Abstract
We discuss the interplay of wave packet decoherence and decoherence induced by quantum gravity via interactions with spacetime foam for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. In this context, we point out a compelling consequence of the expectation that quantum gravity should break global symmetries, namely that quantum-gravity induced decoherence may not only be the most sensitive probe for quantum properties of spacetime but also can provide both a powerful tool for the search for new particles, including totally decoupled backgrounds interacting only gravitationally, and at the same time a window into the intricacies of black hole information processing.
Highlights
The search for quantum effects of gravity and the exploration of the quantum-to-classical transition belong to the most exciting frontier areas in fundamental physics.Yet, the interplay between both kinds of effects in quantumgravitational decoherence is addressed in the literature only rarely
By deriving the consequences of this extension, we show that a global symmetry breaking decoherence process provides a sensitive portal to fermionic hidden sectors of the Universe that feature no unbroken gauge quantum numbers and a powerful tool to search for neutral fermions, including undiscovered neutrino flavors, dark matter particles, and totally decoupled sectors that interact only gravitationally with the Standard Model particles
If there exist undiscovered neutral fermions not included in the Standard Model, as a consequence of quantum-gravitational-decoherence equilibrating an original flux of astrophysical neutrinos over all flavors, we expect a dip in the total neutrino flux setting in at the threshold energy of the quantum-gravitational effect
Summary
The search for quantum effects of gravity and the exploration of the quantum-to-classical transition belong to the most exciting frontier areas in fundamental physics. We study the transition from standard wave packet decoherence to the hypothetical quantumgravitational decoherence In this context, we focus on the energy dependence of the mechanism and point out a curious phenomenon that we believe has been overlooked so far, namely, that the state space must be extended if there exist neutral fermions beyond the three SM neutrinos. By deriving the consequences of this extension, we show that a global symmetry breaking decoherence process provides a sensitive portal to fermionic hidden sectors of the Universe that feature no unbroken gauge quantum numbers and a powerful tool to search for neutral fermions, including undiscovered neutrino flavors, dark matter particles, and totally decoupled sectors that interact only gravitationally with the Standard Model particles
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