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arXiv:2112.12726

Investigating Leggett-Garg inequality in neutrino oscillations -- role of decoherence and decay

S. Shafaq, Tanmay Kushwaha, Poonam Mehta

Published Dec 23, 2021• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Neutrinos, due to their weakly interacting nature, provide us with a unique opportunity to test foundations of quantum mechanics over macroscopic distances. There has been considerable theoretical and experimental interest in examining the extent of violation of Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGI) in the context of neutrino flavour oscillations. While it is established that neutrino oscillations occur due to mass and mixing among the three generations of neutrinos, sub-dominant effects due to physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) are not yet ruled out. As we are entering the precision era in neutrino physics, it is possible that some of these effects may leave an imprint on data. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate different physics scenarios beyond the SM and study their impact on oscillation probabilities. In the present work, we invoke damping effects (including decoherence and decay) on oscillation probabilities and study their implications on the LGI.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2112.12726

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Neutrinos, due to their weakly interacting nature, provide us with a unique opportunity to test foundations of quantum mechanics over macroscopic distances. There has been considerable theoretical and experimental interest in examining the extent of violation of Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGI) in the context of neutrino flavour oscillations. While it is established that neutrino oscillations occur due to mass and mixing among the three generations of neutrinos, sub-dominant effects due to physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) are not yet ruled out. As we are entering the precision era in neutrino physics, it is possible that some of these effects may leave an imprint on data. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate different physics scenarios beyond the SM and study their impact on oscillation probabilities. In the present work, we invoke damping effects (including decoherence and decay) on oscillation probabilities and study their implications on the LGI.
Abstract Neutrino oscillations occur due to non-zero masses and mixings and most importantly they are believed to maintain quantum coherence even over astrophysical length scales. In the present study, we explore the quantumness of three flavour neutrino oscillations by studying the extent of violation of Leggett–Garg inequalities (LGI) if non-standard interactions (NSI) are taken into account. We report an enhancement in violation of LGI with respect to the standard scenario for appropriate choice of NSI parameters.
Abstract Leggett–Garg inequality (LGI) is a time analogue of Bell’s inequality that concerns measurements performed on a system at different times. Violation to LGI indicates quantum coherence. We present a Leggett–Garg-type inequality compatible with more general neutrino oscillation frameworks, allowing the effects of decoherence to be taken into consideration. The inequality is applied to test coherence for data from Daya Bay, MINOS, and KamLAND experiments, and their results are compared to theoretical predictions to investigate decoherence. Both Daya Bay and MINOS data exhibit clear violations of over 10σ10\sigma 10σ 10σ , and of over 90 %\%% % of theoretical predictions, while the KamLAND data exhibit violation of 1.9σ1.9\sigma 1.9σ 1.9σ , being of 58 %\%% % of the theoretical prediction. The present work is the first to have considered the energy uncertainties in neutrino coherence tests.
This project examines the quantum mechanical nature of neutrino oscillations through the Leggett-Garg Inequality (LGI), a test for temporal correlations that distinguishes quantum mechanics from classical hidden-variable theories. Using data from the MINOS experiment, which measures neutrino survival probabilities across a 735 km baseline, two methods were employed to calculate LGI violations: a conventional approach and an overlap method. While both are valid, the overlap method is theoretically more accurate as it incorporates uncertainties in energy. The conventional method identified 80 triplets with 62 LGI violations, while the overlap method identified 780 triplets with an average of 528 LGI violations. These results demonstrate significant LGI violations, affirming quantum coherence in neutrino oscillations and challenging classical macrorealism. This study advances our understanding of quantum behavior in macroscopic systems, offering robust evidence for the quantum mechanical framework of neutrino physics.
The Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI) as a temporal analog of Bell's inequality, derived using the notion of realism, is studied in a hitherto unexplored context involving weak-interaction-induced two-state oscillations of decaying neutral kaons and neutrinos. The maximum violation of the LGI obtained from the relevant quantum mechanical results is significantly higher for oscillating neutrinos compared to that for kaons. Interestingly, the effect of CP noninvariance for the kaon oscillation is to enhance this violation, while, for neutrinos, the violation is sensitive to the value of mixing parameter.
The Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI), an analogue of Bellś inequality involving correlations of measurements of one observable on a system at different times, stands as one of the hallmark tests of quantum mechanics against classical predictions. In this work, we investigate its implications in the context of neutrino flavour (νeL↔νμLν_{e}^{L}\leftrightarrowν_μ^{L}νeL​↔νμL​) and spin (νeL↔νeRν_{e}^{L}\leftrightarrowν_{e}^{R}νeL​↔νeR​) oscillations in the presence of a constant transverse magnetic field. For systems with strong magnetic fields, we show that, for both cases, there are length regions ΔLΔLΔL where the LGI is violated, as quantified by the correlator functions K3K_{3}K3​ and K4K_{4}K4​.
Three-flavoured neutrino oscillations are investigated in the light of the Leggett–Garg inequality (LGI). The results obtained are: (a) The maximum violation of the LGI is 2.17036 for neutrino path length L1=140.15L_{1}=140.15 L1​=140.15 km and ΔL=1255.7\Delta L=1255.7 ΔL=1255.7 km. (b) The presence of the mixing angle θ13\theta _{13}θ13​ enhances the maximum violation of LGI by 4.6%4.6\%4.6% . (c) The currently known mass hierarchy parameter α=0.0305\alpha = 0.0305α=0.0305 increases the maximum violation of LGI by 3.7%3.7\%3.7% . (d) The presence of a CP-violating phase parameter enhances the maximum violation of LGI by 0.24%0.24\%0.24% , thus providing an alternative indicator of CP violation in three-flavoured neutrino oscillations. The outline of an experimental proposal is suggested whereby the findings of this investigation may be verified.