The third family of neutrinos
Alain Blondel

TL;DR
This paper reviews the discovery and characterization of the tau neutrino ($ u_{ au}$) over 24 years, highlighting its identification, properties, and confirmation as the third active neutrino flavor.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive historical overview of the experimental confirmation of the tau neutrino as the third active neutrino flavor.
Findings
Confirmation of $ u_{ au}$ as a neutrino in 1979
Establishment of $ u_{ au}$ as the third neutrino in 1981-1986
Precise determination of $ u_{ au}$ properties before 2000
Abstract
This paper retraces the 24 years starting with the appearance of the symbol "" in 1977, until the observation of tau neutrino interactions with matter in 2000. The fact that the neutral particle present in tau decays was a neutrino was demonstrated by 1979; its existence as the third neutrino , iso-spin partner of the tau lepton, was definitely established in 1981-1986; it was demonstrated that the number of light active neutrinos is closed with the known ones () in 1989; before 2000 the properties had been precisely determined in and collider experiments.
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Taxonomy
TopicsParticle physics theoretical and experimental studies · Neutrino Physics Research · Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
