Cosmic neutrino background

The cosmic neutrino background (CNB or CνB[a]) is the universe's background particle radiation composed of neutrinos. They are sometimes known as relic neutrinos.

The CνB is a relic of the Big Bang; while the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) dates from when the universe was 379,000 years old, the CνB decoupled (separated) from matter when the universe was just one second old. It is estimated that today, the CνB has a temperature of roughly 1.95 K.

As neutrinos rarely interact with matter, these neutrinos still exist today. They have a very low energy, around 10−4 to 10−6 eV.[1][2] Even high energy neutrinos are notoriously difficult to detect, and the CνB has energies around 1010 times smaller, so the CνB may not be directly observed in detail for many years, if at all.[1][2] However, Big Bang cosmology makes many predictions about the CνB, and there is very strong indirect evidence that the CνB exists.[1][2]


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  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Follin-Knox-Millea-Pan-2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c "Cosmic neutrinos detected, confirming the Big Bang's last great prediction". Forbes. Starts with a Bang. 9 September 2016.
    Above is news coverage of the original academic paper:[1]

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