Spin mixing mechanism in amplitude analysis of pi(-)p->pi(-)pi(+)n and a new view of dark matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel amplitude analysis of pion-proton scattering data using spin mixing mechanisms, revealing a potential link between dark neutrinos and dark matter through quantum dephasing interactions.

Contribution

It presents the first amplitude analysis employing spin mixing in pion-proton scattering, connecting quantum environment interactions to dark matter via neutrino states.

Findings

Identification of spin mixing parameters in pion scattering

Detection of dark neutrino states as a component of dark matter

Proposal of dephasing interactions as a new dark matter detection method

Abstract

We present the first amplitude analysis of the CERN data on pi(-)p->pi(-)pi(+)n on polarized target at 17.2 GeV/c for dipion masses 580-1080 MeV at low momentum transfer using spin mixing mechanism. The analysis of the S- and P-wave subsystem determines a unique solution for the spin mixing transversity amplitudes S_tau, L_tau, the corresponding S-matrix amplitudes S^0_tau, L^0_tau and the rho^0(770)-f_0(980) spin mixing parameters. The spin mixing mechanism allows to extract D-wave observables from the CERN data. Analysis of the full D-wave subsystem for transversity tau=u reveals rho^0(770) mixing in the amplitudes |D^U_u|^2 and |D^N_u|^2 and a violation of a cosine condition by the amplitudes D^2U_u and D^2N_u. We determine spin mixing and S-matrix helicity amplitudes from which we calculate pipi phase-shifts delta^0_S and delta_P below KKbar threshold. The spin mixing and the violation of the cosine condition arise from a non-standard pure dephasing interaction of the produced final S-matrix state rho_f(S) with a quantum state rho(E) of a quantum environment to produce the observed state rho_f(O). Our analysis determines that the number of interacting degrees of freedom of the environment is M=4. We identify the four eigenstates |e_k> that define the density matrix rho(E) with the four neutrino mass eigenstates |m_k> with m_4 due to light sterile neutrino. We call the quantum states rho(E) dark neutrinos and propose to identify them with the particles of a distinct component of dark matter. Dephasing interactions are not rare events but they require high statistics experiments with polarized targets for their detection. Our amplitude analysis illustrates this new kind of search for dark matter.