85 research outputs found
A Covariant Path Amplitude Description of Flavour Oscillations: The Gribov-Pontecorvo Phase for Neutrino Vacuum Propagation is Right
An extended study is performed of geometrical and kinematical assumptions
used in calculations of the neutrino oscillation phase. The almost universally
employed `equal velocity' assumption, in which all neutrino mass eigenstates
are produced at the same time, is shown to underestimate, by a factor of two,
the neutrino propagation contribution to the phase. Taking properly into
account, in a covariant path amplitude calculation, the incoherent nature of
neutrino production as predicted by the Standard Model, results in an important
source propagator contribution to the phase. It is argued that the commonly
discussed Gaussian `wave packets' have no basis within quantum mechanics and
are the result of a confused amalgam of quantum and classical wave concepts.Comment: 39 pages, 1 table, 1 figure. Subject matter similar to
hep-ph/0110064, hep-ph/0110066. More pedagogical presentation addressing
referee criticism of earlier paper
Fermion mixing in quasi-free states
Quantum field theoretic treatments of fermion oscillations are typically
restricted to calculations in Fock space. In this letter we extend the
oscillation formulae to include more general quasi-free states, and also
consider the case when the mixing is not unitary.Comment: 10 pages, Plain Te
Neutrino oscillations from relativistic flavor currents
By resorting to recent results on the relativistic currents for mixed
(flavor) fields, we calculate a space-time dependent neutrino oscillation
formula in Quantum Field Theory. Our formulation provides an alternative to
existing approaches for the derivation of space dependent oscillation formulas
and it also accounts for the corrections due to the non-trivial nature of the
flavor vacuum. By exploring different limits of our formula, we recover already
known results. We study in detail the case of one-dimensional propagation with
gaussian wavepackets both in the relativistic and in the non-relativistic
regions: in the last case, numerical evaluations of our result show significant
deviations from the standard formula.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, RevTe
Neutrino Interferometry In Curved Spacetime
Gravitational lensing introduces the possibility of multiple (macroscopic)
paths from an astrophysical neutrino source to a detector. Such a multiplicity
of paths can allow for quantum mechanical interference to take place that is
qualitatively different to neutrino oscillations in flat space. After an
illustrative example clarifying some under-appreciated subtleties of the phase
calculation, we derive the form of the quantum mechanical phase for a neutrino
mass eigenstate propagating non-radially through a Schwarzschild metric. We
subsequently determine the form of the interference pattern seen at a detector.
We show that the neutrino signal from a supernova could exhibit the
interference effects we discuss were it lensed by an object in a suitable mass
range. We finally conclude, however, that -- given current neutrino detector
technology -- the probability of such lensing occurring for a
(neutrino-detectable) supernova is tiny in the immediate future.Comment: 25 pages, 1 .eps figure. Updated version -- with simplified notation
-- accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D. Extra author adde
Finite-Width Effects in Top Quark Production at Hadron Colliders
Production cross sections for t\bar{t} and t\bar{t}j events at hadron
colliders are calculated, including finite width effects and off resonance
contributions for the entire decay chain, t --> bW --> b\ell\nu, for both top
quarks. Resulting background rates to Higgs search at the CERN LHC are updated
for inclusive H --> WW studies and for H --> \tau\tau and H --> WW decays in
weak boson fusion events. Finite width effects are large, increasing
t\bar{t}(j) rates by 20% or more, after typical cuts which are employed for
top-background rejection.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables; minor changes, reference added, to be
published in Phys. Rev.
M\"ossbauer Antineutrinos: Recoilless Resonant Emission and Absorption of Electron Antineutrinos
Basic questions concerning phononless resonant capture of monoenergetic
electron antineutrinos (M\"ossbauer antineutrinos) emitted in bound-state
beta-decay in the 3H - 3He system are discussed. It is shown that lattice
expansion and contraction after the transformation of the nucleus will
drastically reduce the probability of phononless transitions and that various
solid-state effects will cause large line broadening. As a possible
alternative, the rare-earth system 163Ho - 163Dy is favoured.
M\"ossbauer-antineutrino experiments could be used to gain new and deep
insights into several basic problems in neutrino physics
Vector-meson magnetic dipole moment effects in radiative tau decays
We study the possibility that the magnetic dipole moment of light charged
vector mesons could be measured from their effects in \tau^- -->
V^-\nu_{\tau}\gamma decays. We conclude that the energy spectrum and angular
distribution of photons emitted at small angles with respect to vector mesons
is sensitive the effects of the magnetic dipole moment. Model-dependent
contributions and photon radiation off other electromagnetic multipoles are
small in this region. We also compute the effects of the magnetic dipole moment
on the integrated rates and photon energy spectrum of these lepton
decays.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Quantum field theoretic approach to neutrino oscillations in matter
We consider neutrino oscillations in non-uniform matter in a quantum field
theoretic (QFT) approach, in which neutrino production, propagation and
detection are considered as a single process. We find the conditions under
which the oscillation probability can be sensibly defined and demonstrate how
the properly normalized oscillation probability can be obtained in the QFT
framework. We derive the evolution equation for the oscillation amplitude and
discuss the conditions under which it reduces to the standard
Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation. It is shown that, contrary to the common
usage, the Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation is not applicable in certain
cases, such as oscillations of neutrinos produced in decays of free pions
provided that sterile neutrinos with eV exist.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages + 16 pages of appendices, 1 figure. V2: typos
correcte
Magnetic dipole moment of the (1232) from the reaction
The reaction in the -resonance
region is investigated as a method to access the magnetic
dipole moment. The calculations are performed within the context of an
effective Lagrangian model containing both the -resonant mechanism and
a background of non-resonant contributions to the
reaction. Results are shown both for existing and forthcoming experiments. In particular, the sensitivity of unpolarized
cross sections and photon asymmetries to the magnetic dipole moment
is displayed for those forthcoming data.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure
Gauge invariance and finite width effects in radiative two-pion tau lepton decay
The contribution of the rho^{\pm} vector meson to the tau -> pi pi nu gamma
decay is considered as a potential source for the determination of the magnetic
dipole moment of this light vector meson. In order to keep gauge-invariance of
the whole decay amplitude, a procedure similar to the fermion loop-scheme for
charged gauge bosons is implemented to incorporate the finite width effects of
the rho^{\pm} vector meson. The absorptive pieces of the one-loop corrections
to the propagators and electromagnetic vertices of the rho^{\pm} meson and
W^{\pm} gauge boson have identical forms in the limit of massless particles in
the loops, suggesting this to be a universal feature of spin-one unstable
particles. Model-dependent contributions to the tau -> pi pi nu gamma decay are
suppressed by fixing the two-pion invariant mass distribution at the rho meson
mass value. The resulting photon energy and angular distribution is relatively
sensitive to the effects of the rho magnetic dipole moment.Comment: 22 pages, 4 postscript figures, references and comments on relevance
of perturbative treatment of rho electromagnetic vertex are added, accepted
for pub. in Phys. Rev.
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