This report deals with the quantum field theory of particle oscillations in
vacuum. We first review the various controversies regarding quantum-mechanical
derivations of the oscillation formula, as well as the different
field-theoretical approaches proposed to settle them. We then clear up the
contradictions between the existing field-theoretical treatments by a thorough
study of the external wave packet model. In particular, we show that the latter
includes stationary models as a subcase. In addition, we explicitly compute
decoherence terms, which destroy interferences, in order to prove that the
coherence length can be increased without bound by more accurate energy
measurements. We show that decoherence originates not only in the width and in
the separation of wave packets, but also in their spreading through space-time.
In this review, we neither assume the relativistic limit nor the stability of
oscillating particles, so that the oscillation formula derived with
field-theoretical methods can be applied not only to neutrinos but also to
neutral K and B mesons. Finally, we discuss oscillations of correlated
particles in the same framework.Comment: v2, 124 pages, 10 figures (7 more); updated review of the literature;
complete derivation of the oscillation probability at short and large
distance; more details on the influence of the spreading of the amplitude on
decoherence; submitted to Physics Report
