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The neutrinos from the cosmic neutrino background have a temperature of $T_\nu=1.945K$, that is an energy of $E=\frac{3}{2}k_BT_\nu$. If the neutrino's mass is around $0.1eV$

$$ \frac{3}{2}k_BT_\nu<m_\nu c^2 $$

Why it is considered relativistic if the rest mass is larger than the energy?

Qmechanic
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Javier
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  • Can you link to a source which says this? – rob Jun 02 '22 at 13:37
  • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2014.00030/full#:~:text=At%20the%20time%20of%20neutrino,Data%20Group)%20%5B7%5D Section 2.1, at the middle of the paragraph – Javier Jun 02 '22 at 13:43
  • https://pdg.lbl.gov/2021/web/viewer.html?file=../reviews/rpp2021-rev-neutrinos-in-cosmology.pdf On page 3 – Javier Jun 02 '22 at 13:45
  • the first link says "some of the neutrionos may be non relativistic". – anna v Jun 02 '22 at 13:48

1 Answers1

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From neutrino oscillation experiments, we know that there are three neutrino mass eigenstates whose masses are all different, and we know roughly the size of those differences (squared). This sets a lower limit on the mass of the heaviest neutrino. But we have no data on the mass of the lightest neutrino. It is possible, for instance, that there are two massive and one massless neutrino.

Your calculation argues that at least one neutrino species should be non-relativistic at the current C$\nu$B temperature. But the lightest neutrino may still be relativistic.

rob
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