Production of a sterile species: quantum kinetics

TL;DR

This paper develops quantum kinetic equations for active-sterile neutrino mixing in a medium, revealing complex dynamics and multiple time scales that challenge simple rate equation descriptions.

Contribution

It derives comprehensive quantum kinetic equations from two methods, clarifies the role of different damping rates, and generalizes the transition probability in a medium.

Findings

Two distinct damping rates influence active-sterile oscillations.

Simple rate equations are inadequate away from MSW resonances.

Provides a unified derivation of kinetic equations from different approaches.

Abstract

Production of a sterile species is studied within an effective model of active-sterile neutrino mixing in a medium in thermal equilibrium. The quantum kinetic equations for the distribution functions and coherences are obtained from two independent methods: the effective action and the quantum master equation. The decoherence time scale for active-sterile oscillations is $\tau_{dec} = 2/\Gamma_{aa}$, but the evolution of the distribution functions is determined by the two different time scales associated with the damping rates of the quasiparticle modes in the medium: $\Gamma_1=\Gamma_{aa}\cos^2\tm ; \Gamma_2=\Gamma_{aa}\sin^2\tm$ where $\Gamma_{aa}$ is the interaction rate of the active species in absence of mixing and $\tm$ the mixing angle in the medium. These two time scales are widely different away from MSW resonances and preclude the kinetic description of active-sterile production in terms of a simple rate equation. We give the complete set of quantum kinetic equations for the active and sterile populations and coherences and discuss in detail the various approximations. A generalization of the active-sterile transition probability \emph{in a medium} is provided via the quantum master equation. We derive explicitly the usual quantum kinetic equations in terms of the ``polarization vector'' and show their equivalence to those obtained from the quantum master equation and effective action.