Quantum coherence of relic neutrinos.
We argue that in at least a portion of the history of the Universe the relic background neutrinos are spatially extended, coherent superpositions of mass states. We show that an appropriate quantum mechanical treatment affects the neutrino mass values derived from cosmological data. The coherence scale of these neutrino flavor wave packets can be an appreciable fraction of the causal horizon size, raising the possibility of spacetime curvature-induced decoherence.
Fuller
George M
GM
Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319, USA.
Kishimoto
Chad T
CT