Neutrino interferometry in curved spacetime
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(Published version)
Date
2004
Authors
Crocker, Roland Murley
Giunti, Carlo
Mortlock, Daniel J.
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Journal article
Citation
Physical Review, 2004; 69(6):063008
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Roland M. Crocker, Carlo Giunti, Daniel J. Mortlock
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Abstract
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 from neutrino oscillations in flat space. After an illustrative example
clarifying some underappreciated subtleties of the phase calculation, we derive the form of the quantum
mechanical phase for a neutrino mass eigenstate propagating nonradially 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.
School/Discipline
School of Chemistry and Physics : Physics and Mathematical Physics
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©2004 American Physical Society