Equivalence between Gaussian averaged neutrino oscillations and neutrino decoherence

In this paper, we investigate two different models for transitions of neutrinos and how they are related to each other. The two models are: neutrino oscillations and neutrino decoherence. Neutrino oscillation models have been the standard description for neutrino transitions so far and still are. Neutrino decoherence models, on the other hand, have recently been discussed by several authors [1–8] as an alternative description to neutrino oscillation models. There exist also other plausible descriptions of neutrino transitions such as neutrino decay models, which have been suggested by Barger et al. [9–12]. However, these models will not be discussed in this paper. The paper is organized as follows: In Sec. II, we go through the formalisms of neutrino oscillations and neutrino decoherence. In Sec. III, we give the condition for them to be equivalent with each other and we also try to estimate the decoherence term and in Sec. IV, we estimate the damping or decoherence parameter for atmospheric neutrinos. Finally, in Sec. V, we present the summary and also our conclusions.