Universal Journal of Physics and Application Vol. 4(1), pp. 121 - 140
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TIME-TO-SPACE CONVERSION IN NEUTRINO OSCILLATIONS

AUTHOR(S) INFORMATION: Shirokov M.I. and Naumov V.A.

ABSTRACT

We study the neutrino oscillation problem in the framework of the wave packet formalism. The neutrino state is described by a packet located initially in a region S (source) and detected in another region D at a distance R from S. We examine how the oscillation probability as a function of variable R can be derived from the oscillation probability as a function of time t, the latter being found by using the Schrödinger equation. We justify the known prescription t→R/c without referring to a specific form of the neutrino wave packet and only assuming the finiteness of its support. The effect of the oscillation damping at large R is revealed. For an illustration, an explicit expression for the damping factor is obtained using Gaussian packet.