Published July 28, 2006 | Version v1
Journal article

Can Gravity Distinguish between Dirac and Majorana Neutrinos?

  • 1. Department of Physics, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2 (Canada)
  • 2. International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies, 89019 Vietri sul Mare (Saudi Arabia) (Italy)
  • 3. Prairie Particle Physics Institute, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2 (Canada)

Description

We show that spin-gravity interaction can distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrino wave packets propagating in a Lense-Thirring background. Using time-independent perturbation theory and the gravitational phase to generate a perturbation Hamiltonian with spin-gravity coupling, we show that the associated matrix element for the Majorana neutrino differs significantly from its Dirac counterpart. This difference can be demonstrated through significant gravitational corrections to the neutrino oscillation length for a two-flavor system, as shown explicitly for SN 1987A

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
97
Journal Issue
4
Journal Page Range
p. 041101-041101.4
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2006 The American Physical Society