Do non-relativistic neutrinos oscillate?

Abstract

We study the question of whether oscillations between non-relativistic neutrinos or between relativistic and non-relativistic neutrinos are possible. The issues of neutrino production and propagation coherence and their impact on the above question are discussed in detail. It is demonstrated that no neutrino oscillations can occur when neutrinos that are non-relativistic in the laboratory frame are involved, except in a strongly mass-degenerate case. We also discuss how this analysis depends on the choice of the Lorentz frame. Our results are for the most part in agreement with Hinchliffe's rule.

LaTeX, 22 pages. V2: typos corrected; minor textual changes. V3: sec. 3 rewritten; appendix on wave packet spreading added; small changes in sec. 2. Results and conclusions unchanged

References in corpus (6)

• Light Sterile Neutrinos: A White Paper
• Coherence and oscillations of cosmic neutrinos
• Decoherence and oscillations of supernova neutrinos
• Oscillations of Mossbauer neutrinos
• Do charged leptons oscillate?
• Oscillations of neutrinos produced by a beam of electrons

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Calculation of the local density of relic neutrinos
• MeV-scale reheating temperature and cosmological production of light sterile neutrinos
• Impact of Wave Packet Separation in Low-Energy Sterile Neutrino Searches
• Influence of local structure on relic neutrino abundances and anisotropies
• Quantum mechanics aspects and subtleties of neutrino oscillations
• Mixed states for mixing neutrinos
• Neutrino oscillations in a trapping potential
• Studying Both the Universe and Neutrinos Themselves Using Cosmic and Astrophysical Neutrinos