Quantum decoherence and relaxation in long-baseline neutrino data

Understand

We investigate the effect of quantum decoherence and relaxation in neutrino oscillations using MINOS and T2K data.

• The formalism of open quantum systems is used to describe the interaction of a neutrino system with the environment, where the strength of the interaction is regulated by a decoherence parameter $\Gamma$.
• We assume an energy dependence parameterized by $\Gamma = \gamma_0 (E/\mbox{GeV})^n$, with $n=-2,0,+2$, and consider three different scenarios, allowing the investigation of the effect of relaxation and of constraining the solar and atmospheric sectors to the same decoherence parameter.
• The MINOS and T2K data present a complementary behavior, with regard to our theoretical model, resulting in a better sensitivity for $n = +2$ and $n = -2$, respectively.