Field-theoretical approach to coherence in neutrino oscillations

Abstract

We study the conditions for the existence of neutrino oscillations in the field-theoretical approach which combines neutrino production and detection processes in a single Feynman graph. The ``oscillating neutrino'' is represented by an inner line of this graph where, due to the macroscopic distance L between source and detector, the neutrino propagators for neutrinos with definite mass are replaced by the projection operators unto the neutrino states on mass shell. We use as a concrete model reaction the neutrino source and detector as given in the LSND experiment and we carefully take into account the finite lifetime of the stopped muons which provide the anti-muon neutrino beam. We show that the field-theoretical approach provides a solid method to locate all possible conditions and allows to separate unambiguously their different origins. Some of these conditions are independent of L whereas others state that coherence is lost when L exceeds a certain ``coherence length''. Also it turns out that, at least in the concrete situation considered here, the concept of neutrino wave packets is not supported by the field-theoretical approach for realistic experimental conditions, i.e., the neutrino energy spread is incoherent in origin.