Mikheyev–Smirnov–Wolfenstein effect
Particle physics process affecting neutrinos / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mikheyev–Smirnov–Wolfenstein effect (often referred to as the matter effect) is a particle physics process which modifies neutrino oscillations in matter of varying density. The MSW effect is broadly analogous to the differential retardation of sound waves in density-variable media, however it also involves the propagation dynamics of three separate quantum fields which experience distortion.
In free space, the separate rates of neutrino eigenstates lead to standard neutrino flavor oscillation. Within matter – such as within the Sun – the analysis is more complicated, as shown by Mikheyev, Smirnov and Wolfenstein. It leads to a wide admixture of emanating neutrino flavors, which provides a compelling solution to the solar neutrino problem.
Works in 1978 and 1979 by American physicist Lincoln Wolfenstein led to understanding that the oscillation parameters of neutrinos are changed in matter. In 1985, the Soviet physicists Stanislav Mikheyev and Alexei Smirnov predicted that a slow decrease of the density of matter can resonantly enhance the neutrino mixing.[1] Later in 1986, Stephen Parke of Fermilab, Hans Bethe of Cornell University, and S. Peter Rosen and James Gelb of Los Alamos National Laboratory provided analytic treatments of this effect.