2021/06/30 by Shashank Shalgar, Irene Tamborra
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Context (archaeology) #Electron #Flavor #Geometry #Homogeneous space #Lepton #Mixing (physics) #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Spontaneous symmetry breaking #Symmetry (geometry) #Symmetry breaking #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.043018
9 pages, 6 figures, revtex4-1 two column format. Version accepted in Phys. Rev. D. Supplmental material: https://sid.erda.dk/share_redirect/hwp0WKuuk7/index.html
arxiv created 2022/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2022/02/23 · arxiv updated 2022/03/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A surprising consequence of non-linear flavor evolution is the spontaneous breaking of the initial symmetries of the neutrino gas propagating in a dense astrophysical environment. We explore the flavor conversion physics by taking into account the polar and azimuthal angular distributions of neutrinos and present the very first example of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the context of fast flavor mixing in the nonlinear regime. Intriguingly, we find that fast flavor mixing does not always develop in the proximity of the angular regions with vanishing electron lepton number, as commonly assumed, and large flavor mixing can rapidly spread through all neutrino modes. Such behavior cannot be predicted from the linear regime of the flavor evolution. These results can have major consequences on the physics of compact astrophysical objects.