Quantum Walks as simulators of neutrino oscillations in vacuum and matter

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how quantum walks can simulate neutrino oscillations, including matter effects like the MSW effect, providing a new tool to explore neutrino phenomena in extreme astrophysical environments.

Contribution

It establishes a connection between quantum walk simulations and neutrino oscillation physics, including matter effects, enabling exploration of neutrino behavior in extreme conditions.

Findings

Quantum walks reproduce coupled Dirac equations for neutrino oscillations.

Simulation can incorporate matter effects such as the MSW effect.

Potential to study neutrino phenomena in astrophysical environments.

Abstract

We analyze the simulation of Dirac neutrino oscillations using quantum walks, both in vacuum and in matter. We show that this simulation, in the continuum limit, reproduces a set of coupled Dirac equations that describe neutrino flavor oscillations, and we make use of this to establish a connection with neutrino phenomenology, thus allowing to fix the parameters of the simulation for a given neutrino experiment. We also analyze how matter effects for neutrino propagation can be simulated in the quantum walk. In this way, important features, such as the MSW effect, can be incorporated. Thus, the simulation of neutrino oscillations with the help of quantum walks might be useful to explore these effects in extreme conditions, such as the solar interior or supernovae, in a complementary way to existing experiments.