Antineutrinos produced from $\beta$ decays of neutrons cannot be in coherent superpositions of different mass eigenstates

TL;DR

This paper proves that antineutrinos from neutron beta decay cannot exist as coherent superpositions of different mass eigenstates, challenging assumptions about neutrino oscillations in such decay processes.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous analysis showing that antineutrinos produced in neutron beta decay are not in coherent superpositions of mass eigenstates, regardless of initial neutron momentum.

Findings

Antineutrinos from neutron decay are not in coherent superpositions of mass states.

The wavefunction analysis applies universally, independent of initial conditions.

This challenges the conventional understanding of neutrino oscillations in beta decay.

Abstract

The entire wavefunction of the antineutrino-proton-electron system, produced by the $\beta$ decay of a neutron is analyzed. It is proven that the antineutrino cannot be in coherent superpositions of different mass eigenstates, irrespective of the initial momentum distribution of the neutron.