Geometric phase for neutrino propagation in magnetic field

Abstract

The geometric phase for neutrinos propagating in an adiabatically varying magnetic field in matter is calculated. It is shown that for neutrino propagation in sufficiently large magnetic field the neutrino eigenstates develop a significant geometric phase. The geometric phase varies from 2π for magnetic fields ∼ fraction of a micro gauss to π for fields ∼107 gauss or more. The variation of geometric phase with magnetic field parameters is shown and its phenomenological implications are discussed.