antineutrino

American  

[an-tee-noo-tree-noh, -nyoo-, an-tahy-] / ˌæn ti nuˈtri noʊ, -nju-, ˌæn taɪ- /

noun

Physics.

• antineutrinos
  plural

1. the antiparticle of a neutrino, distinguished from the neutrino by having clockwise rather than counterclockwise spin when observing in the direction of motion.

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antineutrino British  

/ ˌæntɪnjuːˈtriːnəʊ /

noun

1. the antiparticle of a neutrino; a particle having oppositely directed spin to a neutrino, that is, spin in the direction of its momentum

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antineutrino Scientific  

/ ăn′tē-no̅o̅-trē′nō,ăn′tī- /

1. The antiparticle that corresponds to the neutrino.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• antineutrinos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of antineutrino

First recorded in 1930–35; anti- + neutrino

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

antineutrino antineutrinos

Inside the detector are more than 30 cubic meters of liquid scintillator, a material that produces tiny flashes of light when an antineutrino interacts within it.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

The findings suggest that antineutrino detectors could eventually provide useful information not only while reactors are operating, but also during maintenance and after shutdown.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

Electron scattering experiments measure where an electron touches a quark’s charge, and neutrino experiments measure where an antineutrino changes a quark’s flavor.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 16, 2023

Rarely, a proton in the oil will absorb an electron antineutrino to turn into a neutron while ejecting a positron—sort of the reverse of beta decay.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 11, 2023

Figure 31.19 In β− decay, the parent nucleus emits an electron and an antineutrino.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

This distinctive signal enables scientists to identify antineutrinos coming from the reactors.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

Long-lived radioactive fission products keep decaying for months or even years, releasing a weak stream of particles called antineutrinos.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

Some of the surviving electron antineutrinos will slam into a proton in the scintillator, producing an energetic positron that results in a flash of light.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 22, 2023

The physics community’s most widely accepted theory on the formation of these nuclei tells us that neutrinos and antineutrinos played a fundamental role in the creation of, in particular, helium nuclei.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 28, 2023

The neutrinos and antineutrinos, however, would not have annihilated with each other, because these particles interact with themselves and with other particles only very weakly.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking