Why Neutrino Lines are Hypersharp

TL;DR

This paper discusses the theoretical possibility of hypersharp neutrino lines resulting from long-lived 2-body decay of tritium, highlighting their natural narrow width and the unique resonance effects associated with such long-lived states.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of hypersharp neutrino lines from tritium decay, emphasizing the role of the neutrino's long lifetime in producing naturally narrow resonance lines.

Findings

Neutrino lines can be emitted with natural line width (~10^-24 eV).

Long neutrino lifetime leads to unique resonance effects.

Potential implications for neutrino detection and physics.

Abstract

It was recently pointed out that mono-energetic neutrino lines from the 2-body decay of tritium (tau ~ 18-y) can be emitted, a significant fraction, with natural line width (~10-24 eV) for hypersharp resonance transitions 3H--> <--3He. The very long lifetime typical of a neutrino transition, encountered for the first time in resonance, is the key to this surprising effect which is not intuitive from perspectives of line broadening in resonances of short lived (tau ~ microsec) states.