Heavy Neutrino-Antineutrino Oscillations in Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

It has been proposed that the coherent propagation of long-lived heavy neutrino mass eigenstates can lead to an oscillating rate of lepton number conserving (LNC) and violating (LNV) events, as a function of the distance between the production and displaced decay vertices. We discuss this phenomenon, which we refer to as heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations, in the framework of quantum field theory (QFT), using the formalism of external wave packets. General formulae for the oscillation probabilities and the number of expected events are derived and the coherence and localisation conditions that have to be satisfied in order for neutrino-antineutrino oscillations to be observable are discussed. The formulae are then applied to a low scale seesaw scenario, which features two nearly mass degenerate heavy neutrinos that can be sufficiently long lived to produce a displaced vertex when their masses are below the $W$ boson mass. The leading and next-to-leading order oscillation formulae for this scenario are derived. For an example parameter point used in previous studies, the kinematics of the considered LNC/LNV processes are simulated, to check that the coherence and localisation conditions are satisfied. Our results show that the phenomenon of heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations can indeed occur in low scale seesaw scenarios and that the previously used leading order formulae, derived with a plane wave approach, provide a good approximation for the considered example parameter point.

arXiv comment24 pages plus appendix, 3 figures, matches journal version

References in corpus (27)

• LHCb Detector Performance
• Global analysis of three-flavour neutrino oscillations: synergies and tensions in the determination of theta_23, delta_CP, and the mass ordering
• Novel Supersymmetric SO(10) Seesaw Mechanism
• Minimal Flavour Seesaw Models
• Oscillations of neutrinos and mesons in quantum field theory
• Sterile neutrino searches at future $e^{-}{e}^{+}$, $pp$, and $e^{-}p$ colliders
• On the Treatment of Neutrino Oscillations Without Resort to Weak Eigenstates
• Testing sterile neutrino extensions of the Standard Model at future lepton colliders
• Unified explanation of the $eejj$, diboson and dijet resonances at the LHC
• Disentangling Neutrino Oscillations
• Heavy neutrinos and the $pp\to lljj$ CMS data
• Sterile neutrino searches via displaced vertices at LHCb
• Same Sign versus Opposite Sign Dileptons as a Probe of Low Scale Seesaw Mechanisms
• The field-theoretical approach to coherence in neutrino oscillations
• Probing Leptogenesis at Future Colliders
• Quasi-Dirac neutrinos at the LHC
• Non-unitary Leptonic Mixing and Leptogenesis
• Oscillation of heavy sterile neutrino in decay of $B\to \mu e\pi$
• Probing heavy neutrino oscillations in rare W boson decays
• Discovering sterile Neutrinos ligther than $M_W$ at the LHC
• Resonant CP violation in rare tau decay
• Neutrino oscillations and the effect of the finite lifetime of the neutrino source
• Measuring the heavy neutrino oscillations in rare W boson decays at the Large Hadron Collider
• Exploring CP-Violating heavy neutrino oscillations in rare tau decays at Belle II
• Non-universal Z' from SO(10) GUTs with vector-like family and the origin of neutrino masses
• CP Violating Effects in Heavy Neutrino Oscillations: Implications for Colliders and Leptogenesis
• Neutrino Oscillations and Cosmology

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Present and Future Status of Heavy Neutral Leptons
• An allowed window for heavy neutral leptons below the kaon mass
• Phenomenology of the simplest linear seesaw mechanism
• New Benchmark Models for Heavy Neutral Lepton Searches
• Non-unitary Leptonic Flavor Mixing and CP Violation in Neutrino-antineutrino Oscillations
• Simulating lepton number violation induced by heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations at colliders
• ALPs and HNLs at LHC and Muon Colliders: Uncovering New Couplings and Signals
• Beyond lepton number violation at the HL-LHC: Resolving heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations