We review the issues associated with the construction of neutrino flavor states. We then provide a consistent proof that the flavor states are approximately well-defined only if neutrinos are ultra-relativistic or the mass differences are negligible compared to energy. However, we show that weak interactions can be consistently described by only neutrino mass eigenstates. Meanwhile, the second quantization of neutrino flavor fields generally has no physical relevance as their masses are indefinite. Therefore, the flavor states are not physical quantum states and they should simply be interpreted as definitions to denote specific linear combinations of mass eigenstates involved in weak interactions. We also briefly discuss the implication of this work for the mixing between active and heavy sterile neutrinos.
We point out that the Hermitian and anti-Hermitian components of the effective Hamiltonian for decaying neutrinos cannot be simultaneously diagonalized by unitary transformations for all matter densities. We develop a formalism for the two-flavor neutrino propagation through matter of uniform density, for neutrino decay to invisible states. Employing a resummation of the Zassenhaus expansion, we obtain compact analytic expressions for neutrino survival and conversion probabilities, to first and second order in the "mismatch parameter" $\barγ$.
We analyze neutrino oscillation for the general case when the initial neutrino is not in a pure flavor state. We show that, after such a neutrino beam propagates for a while, the probability of detecting any pure flavor state depends even on the CP-violating Majorana phases in the mixing matrix. The dependence remains even when energy spectrum of the initial beam is taken into account. We discuss various implications of this dependence.
The theory pioneered by Blasone and Vitiello describes massive neutrinos as generalized coherent flavor eigenstates within the extended Standard Model. In this paper, we compute the neutron beta decay spectrum for the Blasone-Vitiello theory in a model with two neutrinos. For relativistic neutrinos, the obtained spectrum is in agreement with the Standard Model. However, there are discrepancies when the kinetic energy of the electron is close to the end point energy. The possibility of measuring the discrepancies in future experiments is discussed.
If neutrinos are massive, `lepton flavour eigenstates' are absent from the amplitudes of all Standard Model processes. Measurements of $Γ(π\to e ν)/Γ(π\to μν)$ and of the MNS matrix are shown to exclude the existence of such states. Incoherent production of neutrinos of different flavour modifies the usual oscillation phase derived assuming production of a lepton flavour eigenstate. The new prediction can be tested in long line-base experiments by comparison of `$ν_μ$ disappearance' of neutrinos from pion and kaon decay.
The definition of `lepton flavour eigenstates' introduced in a recent paper hep-ph/0302045 is in disagreement with the Standard Model prediction for the structure of the leptonic charged current and implies the absence of neutrino oscillations following pion decay, in contradiction to experimental data
We give a brief report on our recent paper, hep-ph/0601198, in which we calculate the nu_2 mass eigenstate purity of B^8 solar neutrinos as 91 +/- 2 %.
We show that, if they exist, lepton number asymmetries ($L_α$) of neutrino flavors should be distinguished from the ones ($L_i$) of mass eigenstates, since Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on the flavor eigenstates cannot be directly applied to the mass eigenstates. Similarly, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) constraints on mass eigenstates do not directly constrain flavor asymmetries. Due to the difference of mass and flavor eigenstates, the cosmological constraint on the asymmetries of neutrino flavors can be much stronger than conventional expectation, but not uniquely determined unle…
We discuss neutrino oscillations in the framework of the quantum field theory without introducing the concept of neutrino weak eigenstates. The external particles are described by wave packets and the different mass eigenstate neutrinos propagate between the production and detection interactions, which are macroscopically localized in space-time. The time-averaged cross section, which is the measurable quantity in the usual experimental setting, is calculated. It is shown that only in the extremely relativistic limit the usual quantum mechanical oscillation probability can be factored out of t…
The present data of gallium experiments provide indirectly the only experimental limit on the fraction of $ν_2$ mass eigenstate for the $^8$B neutrinos from the Sun. However, if to use the experimental data alone, the fraction of $ν_2$ and, consequently, $sin^2θ_{sol}$ still is allowed to be varied within a rather broad range. The further experimental efforts are needed to clear this point.
Comment on "Neutrino oscillations originate from virtual excitation of $Z$ bosons" and "Neutrinos produced from $β$ decays of neutrons cannot be in coherent superpositions of different mass eigenstates"
Large mixing parameters of neutrino mass eigenstates in the neutrino flavor eigenstates are determined, and interpreted as closely related to the neutrino and charged lepton mass-ratio patterns. The three known seemingly different charged lepton and quasi-degenerate neutrino deviation-from-extreme hierarchies are shown to be three particular manifestations of one unifying quadratic hierarchy-rule in lepton flavor physics.
In the standard treatment of particle oscillations the mass eigenstates are implicitly assumed to be scalars and, consequently, the spinorial form of neutrino wave functions is not included in the calculations. To analyze this additional effect, we discuss the oscillation probability formula obtained by using the Dirac equation as evolution equation for the neutrino mass eigenstates. The initial localization of the spinor state also implies an interference between positive and negative energy components of mass eigenstate wave packets which modifies the standard oscillation probability.
In this paper we obtain the exact mass-eigenstates of the Majorana physical neutrinos. We start by taking into account a general $3\times3$ mass matrix without any CP-phase violation. It is then diagonalized by exactly solving an appropriate set of equations. The solution supplies straightforwardly the mass eigenvalues depending on the diagonal entries and mixing angles. Finally, the consequences of these analytical expressions are discussed assuming various phenomenological restrictions such as conserving the global lepton number $L=L_{e}-L_μ-L_τ$ and the $μ-τ$ interchange symmetry. The minim…
We study the evolution of the neutrinos system in rotating matter. Neutrinos are supposed to be mixed massive particles interacting with background fermions by means of the electroweak forces. First we find the solutions of wave equations for the neutrino mass eigenstates in matter. Then we study the behavior of neutrino flavor eigenstates in background matter. The problems of neutrino bound states and neutrino flavor oscillations are discussed. We also derive the analog of the quantum mechanical evolution equation for the system of two flavor neutrinos in rotating matter and analyze its solut…
We discuss flavor charges and states for interacting mixed neutrinos in QFT. We show that the Pontecorvo states are not eigenstates of the flavor charges. This implies that their use in describing the flavor neutrinos produces a violation of lepton charge conservation in the production/detection vertices. The flavor states defined as eigenstates of the flavor charges give the correct representation of mixed neutrinos in charged current weak interaction processes.
The concepts of effective and dynamical neutrino mixing matrices are introduced in order to describe the behavior of neutrinos in matter. The former relates weak eigenstates to mass eigenstates, whereas the latter relates weak eigenstates to energy eigenstates in matter. It is shown that the dynamical mixing angles enable us to express the neutrino survival probability in the Sun without any resort to the Landau-Zener transition probability for the non-adiabatic process. Also discussed are effective CP violating phases that appear in the effective and dynamical mixing matrices in matter. Both …
The light neutrino mass spectrum and mixing matrix of seesaw model including three right-handed neutrinos are studied for the most general case. An approximate formulae for mass eigenvalues, mixing matrix, and CP violation of neutrino oscillations are given.
We show there is a non-null probability to produce neutrinos of the ``wrong'' type in general decays, within the SM augmented by the known three massive neutrinos and nontrivial mixing. Such effect is equivalent to an intrinsic flavor violation (lepton flavor violation) at creation without requiring neutrino propagation. The exact amount of flavor violation depends on the neutrino flavor state to be detected. For realistic conditions, the violation is tiny but much larger than other indirect lepton flavor violation processes not involving neutrinos as final states. For neutrinos produced in a …
We consider the possibility that dark matter can communicate with the Standard Model fields via flavor interactions. We take the dark matter to belong to a "dark sector" which contains at least two types, or "flavors", of particles and then hypothesize that the Standard Model fields and dark matter share a common interaction which depends on flavor. As, generically, interaction eigenstates and mass eigenstates need not coincide, we consider both flavor-changing and flavor-conserving interactions. These interactions are then constrained by meson decays, kaon mixing, and current collider bounds,…
In this paper, we study the effect of active-neutrino-sterile-neutrino mixing in the expected high-energy astrophysical neutrino flavor content. Non-unitarity in the measurement of the three active neutrinos can be due to the existence of sterile neutrino states. We introduce the concept of the four-flavor tetrahedron in order to visualize the lack of unitarity in the astrophysical neutrino three-flavor triangle. We demonstrate that active-sterile neutrino mixings modify the allowed region of the astrophysical flavor ratio from the standard case. However, a projection of the four-flavor tetrah…
We demonstrate that sizable neutrino flavor oscillations can be generated in a model with large extra spacetime dimensions even if the physics on the brane is flavor-diagonal, the bulk neutrino theory is flavor-neutral, and the brane/bulk couplings are flavor-blind. This is thus a compact model for addressing neutrino flavor oscillations in higher dimensions. We also discuss several phenomenological aspects of the ``bulk-mediated'' neutrino oscillations inherent in this model, and show that this model contains some potentially important new phenomenological features in the limit of large brane…
A neutrino mass dominance quantity is introduced for tagging the neutrino flavor in the phenomenological two-parameter four neutrino mixing matrix with two neutrino mass doublets and thorough maximal neutrino doublet mixing. While there is no hierarchy of the neutrino masses in the neutrino flavor eigenstates of this model, it may rather be a special hierarchy of the mass dominance ratios in these eigenstates. A neutrino flavor hierarchy condition is suggested: a direct link between the neutrino flavor and the flavor of the charged leptons which interconnects the two mixing angles, theta and p…
This paper aims at solving several open questions in current neutrino physics: the neutrino mass hierarchy, the Dirac CP-violating phase, the absolute mass of neutrinos, the nature of neutrinos (Dirac or Majorana), the Majorana matrix, and the absolute value of the effective Majorana neutrino mass. In the research presented in this paper, we have shown that the precise definition of the mass splittings between neutrino mass eigenstates, done in the latest analysis of experimental data, can be of crucial importance for defining the nature of neutrino mass hierarchy. The Standard Model has three…
It is proposed that light neutrinos form a triplet in a global SU(3) flavor symmetry. Within this framework, a symmetry principle predicts sin^2 theta_{23}=0.5 and gives the so called inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, theta _{13}=0 and a small deviation from pi/4 for theta_{12}.
The theory of neutrino flavor rotations is discussed in terms of wave function solutions to the Dirac equation with a neutrino mass matrix. We give a critical review of the nature of neutrino oscillations.
Recent atmospheric neutrino data at Super-Kamiokande suggest the large flavor mixing of neutrinos. Models for the lepton mass matrix, which give the near-maximal flavor mixing, are discussed in the three family model. Especially, details of the models with the $S_3$ or O(3) flavor symmetry are studied.
The spin flavor precession (SFP) is investigated in the three neutrino generation case assuming that the neutrinos are Majorana type. Approximate analytical formulas including all transition magnetic moments are provided for the electron neutrino survival probability and electron neutrino -> electron anti-neutrino transition probability in the SFP framework. The accuracy of the formulas is checked out for two different magnetic field profiles in the Sun.
We report about recent results on Dirac wave packets in the treatment of neutrino flavor oscillation where the initial localization of a spinor state implies an interference between positive and negative energy components of mass-eigenstate wave packets. A satisfactory description of fermionic particles requires the use of the Dirac equation as evolution equation for the mass-eigenstates. In this context, a new flavor conversion formula can be obtained when the effects of chiral oscillation are taken into account. Our study leads to the conclusion that the fermionic nature of the particles, wh…
Recent developments of the resonant neutrino spin-flavor precession scenario and its applications to the solar neutrino problem are reviewed. We discuss in particular the possibilities of reconciliation of strong time variations of the solar neutrino flux observed in the Homestake ${}^{37}\$Cl experiment with little or no time variation seen in the Kamiokande II experiment.
One of the not-yet determined properties of neutrinos is the ordering of their mass eigenstates. We combine the available data from neutrino oscillations, neutrinoless double beta decay and Cosmic Microwave Background observations to derive robust constraints on the mass ordering in a Bayesian context. Based on arxiv:1801.04946.
Astrophysical neutrinos are powerful tools to study fundamental properties of particle physics. We perform a general new physics study on ultra high energy neutrino flavor content by introducing effective operators. We find that at the current limits on these operators, new physics terms cause maximal effects on the flavor content, however, the flavor content at Earth is confined to a region related to the initial flavor content.
We extend the work of Carone, Chaurasia and Vasquez on non-supersymmetric models of flavor based on the double tetrahedral group. Three issues are addressed: (1) the sector of flavor-symmetry-breaking fields is simplified and their potential studied explicitly, (2) a flavorful axion is introduced to solve the strong CP problem and (3) the model is extended to include the neutrino sector. We show how the model can accommodate the strong hierarchies manifest in the charged fermion Yukawa matrices, while predicting a qualitatively different form for the light neutrino mass matrix that is consiste…
The recent 71Ga solar neutrino observation is combined with the 37Cl and Kamiokande-II observations in an analysis for neutrino masses and mixings. The allowed parameter region is found for matter enhanced mixings among all three neutrino flavors. Distortions of the solar neutrino spectrum unique to three flavors are possible and may be observed in continuing and next generation experiments.
Neutrinos can undergo flavor--oscillations if they possess flavor--dependent couplings to the surrounding gravitational field (the VEP mechanism). The neutrino fields can be massless, in accord with the Minimal Standard Model, but at the expense of the Einstein Equivalence Principle. We show that it is possible to explain the observed Solar Neutrino data from the various experiments using the VEP solution in a realistic three--generation framework, and further note how the three--flavor model can offer larger allowed regions of parameter space over the two--flavor models.
We derive the constraints imposed on neutrino masses and mixing angles by performing a combined analysis of the data from the Los Alamos and the other terrestrial neutrino oscillation experiments with the assumption of the flavor-mixing solutions to the solar neutrino problem. In a three-flavor mixing scheme which ignores the possibility of sterile neutrinos, we obtain severe constraints on the pattern of masses and flavor mixing of neutrinos. For example, we show that in the standard Kobayashi-Maskawa type mixing matrix $s_{13}^2 \lsim 10^{-2}$ independent of the choice of the solar neutrino …
Neutrino flavor mixing is discussed in terms of two-component coupled left-handed flavor fields. This is to take into account the fact that the weak interaction couples only to left-handed fields. The flavor fields are written through a rotation matrix, as a linear combination of left-handed free fields. In order to obtain properly normalized wave functions directly from those free fields, states of mixed helicity have to be considered. Neutrino flavor oscillation amplitudes are also derived.
We have studied structures of the neutrino flavor mixing matrix focusing on the neutrino oscillations at CHORUS and NOMAD as well as the one at LSND(or KARMEN). We have assumed two typical neutrino mass hierarchies $m_3\simeq m_2\gg m_1$ and $m_3\gg m_2\gg m_1({\rm or}\simeq m_1)$. Taking into account the see-saw mechanism of neutrino masses, the reasonable neutrino flavor mixing patterns have been discussed. The observation of the neutrino oscillation at CHORUS and NOMAD presents us the important constraint for the structure of the neutrino flavor mixing matrix. The atomospheric neutrino anom…
In this paper we discuss the ontology of flavor states of oscillating neutrinos. While an heuristic approach to this subject, experimentally successful in the high energy regime, is generally adopted, a logically consistent definition of flavor states describing neutrinos produced and detected in weak processes is still desirable and essential from a theoretical perspective. Here we briefly review basic facts and present some arguments which suggest that the definition of flavor states as eigenstates of flavor charges is the most reasonable one.
We discuss the linkage between dark matter mass in the one-loop radiative seesaw model and the effective neutrino mass for the neutrino less double beta decay. This linkage, which has been already numerically suggested, is confirmed to be a reasonable relationship by deriving analytical expressions for two zero flavor neutrino mass texture.
By resorting to previous results on flavor mixing in Quantum Field Theory, we show how to consistently define flavor states of mixed neutrinos as eigenstates of the flavor charge operators.
Recently, it was pointed out that the solar and atmospheric neutrino deficits can be explained by oscillations between electroweak doublet and singlet neutrinos in the model of Majorana neutrinos. However, since the model includes no flavor mixing, it cannot explain the recent LSND result. We extend the model to include the flavor mixing, and obtain the explanation of the LSND result together with the solar and atmospheric neutrino deficits. The requirement for the neutrinos to be the hot dark matter selects out only the vacuum oscillation solution to the solar neutrino deficit.
Analytic formulas are presented for three flavor neutrino oscillations in matter in the plane wave approximation. We calculate in particular the time evolution operator in both mass and flavor bases. We also find the transition probabilities expressed as functions of the vacuum mass squared differences, the vacuum mixing angles, and the matter density parameter. The application of this to neutrino oscillations for both atmospheric and long baseline neutrinos in a mantle-core-mantle step function model of the Earth's matter density profile is discussed.
A short review on studies of neutrino flavor oscillations in moving with a constant speed matter is presented. Then neutrino flavor oscillations in matter moving with acceleration are considered. We develop an approach that is valid for both non-relativistic and relativistic matter motion. For both these cases the effective neutrino potentials in accelerating matter are obtained and neutrino flavor oscillation probabilities and the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonance conditions are evaluated. The obtained results in the limit of zero matter acceleration reproduce the corresponding expressio…
The high-energy astrophysical neutrinos recently discovered by IceCube opened a new way to test Lorentz and CPT violation through the astrophysical neutrino mixing properties. The flavor ratio of astrophysical neutrinos is a very powerful tool to investigate tiny effects caused by Lorentz and CPT violation. There are 3 main findings; (1) current limits on Lorentz and CPT violation in neutrino sector are not tight and they allow for any flavor ratios, (2) however, the observable flavor ratio on the Earth is tied with the flavor ratio at production, this means we can test both the presence of ne…
Lepton flavor violation in various sectors of the theory can bring important effects on neutrino masses and mixing through wave function renormalization. We examine general conditions for flavor structure of radiative corrections producing the atmospheric and solar neutrino mass splittings from degenerate mass patterns. Also obtained are the mixing angle relations consistent with the experimental results.
This paper reports a new phenomenological analysis of the neutrino burst detected from SN 1987 A, and it reveals the presence of two mass eigenstates. The heavier mass eigenstate has $m_H=21.4 \pm 1.2 eV/c^2$, while the lighter one has $m_L=4.0 \pm0.5 eV/c^2 $. It is not the first paper to make such a claim, but it expands on a 1988 conditional analysis by Cowsik, and it attempts to make the evidence more robust through an improved statistical analysis, and through providing reasons why alternative explanations are unlikely. It also shows how the result can be made consistent with existing sma…
The magic texture is one of the successful textures of the flavor neutrino mass matrix for the Majorana type neutrinos. The name "magic" is inspired by the nature of the magic square. We estimate the compatibility of the magic square with the Dirac, instead of the Majorana, flavor neutrino mass matrix. It turned out that some parts of the nature of the magic square are appeared approximately in the Dirac flavor neutrino mass matrix and the magic squares prefer the normal mass ordering rather than the inverted mass ordering for the Dirac neutrinos.
In this paper, we discuss neutrino mass eigenvalues for four flavor neutrino mixing. An extra mass states, in four flavor mixing and possible various combination of CP violating Majorana phases effects the neutrino mass eigenvalues. We have considered the effective Majorana mass m_{e}, related for \,\left(ββ\right)_{0ν\,} decay. In calculation, we consider two different neutrino mass orders, normal and inverted. We find the limits for neutrino mass eigenvalue m_{i} in the different neutrino mass spectrum and the sum of all four neutrino masses is \text{Σ}\text{\ensuremath{\equiv}}m_{1}+m_{2}+m…
We argue that neutrino flavor parameters may exhibit features that are very different from those of quarks and charged leptons. Specifically, within the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) framework, charged fermion parameters depend on the ratio between two scales, while for neutrinos a third scale--that of lepton number breaking--is involved. Consequently, the selection rules for neutrinos may be different. In particular, if the scale of lepton number breaking is similar to the scale of horizontal symmetry breaking, neutrinos may become flavor-blind even if they carry different horizontal charges. This pr…
A new framework for handling flavor symmetry breaking in the neutrino sector is discussed where the source of symmetry breaking is traced to the global property of right-handed neutrinos in extra-dimensional space. Light neutrino phenomenology has rich and robust predictions such as the tri/bi-maximal form of generation mixing, controlled mass spectrum, and no need of flavor mixing couplings in the theory.
We further develop a recently proposed new approach to the description of the relativistic neutrino flavour $ν_e^L \leftrightarrow ν_μ^L$, spin $ν_e^L \leftrightarrow ν_{e}^R$ and spin-flavour $ν_e^L \leftrightarrow ν_μ^R$ oscillations in a constant magnetic field that is based on the use of the exact neutrino stationary states in the magnetic field. The neutrino flavour, spin and spin-flavour oscillations probabilities are calculated accounting for the whole set of possible conversions between four neutrino states. In general, the obtained expressions for the neutrino oscillations probabiliti…
We have studied the large mixing angle MSW solution for the solar neutrinos in the non-abelian flavor symmetry. We predict the MNS mixing matrix taking account of the symmetry breakings.
We examine the feasibility of deriving neutrino mixing parameters $δ$ and $θ_{13}$ from the cosmic neutrino flavor composition under the assumption that the flavor ratios of the cosmic neutrinos at the source were $F_{ν_e}+F_{\barν_e}:F_{ν_μ}+F_{\barν_μ}: F_{ν_τ}+F_{\barν_τ}=1:2:0$. We analyze various uncertainties that enter the derivation of $δ$ and $θ_{13}$ from the ratio of the shower-like to $μ$-tracks events which is the only realistic source of information on the flavor composition at neutrino telescopes such as ICECUBE. We then examine to what extent the deviation of the initial flavor…
Recent atmospheric neutrino data at Super-Kamiokande suggest the near-maximal flavor mixing. Models for the lepton mass matrix, which give the near-maximal flavor mixing, are discussed in this report. Mass matrix models are classified according to the mechanism providing the large flavor mixing, and those are reviewed briefly. "Naturalness" of the mass matrix is also discussed in order to select the neutrino mass matrix. Details of the mass matrix with the $S_3$ flavor symmetry are presented.
We consider neutrino oscillations as non stationary phenomenon based on Schrodinger evolution equation and mixed states of neutrinos with definite flavors. We show that time-energy uncertainty relation plays a crucial role in neutrino oscillations. We compare neutrino oscillations with $B_{d}^{0}\leftrightarrows\bar B_{d}^{0}$ oscillations.
It is shown that intrinsic neutrino flavor violation invariably occurs when neutrinos are created within the SM augmented by the known massive neutrinos, with mixing and nondegenerate masses. The effects are very small but much greater than the naive estimate $Δm^2/E_ν^2$ or the branching ratio of indirect flavor violating processes such as $μ\to eγ$ within the SM. We specifically calculate the probability (branching ratio) of pion decay processes with flavor violation, such as $π\to μ\barν_e$, showing nonzero results.
We study the capability of generating correct flavor neutrino mass matrix in a scalar clockwork model. First, we assume that the flavor structure is controlled by the Yukawa couplings as same as the standard model. In this case, the correct flavor neutrino mass matrix could be obtained by appropriate Yukawa couplings $Y_{\ell^\prime\ell}$ where $\ell^\prime, \ell = e, μ, τ$. Next, we assume that the Yukawa couplings are extremely democratic $|Y_{\ell^\prime\ell} |=1$. In this case, the model parameters of the scalar clockwork sector, such as the site number of a clockwork gear in a clockwork c…
