The decays \"neutrino{heavy} -> neutrino{light} + photon\" and \"neutrino{heavy} -> neutrino{light} e+ e-\" of massive neutrinos

If, as recently reported by the Super-Kamiokande collaboration, the neutrinos are massive, the heaviest one would not be stable and, though chargeless, could in particular decay into a lighter neutrino and a photon by quantum loop effects. The corresponding rate is computed in the standard model wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 2000, Vol.13, p.117-123
Main Authors: Ho-Kim, Q., Machet, B., Pham, X. Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Physics
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:If, as recently reported by the Super-Kamiokande collaboration, the neutrinos are massive, the heaviest one would not be stable and, though chargeless, could in particular decay into a lighter neutrino and a photon by quantum loop effects. The corresponding rate is computed in the standard model with massive Dirac neutrinos as a function of the neutrino masses and mixing angles. The lifetime of the decaying neutrino is estimated to be approximately 10^44 years for a mass 5 10^{-2} eV. If kinematically possible, the decay of a heavy neutrino into a lighter one plus an e+ e- pair occurs at tree level and its one-loop radiative corrections get enhanced by a large logarithm of the electron mass acting as an infrared cutoff. It then largely dominates the photonic mode by several orders of magnitude, corresponding to a lifetime approximately equal to 10^{-2} year for a mass 1.1 MeV.
ISSN:1434-6044
1434-6052