Nonlinear Dirac Neutrino Oscillations

Abstract

Neutrino oscillations are a possible way to probe beyond Standard Model physics. The propagation of Dirac neutrinos in a massive medium is governed by the Dirac equation modified with an effective Hamiltonian that de- pends on the number density of surrounding matter fields. At the same time, quantum nonlinearities may contribute to neutrino oscillations by further mod- ifying the Dirac equation. A possible nonlinearity is computationally studied using Mathematica at low energies. We find that the presence of a uniform, static background matter distribution may significantly alter the oscillation am- plitude and wavelength; the considered nonlinearity may further reduce both oscillation amplitude and wavelength. In addition, the presence of matter al- lows the effects of the nonlinearity to be more readily observed for the chosen background densities and neutrino energy.