Testing Localization in Neutrino Oscillations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how neutrino wave packet localization affects short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, highlighting the potential to observe localization-delocalization transitions for large neutrino mass splittings, such as in sterile neutrino theories.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of localization effects in neutrino oscillations and discusses their observability in experiments with large mass splittings.

Findings

Localization to delocalization transition is observable for ~1 eV mass splitting.

Sterile neutrino theories may exhibit measurable localization effects.

Wave packet effects are significant in short-baseline experiments.

Abstract

The neutrino wave packet localization in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, such as MiniBooNE, is investigated. It is shown that the transition from localization to delocalization may be observed for large neutrino mass splitting of order 1 eV, e.g., in theories with sterile neutrinos.