Do Big Bang and Supernova Nucleosynthesis and New Experiments Suggest the Existence of a New Particle: the Light Sterile Neutrino?

George Fuller (University of California, San Diego)

2:30pm Monday October 12 in Curia II

Neutrinos are mysterious particles indeed. Recent experimental and observational results resist interpretation in terms of just three active neutrinos. Does this mean that there is a fourth type of neutrino, a "sterile" neutrino? Serendipitously, the formation of the lightest elements in the Big Bang and the heaviest nuclei in supernovae can depend quite sensitively on the rest masses and flavor mixings of neutrinos. We examine how these astrophysical environments could inform us about neutrino properties, and/or how new neutrino experiments could give us unique astrophysical insights.