2017/09/30 by Lucas Johns, George M. Fuller · 19 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Classical mechanics #Counterintuitive #Dark matter #Gyroscope #Motion (physics) #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Neutrino oscillation #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Pendulum #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Theoretical physics #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1103/physrevd.97.023020
published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 97(2) (American Physical Society) · 9 pages including supplemental material, 2+1 figures
openalex publication_date 2018/01/25 · arxiv created 2018/02/01 · arxiv updated 2018/02/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We identify in the flavor transformation of astrophysical neutrinos a new class of phenomena, a common outcome of which is the suppression of flavor conversion. Appealing to the equivalence between a bipolar neutrino system and a gyroscopic pendulum, we find that these phenomena have rather striking interpretations in the mechanical picture: in one instance, the gyroscopic pendulum initially precesses in one direction, then comes to a halt and begins to precess in the opposite direction---a counterintuitive behavior that we analogize to the motion of a toy known as a rattleback. We analyze these behaviors in the early Universe, wherein a chance connection to sterile neutrino dark matter emerges, and we briefly suggest how they might manifest in compact-object environments.