On chirality and chiral neutrino oscillations

TL;DR

The paper clarifies that genuine chirality oscillations do not occur for neutrinos in vacuum, correcting misconceptions caused by confusion between quantum concepts and negative energy interpretations.

Contribution

It provides a clear theoretical analysis distinguishing quantum fields, states, and wave functions, refuting claims of neutrino chirality oscillations in vacuum.

Findings

Chirality oscillations in vacuum are not possible for neutrinos.

Misconceptions stem from confusion between different quantum concepts.

Negative energy misconceptions contributed to false claims.

Abstract

It has been claimed in a number of publications that neutrinos can exhibit chirality oscillations. In this note we discuss the notion of chirality and show that chiral neutrino oscillations in vacuum do not occur. We argue that the incorrect claims to the contrary resulted from a failure to clearly discriminate between quantum fields, states and wave functions. We also emphasize the role played in the erroneous claims on the possibility of chirality oscillations by the widely spread misconceptions about negative energies.