Sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations: the quantum Zeno effect

Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

version to appear in JHEP

Scientific paper

10.1088/1126-6708/2007/07/030

We study several aspects of the kinetic approach to sterile neutrino production via active-sterile mixing. We obtain the neutrino propagator in the medium including self-energy corrections up to $\mathcal{O}(G^2_F)$, from which we extract the dispersion relations and damping rates of the propagating modes. The dispersion relations are the usual ones in terms of the index of refraction in the medium, and the damping rates are $\Gamma_1(k) = \Gamma_{aa}(k) \cos^2\theta_m(k); \Gamma_2(k) = \Gamma_{aa}(k) \sin^2\theta_m(k)$ where $\Gamma_{aa}(k)\propto G^2_F k T^4$ is the active neutrino scattering rate and $\theta_m(k)$ is the mixing angle in the medium. We provide a generalization of the transition probability in the \emph{medium from expectation values in the density matrix}: $ P_{a\to s}(t) = \frac{\sin^22\theta_m}{4}[e^{-\Gamma_1t} + e^{-\Gamma_2 t}-2e^{-{1/2}(\Gamma_1+\Gamma_2)t} \cos\big(\Delta E t\big)] $ and study the conditions for its quantum Zeno suppression directly in real time. We find the general conditions for quantum Zeno suppression, which for $m_s\sim \textrm{keV}$ sterile neutrinos with $\sin2\theta \lesssim 10^{-3}$ \emph{may only be} fulfilled near an MSW resonance. We discuss the implications for sterile neutrino production and argue that in the early Universe the wide separation of relaxation scales far away from MSW resonances suggests the breakdown of the current kinetic approach.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations: the quantum Zeno effect does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations: the quantum Zeno effect, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations: the quantum Zeno effect will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-573049

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.