Unlocking neutrino mysteries via the inverse β-decay

Abstract

We discuss some recent results on neutrino physics in the context of the inverse β-decay of uniformly accelerated protons. Specifically, we compute the decay rate of the process p → n + e + + ν in both the laboratory frame (where the proton is non-inertial) and the comoving frame (where the proton is at rest and interacts with a thermal bath of electrons and neutrinos due to the Unruh effect). On the basis of the sole requirement of General Covariance of Quantum Field Theory, we manage to show that: i) the asymptotic (i.e. “in” and “out” ) neutrino states to be used for the evaluation of the S-matrix are Pontecorvo flavor eigenstates, ii) the Unruh thermal bath must be made up of oscillating neutrinos.