The GSI Time Anomaly: Facts and Fiction

TL;DR

The paper refutes the neutrino mixing explanation for the GSI time anomaly and proposes quantum beats from two coherent energy levels as a plausible cause, emphasizing causality and quantum interference effects.

Contribution

It clarifies the falsehood of the neutrino mixing hypothesis and introduces quantum beats from energy level coherence as a new explanation for the anomaly.

Findings

Neutrino mixing does not explain the GSI anomaly.

Quantum beats from two close energy levels can account for the observed effect.

The energy splitting is approximately 6×10^{-16} eV.

Abstract

The claims that the GSI time anomaly is due to the mixing of neutrinos in the final state of the observed electron-capture decays of hydrogen-like heavy ions are refuted with the help of an analogy with a double-slit experiment. It is a consequence of causality. It is shown that the GSI time anomaly may be caused by quantum beats due to the existence of two coherent energy levels of the decaying ion with an extremely small energy splitting (about $6\times10^{-16} \text{eV}$) and relative probabilities having a ratio of about 1/99.