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RE: Sterile neutrinos as a path to dark matter
How interesting, we might be at the doorstep of a major discovery. It would be awesome if you might add some possible applications that such discovery might have...
The way science seems to work is major breakthroughs in understanding could have unknown applications in the future. For example, time dilation as predicted by Einstein has lead our GPS devices to more precisely know our location. It is hard to say how knowing what applications could come from having a better understanding of dark matter. The discoveries today could lead to something huge years down the road. Maybe it is the key to help us avoid an asteroid collision or a new method for harnessing energy.
I got it, what I wanted to see in the post (as a constructive criticism, I already liked it very much as it is) is some stress in the current application that neutrinos have in mother physics... For instance how we manage to keep nuclear reactors working steadily by knowing the profile of the particles generated, and what challenges can be worked out through further comprehension of this particles.
I have tried to answer above, please let me know if this satisfies you. Probably not but I am afraid I can't say anything else.
To go back to the very specific example you mentioned: Weak interactions are everywhere, especially in nuclear physics. However, the physics behind it is known for a very long time. Understanding the fine details of neutrino physics won't help the reactors working better. Actually, it is even somehow the opposite: we use certain reactors as neutrino factories from where one can measure what is going on to refine the theoretical modelling.
I just read your reply and first I want to show my gratitude for taking your time to explain me things a bit further... I get that a theory is a model of reality that allow us to predict what will happen if certain conditions met. Therefore the ability to predict what will happen to subatomic particles when they interact with any of the fundamental forces surely will enhance our ability to understand better the phenomena occuring in the atomic nuclei... What will come out of it? It seems like we can only take a guess 😜
It is always a pleasure to me to answer comments and give further explanation. That is to me the main point in blogging on science ;)
The idea is to try to understand better how the universe works. The rest is beyond our control and we will indeed have to see in 100 years what humans will make out of that knowledge. However, in the process, we may gain a little ;)
The short answer is: there is no application... for now. As @theabsolute said it, this concerns fundamental research: we are trying to understand how the universe works, and this has no direct application. However, the theories that are being developed may play a crucial role in the future. I like the GPS example. In 1917, general relativity was a theoretical curiosity. Today, 100 years later, it is a well established theory that allows, for instance, GPS to work as expected.
This being said, one should not underestimate the outcome of fundamental research: we are trying dozens of students to solve complicated problems during 3-6 years (the usual timescale of a PhD thesis). This skill is well demanded in the private sector. In addition, we are building un-patented technologies for our experiments, so that everyone on Earth can use them for free (imagine a world where everyone will have to pay one cent to CERN for every click on the Internet ;) ). And so on.