Why Neutrinos Have Mass

In the Standard Model neutrinos were supposed to be massless because there was no right-handed partner. In LIMA-QTE neutrinos are the lightest stable knots of light — tiny, rapidly spinning loops with almost zero net charge.

The vacuum itself prefers left-handed twists over right-handed ones (the same preference that helped give us α). That tiny preference splits each neutrino knot into two states separated by about 0.05 eV — giving mass. Three almost identical knots give three neutrino families, and the ease of flipping between left- and right-handed twists explains the huge mixing angles we observe.

Neutrino oscillation is the knot literally flipping its handedness as it travels.

Chiral term splits left/right helicity states: \[ \Delta m \sim \lambda_1 \times (\text{core energy}) \times (\text{twist rate})^2 \approx 0.01\text{--}0.05\,\text{eV} \] Three near-degenerate knots → three massive neutrinos with naturally large PMNS angles.