Neutrino magnetic moment effects in electron-capture measurements at GSI

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the observed decay rate oscillations in GSI electron-capture experiments may be caused by neutrino spin precession due to a magnetic moment, suggesting a possible new effect related to neutrino properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis linking GSI oscillations to neutrino magnetic moments and analyzes the interference effects, providing constraints on neutrino magnetic moments.

Findings

Decay rate oscillations may be due to neutrino spin precession in magnetic fields.

Neutrino magnetic moment required is six times lower than Borexino limit.

Interference effects with massive neutrinos likely average out over measurement times.

Abstract

I conjecture that the time modulated decay rates reported in single ion measurements of two body electron capture decay of hydrogen like heavy ions at GSI may be related to neutrino spin precession in the static magnetic field of the storage ring. These `GSI Oscillations' arise from interference between amplitudes of decay within and without the magnetic field, a scenario that requires a Dirac neutrino magnetic moment six times lower than the Borexino solar neutrino upper limit of 0.54 x 10E(-10) Bohr magneton. I also show in a way not discussed before that the time modulation associated with interference between massive neutrino amplitudes, if such interference could arise, is of a period at least four orders of magnitude shorter than reported and must average to zero given the time resolution of the GSI measurements.