2015/08/13 by Dharam Vir Ahluwalia, Ahluwalia, Dharam Vir, Lance Labun +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Neutrino Physics Research #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1508.03091
Accepted for publication, European Physical Journal A (EPJA) Discussion considerably expanded, corrected and updated, main conclusions unchanged
openalex publication_date 2015/08/13 · arxiv created 2016/06/11 · arxiv updated 2016/06/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We discuss the inverse β-decay of accelerated protons in the context of neutrino oscillations. The process p→ n ℓ+ ν_ℓ is kinematically allowed because the accelerating field provides the rest energy difference between initial and final states. The rate of p→ n conversions can be evaluated in either the laboratory frame (where the proton is accelerating) or the co-moving frame (where the proton is at rest and interacts with an effective thermal bath of ℓ and ν_ℓ due to the Unruh effect). By explicit calculation, we show the rates in the two frames disagree when taking into account neutrino oscillations, because the weak interaction couples to charge eigenstates whereas gravity couples to neutrino mass eigenstates. The contradiction could be resolved experimentally, potentially yielding new information on the origins of neutrino masses.