When do neutrinos cease to oscillate?

• Published in: Physics letters. B Vol. 421; no. 1; pp. 237 - 244
• Main Authors: Giunti, C., Kim, C.W., Lee, U.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 05.03.1998
• Subjects: 14.60.Pq; 13.15.+g
• ISSN: 0370-2693; 1873-2445
• DOI: 10.1016/S0370-2693(98)00014-8

In order to investigate when neutrinos cease to oscillate in the framework of quantum field theory, we have reexamined the wave packet treatment of neutrino oscillations by taking different sizes of the wave packets of the particles involved in the production and detection processes. The treatment is shown to be considerably simplified by using the Grimus–Stockinger theorem which enables us to carry out the integration over the momentum of the propagating neutrino. Our new results confirm the recent observation by Kiers, Nussinov and Weiss that a precise measurement of the energies of the particles involved in the detection process would increase the coherence length. We also present a precise definition of the coherence length beyond which neutrinos cease to oscillate.