Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object
In the framework of quantum field theory, a graviton interacts locally with a quantum state having definite mass, that is, the gravitational mass eigenstate, while a weak boson interacts with a state having definite flavor, that is, the flavor eigenstate. An interaction of a neutrino with an energet...
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Wiley
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Advances in High Energy Physics |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/381569 |
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| author | Jonathan Miller Roman Pasechnik |
| author_facet | Jonathan Miller Roman Pasechnik |
| author_sort | Jonathan Miller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the framework of quantum field theory, a graviton interacts locally with a quantum state having definite mass, that is, the gravitational mass eigenstate, while a weak boson interacts with a state having definite flavor, that is, the flavor eigenstate. An interaction of a neutrino with an energetic graviton may trigger the collapse of the neutrino to a definite mass eigenstate with probability expressed in terms of PMNS mixing matrix elements. Thus, gravitons would induce quantum decoherence of a coherent neutrino flavor state similarly to how weak bosons induce quantum decoherence of a neutrino in a definite mass state. We demonstrate that such an essentially quantum gravity effect may have strong consequences for neutrino oscillation phenomena in astrophysics due to relatively large scattering cross sections of relativistic neutrinos undergoing large angle radiation of energetic gravitons in gravitational field of a classical massive source (i.e., the quasi-classical case of gravitational Bethe-Heitler scattering). This graviton-induced decoherence is compared to decoherence due to propagation in the presence of the Earth matter effect. Based on this study, we propose a new technique for the indirect detection of energetic gravitons by measuring the flavor composition of astrophysical neutrinos. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-508722ec9aad4cccaaa80793de764b82 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-7357 1687-7365 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
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| series | Advances in High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-508722ec9aad4cccaaa80793de764b822025-02-03T01:12:35ZengWileyAdvances in High Energy Physics1687-73571687-73652015-01-01201510.1155/2015/381569381569Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical ObjectJonathan Miller0Roman Pasechnik1Departamento de Física, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Casilla 110-V, 2930123 Valparaíso, ChileTheoretical High Energy Physics, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Sölvegatan 14A, 223-62 Lund, SwedenIn the framework of quantum field theory, a graviton interacts locally with a quantum state having definite mass, that is, the gravitational mass eigenstate, while a weak boson interacts with a state having definite flavor, that is, the flavor eigenstate. An interaction of a neutrino with an energetic graviton may trigger the collapse of the neutrino to a definite mass eigenstate with probability expressed in terms of PMNS mixing matrix elements. Thus, gravitons would induce quantum decoherence of a coherent neutrino flavor state similarly to how weak bosons induce quantum decoherence of a neutrino in a definite mass state. We demonstrate that such an essentially quantum gravity effect may have strong consequences for neutrino oscillation phenomena in astrophysics due to relatively large scattering cross sections of relativistic neutrinos undergoing large angle radiation of energetic gravitons in gravitational field of a classical massive source (i.e., the quasi-classical case of gravitational Bethe-Heitler scattering). This graviton-induced decoherence is compared to decoherence due to propagation in the presence of the Earth matter effect. Based on this study, we propose a new technique for the indirect detection of energetic gravitons by measuring the flavor composition of astrophysical neutrinos.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/381569 |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan Miller Roman Pasechnik Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object Advances in High Energy Physics |
| title | Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object |
| title_full | Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object |
| title_fullStr | Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object |
| title_short | Quasi-Classical Gravity Effect on Neutrino Oscillations in a Gravitational Field of a Heavy Astrophysical Object |
| title_sort | quasi classical gravity effect on neutrino oscillations in a gravitational field of a heavy astrophysical object |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/381569 |
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