Neutrino Flavor States and the Quantum Theory of Neutrino Oscillations

Abstract

The standard theory of neutrino oscillations is reviewed, highlighting the main assumptions: the definition of the flavor states, the equal-momentum assumption and the time = distance assumption. It is shown that the standard flavor states are correct approximations of the states that describe neutrinos in oscillation experiments. The equal-momentum assumption is shown to be unnecessary for the derivation of the oscillation probability. The time = distance assumption derives from the wave-packet character of the propagating neutrinos. We present a simple quantum-mechanical wave-packet model which allows us to describe the coherence and localization of neutrino oscillations.

16 pages; talk presented at the XI Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields, 7-12 November 2007, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

References in corpus (1)

• Flavor Neutrinos States

Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Remarks upon Neutrino Mixing Hypothesis
• Seesaw, coherence and neutrino oscillations