Final answer:
Neutrino oscillations violate the conservation of specific lepton family numbers but do not violate the conservation of the total lepton number. While the type of neutrino can change, the overall lepton count remains the same.
Step-by-step explanation:
Neutrino oscillations are a phenomenon predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, where neutrinos switch between different types, or 'flavors', as they travel through space. This process, if neutrinos have mass, can indeed occur, leading to neutrinos changing from one type to another - a conversion among flavors such as electron neutrino (ve), muon neutrino (vμ), and tau neutrino (vτ).
Lepton numbers are quantum numbers assigned to leptons (a class of fundamental particles that includes electrons, muons, taus, and neutrinos) to keep track of the type of leptons present before and after a particle interaction. The conservation laws for lepton numbers include the separate conservation of electron-lepton number (Le), muon-lepton number (Lμ), and tau-lepton number (Lτ).
Neutrino oscillations, which have been observed in various experiments, such as those conducted using the Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan, showcase that neutrinos can transform from one lepton family to another. This transformation means that the specific lepton family numbers are not conserved, because a neutrino can start as one type and be detected as another. However, the overall total lepton number is conserved; the process does not affect the total amount of leptons, only the type or flavor that is observed. Therefore, when answering whether neutrino oscillations violate conservation of the various lepton family numbers or the total number of leptons, the correct answer is: (a) Yes, violates family numbers; no violation of total number.