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Causality violation in e+e pair production by superluminal neutrinos

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R. Tomaschitz

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Pair emission by superluminal neutrinos is shown to be causality violating in the 10–50 GeV range covered by the OPERA experiment. Thus, the energy density of a freely propagating superluminal neutrino current is not affected by energy loss due to e+ e pair creation, in accordance with the unperturbed energy profile observed by ICARUS. Interaction processes involving sub- and superluminal particles give rise to time inversions in the rest frames of the subluminal constituents, resulting in causality violating predetermination. Therefore, kinematic causality constraints in addition to energy-momentum conservation are necessary to exclude causality violation outside the lightcone. Electron-positron pair production \nu_\mu\to \nu _{\mu} +e^+ +e^{-} by superluminal muon neutrinos is forbidden in the OPERA energy range, as the kinematic constraints on the neutrino frequencies and wave vectors required by causality and energy-momentum conservation cannot simultaneously be satisfied.


PACS

98.80.Jk Mathematical and relativistic aspects of cosmology

11.30.Cp Lorentz and Poincare invariance

14.60.Lm Ordinary neutrinos (nue, numu, nutau)

Subjects

Gravitation and cosmology

Particle physics and field theory

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 1 (April 2012)

Received 6 February 2012, accepted for publication 12 March 2012

Published 13 April 2012



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