A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly
Gallium radioactive source experiments have reported a neutrino-induced event rate about 20% lower than expected with a high statistical significance. We present an explanation of this observation assuming quantum decoherence of the neutrinos in the gallium detectors at a scale of 2 m. This explanat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SciPost
2023-10-01
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| Series: | SciPost Physics |
| Online Access: | https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.15.4.172 |
| _version_ | 1797655941823332352 |
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| author | Yasaman Farzan, Thomas Schwetz |
| author_facet | Yasaman Farzan, Thomas Schwetz |
| author_sort | Yasaman Farzan, Thomas Schwetz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gallium radioactive source experiments have reported a neutrino-induced event rate about 20% lower than expected with a high statistical significance. We present an explanation of this observation assuming quantum decoherence of the neutrinos in the gallium detectors at a scale of 2 m. This explanation is consistent with global data on neutrino oscillations, including solar neutrinos, if decoherence effects decrease quickly with energy, for instance with a power law $E_\nu^{-r}$ with r$\simeq$ 12. Our proposal does not require the presence of sterile neutrinos but implies a modification of the standard quantum mechanical evolution equations for active neutrinos. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:21:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b6d9ab1e2645425581037180e31c18dd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2542-4653 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T17:21:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | SciPost |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SciPost Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-b6d9ab1e2645425581037180e31c18dd2023-10-19T10:24:24ZengSciPostSciPost Physics2542-46532023-10-0115417210.21468/SciPostPhys.15.4.172A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomalyYasaman Farzan, Thomas SchwetzGallium radioactive source experiments have reported a neutrino-induced event rate about 20% lower than expected with a high statistical significance. We present an explanation of this observation assuming quantum decoherence of the neutrinos in the gallium detectors at a scale of 2 m. This explanation is consistent with global data on neutrino oscillations, including solar neutrinos, if decoherence effects decrease quickly with energy, for instance with a power law $E_\nu^{-r}$ with r$\simeq$ 12. Our proposal does not require the presence of sterile neutrinos but implies a modification of the standard quantum mechanical evolution equations for active neutrinos.https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.15.4.172 |
| spellingShingle | Yasaman Farzan, Thomas Schwetz A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly SciPost Physics |
| title | A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| title_full | A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| title_fullStr | A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| title_full_unstemmed | A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| title_short | A decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| title_sort | decoherence explanation of the gallium neutrino anomaly |
| url | https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.15.4.172 |
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