Neutrino Decoherence Research Articles

Addendum to: Combined analysis of neutrino decoherence at reactor experiments

Addendum to: Combined analysis of neutrino decoherence at reactor experiments

Collapse of neutrino wave functions under Penrose gravitational reduction

Models of spontaneous wave function collapse have been postulated to address the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. Their primary function is to convert coherent quantum superpositions into incoherent ones, with the result that macroscopic objects cannot be placed into widely separated superpositions for observably prolonged times. Many of these processes will also lead to loss of coherence in neutrino oscillations, producing observable signatures in the flavor profile of neutrinos at long travel distances. The majority of studies of neutrino oscillation coherence to date have focused on variants of the continuous state localization model, whereby an effective decoherence strength parameter is used to model the rate of coherence loss with an assumed energy dependence. Another class of collapse models that have been proposed posit connections to the configuration of gravitational field accompanying the mass distribution associated with each wave function that is in the superposition. A particularly interesting and prescriptive model is Penrose’s description of gravitational collapse which proposes a decoherence time τ determined through Egτ∼ℏ, where Eg is a calculable function of the Newtonian gravitational potential. Here we explore application of the Penrose collapse model to neutrino oscillations, reinterpreting previous experimental limits on neutrino decoherence in terms of this model. We identify effects associated with both spatial collapse and momentum diffusion, finding that the latter is ruled out in data from the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory so long as the neutrino wave packet width at production is σν,x≤2×10−12 m. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Neutrino decoherence and violation of the strong equivalence principle

We analyze the dynamics of neutrino Gaussian wave-packets, the damping of flavor oscillations and decoherence effects within the framework of extended theories of gravity. We show that, when the underlying description of the gravitational interaction admits a violation of the strong equivalence principle, the parameter quantifying such a violation modulates the wave-packet spreading, giving rise to potentially measurable effects in future neutrino experiments.

Neutrinos : from the r-process to the diffuse supernova neutrino background

Neutrinos from dense environments are connected to the longstanding open questions of how massive stars explode and what are the sites where r-process elements are made. Flavor evolution and neutrino properties can influence nucleosynthetic abundances. GW170817 has given indirect evidence for r-process elements in binary neutron star mergers. We discuss the impact of non-standard interactions in such sites. Nearby compact objects, strong gravitational fields are present. We discuss their influence upon neutrino decoherence in a wave packet treatment of neutrino propagation. We conclude by mentioning the upcoming measurement of the diffuse supernova neutrino background.

Gravitational Effects on Neutrino Decoherence in the Lense–Thirring Metric

We analyze the effects of gravity on neutrino wave packet decoherence. As a specific example, we consider the gravitational field of a spinning spherical body described by the Lense–Thirring metric. By working in the weak-field limit and employing Gaussian wave packets, we show that the characteristic coherence length of neutrino oscillation processes is nontrivially affected, with the corrections being dependent on the mass and angular velocity of the gravity source. Possible experimental implications are finally discussed.

Neutrino signals of lightcone fluctuations resulting from fluctuating spacetime

One of the most common expectations of a quantum theory of gravity is that spacetime is uncertain or fluctuating at microscopic scales, making it a stochastic medium for particle propagation. Particles traversing this spacetime may experience fluctuations in travel times or velocities, together referred to as lightcone fluctuations, with even very small effects potentially accumulating into observable signals over large distances. In this work we present a heuristic model of lightcone fluctuations and study the resulting modifications to neutrino propagation, including neutrino decoherence and arrival time spread. We show the expected scale of such effects due to ``natural'' Planck scale physics and consider how they may be observed in neutrino detectors, and compare the potential of neutrinos to $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray astronomy. Using simulations of neutrino mass states propagating in a fluctuating environment, we determine an analytic decoherence operator in the framework of open quantum systems to quantitatively evaluate neutrino decoherence resulting from lightcone fluctuations, allowing experimental constraints on neutrino decoherence to be connected to Planck scale fluctuations in spacetime and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray results.

Combined analysis of neutrino decoherence at reactor experiments

Reactor experiments are well suited to probe the possible loss of coherence of neutrino oscillations due to wave-packets separation. We combine data from the short-baseline experiments Daya Bay and the Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) and from the long baseline reactor experiment KamLAND to obtain the best current limit on the reactor antineutrino wave-packet width, σ > 2.1 × 10−4 nm at 90% CL. We also find that the determination of standard oscillation parameters is robust, i.e., it is mostly insensitive to the presence of hypothetical decoherence effects once one combines the results of the different reactor neutrino experiments.

Comment on “Neutrino decoherence in presence of strong gravitational fields”

The present work can be regarded as a corollary to the paper titled “Neutrino decoherence in presence of strong gravitational fields”. Specifically, we investigate the gravitationally-induced decoherence on neutrino oscillation from the point of view of a locally inertial observer at rest with neutrino propagation. In so doing, we observe that in the aforementioned reference frame the effects of gravity can become manifest in a non-trivial manner with respect to an observer placed at infinity.

Neutrino decoherence in presence of strong gravitational fields

We explore the impact of strong gravitational fields on neutrino decoherence. To this aim, we employ the density matrix formalism to describe the propagation of neutrino wave packets in curved spacetime. By considering Gaussian wave packets, we determine the coherence proper time, neglecting the effect of matter outside the compact object. We show that strong gravitational fields nearby compact objects significantly influence neutrino coherence.

Neutrino induced decoherence and variation in nuclear decay rates

Recent work has proposed that the interaction between ordinary matter and a stochastic gravitational background can lead to the decoherence of large aggregates of ordinary matter. In this work we point out that these arguments can be carried over to a stochastic neutrino background but with the Planck scale of the gravitational decoherence replaced by the weak scale. This implies that it might be possible to observe such neutrino induced decoherence on a small, microscopic system rather than a macroscopic system as is the case for gravitationally induced decoherence. In particular we suggest that neutrino decoherence could be linked with observed variations in the decay rates of certain nuclei. Finally we point out that this proposed neutrino induced decoherence can be considered the complement of the Mikheev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect.

A brief status of non-standard neutrino interactions

In this plenary talk, we review the status of non-standard neutrino interactions (NSIs). First, we give a brief introduction to neutrino flavor transitions with NSIs based on the standard paradigm of neutrino oscillations. Then, we discuss alternative scenarios for neutrino flavor transitions such as neutrino decoherence, neutrino decay, and NSIs. Second, we investigate NSIs with three neutrino flavors. In general, we introduce production and detection NSIs, including the so-called zero-distance effect, and matter NSIs. In addition, we study mappings and approximate formulas for NSIs. Third, we present a brief account of theoretical models for NSIs. Fourth and most important, we investigate in detail the phenomenology of NSIs based on different types of data from neutrino experiments. Fifth, we give some phenomenological bounds on both matter and production/detection NSIs as well as we present sensitivity and discovery reach of NSIs at future experiments. Finally, we present a summary and state our conclusions.

Inconsistency in super-luminal CERN–OPERA neutrino speed with the observed SN1987A burst and neutrino mixing for any imaginary neutrino mass

We tried to fit in any way the recent OPERA–CERN claims of a neutrino super-luminal speed with the observed supernova SN1987A neutrino burst and all (or most) neutrino flavor oscillations. We considered three main frameworks: (1) tachyon imaginary neutrino mass, whose timing is nevertheless in conflict with the observed IMB–Kamiokande SN1987A burst by thousands of billion times longer. (2) An ad hoc anti-tachyon model whose timing shrinkage may accommodate the SN1987A burst but greatly disagrees with the energy-independent CERN–OPERA super-luminal speed. (3) A split neutrino flavor speed (among a common real mass relativistic νe component and a super-luminal νμ) in an ad hoc frozen speed scenario that leads to the prompt neutrino de-coherence and rapid flavor mixing (between νe and νμ, ντ) that are in conflict with most oscillation records. Therefore, we concluded that an error must be hidden in OPERA–CERN time calibration (as indeed recent rumors seem to confirm). We concluded recalling the relevance of the real guaranteed minimal atmospheric neutrino mass whose detection may be achieved by a millisecond graviton–neutrino split time delay among the gravity burst and neutronization neutrino peak in any future supernova explosion in Andromeda recordable in the Megaton neutrino detector.

Non-standard Hamiltonian effects on neutrino oscillations

We investigate non-standard Hamiltonian effects on neutrino oscillations, which are effective additional contributions to the vacuum or matter Hamiltonian. Since these effects can enter in either flavor or mass basis, we develop an understanding of the difference between these bases representing the underlying theoretical model. In particular, the simplest of these effects are classified as ``pure'' flavor or mass effects, where the appearance of such a ``pure'' effect can be quite plausible as a leading non-standard contribution from theoretical models. Compared to earlier studies investigating particular effects, we aim for a top-down classification of a possible ``new physics'' signature at future long-baseline neutrino oscillation precision experiments. We develop a general framework for such effects with two neutrino flavors and discuss the extension to three neutrino flavors, as well as we demonstrate the challenges for a neutrino factory to distinguish the theoretical origin of these effects with a numerical example. We find how the precision measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters can be altered by non-standard effects alone (not including non-standard interactions in the creation and detection processes) and that the non-standard effects on Hamiltonian level can be distinguished from other non-standard effects (such as neutrino decoherence and decay) if we consider specific imprint of the effects on the energy spectra of several different oscillation channels at a neutrino factory.

Damping signatures in future neutrino oscillation experiments

We discuss the phenomenology of damping signatures in the neutrino oscillation probabilities, where either the oscillating terms or the probabilities can be damped. This approach is a possibility for tests of non-oscillation effects in future neutrino oscillation experiments, where we mainly focus on reactor and long-baseline experiments. We extensively motivate different damping signatures due to small corrections by neutrino decoherence, neutrino decay, oscillations into sterile neutrinos, or other mechanisms, and classify these signatures according to their energy (spectral) dependencies. We demonstrate, at the example of short baseline reactor experiments, that damping can severely alter the interpretation of results, e.g., it could fake a value of $\sin(2\theta_{13})$ smaller than the one provided by Nature. In addition, we demonstrate how a neutrino factory could constrain different damping models with emphasis on how these different models could be distinguished, i.e., how easily the actual non-oscillation effects could be identified. We find that the damping models cluster in different categories, which can be much better distinguished from each other than models within the same cluster.

Equivalence between Gaussian averaged neutrino oscillations and neutrino decoherence

In this Letter, we show that a Gaussian averaged neutrino oscillation model is equivalent to a neutrino decoherence model. Without loss of generality, the analysis is performed with two neutrino flavors. We also estimate the damping (or decoherence) parameter for atmospheric neutrinos and compare it to earlier obtained results.