Evaluation of the Leggett-Garg inequality by means of the neutrino oscillations observed in reactor and accelerator experiments

Abstract

We revisit the study of the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality in neutrino oscillation data as a mean to test some of the fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. In particular, we consider the results of the Daya Bay and RENO reactor experiments, and the MINOS and NOvA accelerator experiments. We find that DB and MINOS exhibit a strong manifestation of Leggett-Garg violation, whereas for RENO and NOvA data, the indication is weaker. Considering the particular baselines and energy ranges explored by each experiment, our results demonstrate that the Leggett-Garg violation is more evident for smaller baseline-to-energy ratios in all the data sets studied, a relevant aspect to consider when looking for evidence of quantum mechanical decoherence in neutrino oscillations.

Comments: 20 pages, 13 (16) figures. Comments are welcome. Performed revision of the calculations; minor changes in the results, and main conclusions unmodified