Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Despite the theory of neutrino oscillations being rather old, some of its basic issues are still being debated in the literature. We discuss a number of such issues, including the relevance of the “same energy” and “same momentum” assumptions, the role of quantum-mechanical uncertainty relations in neutrino oscillations, the dependence of the coherence and localization conditions that ensure the observability of neutrino oscillations on neutrino energy and momentum uncertainties, the question of (in)dependence of the oscillation probabilities on the neutrino production and detection processes, and the applicability limits of the stationary-source approximation. We also develop a novel approach to calculation of the oscillation probability in the wave-packet approach, based on the summation/integration conventions different from the standard one, which allows a new insight into the “same energy” vs. “same momentum” problem. We also discuss a number of apparently paradoxical features of the theory of neutrino oscillations.
Source: Physics of Atomic Nuclei
Authors: E. Kh. Akhmedov, A. Yu. Smirnov
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1590612481