in Tuesday's op-ed section (June 16, 1998), a former particle physicist, Simon Singh, who turned writer and wrote "Fermat's Enigma," explains in plain English what the fuss is all about. Back in the 1950's physicists discovered many new particles (the so-called particle zoo), the existence of which were begging to be explained. Among them was the neutrino, very tiny and not electrically charged. The experimentors were curious about what was its origin and purpose, and did it have any mass?

There is a reciprocal relationship between experimenters and theorists. The theorists formulate theories and the experimentalists either prove or disprove them. If a theory is disproved by significant evidence, a new theory has to be formulated and the old theory dropped. In this way, over time, scientific knowledge advances.

Dr. Singh concludes, in this brilliantly written op-ed piece, "Theorists suspected the neutrino has a mass. Experimenters looked, and they found it. For most theorists this is a joyous occasion. But there are others whose theories have relied on a neutrino devoid of mass. For them this month's announcement destroys their hypothesis. It will mean erasing what is on the blackboard and starting all over again."

Sir Arthur Eddington, an important investigator of the early part of this century, said it very well, he called experimentation "an incorruptible watch-dog." Max Planck, one of the founders of quantum theory, said, "An experiment is a question which Science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer."

In the case of the neutrino, Nature answered a group of Japanese physicists who constructed a monumental but simple neutrino detector in the Japanese alps. It was a buried body of pure water in total blackness surrounded by thousands of light detectors because it was hypothesized that if a neutrino did strike this artificial pool of water, it would hit other particles and produce a little light.

Years went by and no neutrino hit any of the almost dozen such pools constructed around the world at great expense. Why are we spending so much time, energy and money on finding out more about a tiny, uncharged particle, with maybe even no mass? Seems like there is hardly any substance to the particle or to the value of these experiments.

And yet, the search is on because physicists are interested in the composition of the universe and the mechanism of action of our sun. There is a chance that the more we learn about the sun's fusion reaction, the more likely it will be that we will be better able to harness the power of the sun, and maybe even create a controlled fusion reaction on earth. If so, eventually we would have an ever-abundant supply of clean, non-toxic energy. We need such a source of energy to stop pollution of the environment, and to take care of the eventuality of our running out of fossil fuels in the distant future.

We as a society have learned that the combined curiosities of particle and astrophysists have produced monumental tangible advances in technology, not the least of which is the atomic bomb and the use of radioactive isotopes for medical diagnosis and treatment. So we fund them and wish them well. If we are ever going to visit distant planets, the space ship would have to be powered by a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. They would be taking a miniature sun with them for the long, dark journey. But that prospect blends into science fiction.

What is reassuring, however, is knowing that despite the neutrino being shown to have some mass, and coming from the sun and passing through our bodies maybe once in a lifetime, it unlike other cosmic radiation, which have ionizing rays that also penetrate the body, named alpha, beta and gamma, the neutrino is too probably tiny to cause any damage. The cosmic and ultraviolet rays do cause skin cancer and may participate in the inevitable process of aging and deterioration.

The universe is composed of forces which evolve to increasing complexity of structure, such as the double-helix of our DNA. DNA is our complex biochemical structure which gives us our life forms, in which it is clear we are one of many. At the same time there are forces which lead to breakdown of structure, a process call 'entropy'. There is a dynamic equilibrium between the life forces (Eros), and the death forces (Thanatos), and humankind are the actors who play out the drama of Nature and the Universe.

Dr. Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and corresponding editor of their quarterly journal, Academy Forum. He welcomes comments and questions at his e-mail address: vbloom@comcast.net.