Neutrino Splitting and Density-Dependent Dispersion Relations

Abstract

We show that particles can split only when their group velocity exceeds their phase velocity. In this sense the splitting process is the quantum analog of the modulational instability in anomalous dispersive media. In the case of a neutrino whose dispersion relation contains a subdominant Lorentz-violating correction of the form aP^k, the neutrino will decay into two neutrinos and an antineutrino at a rate proportional to a^3G_F^2E^{2+3k}. Unlike the Cohen-Glashow instability, the splitting instability exists even if all particles involved in the interaction have the same dispersion relations at the relevant energy scales. We show that this instability leads to strong constraints even if the energy E is a function of both the momentum P and also of the background density rho, for example we show that it alone would have been sufficient to eliminate any model of the MINOS/OPERA velocity anomaly which modifies the neutrino dispersion relation while leaving those of other particles intact.