Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/4/a/solution

Assume coherent production and detection, relativistic neutrinos, two active neutrino flavours, propagation in vacuum, negligible packet separation and no absorption. Invert the given real lepton mixing matrix to obtain and , where , . With phases in natural units,
Using the paper's opposite sign convention conjugates this probability amplitude and leaves the probability unchanged. For equal momentum, and , so . The equal-energy convention gives the same leading result from the momentum difference; evaluating each component at a different arrival time would incorrectly double the phase.
Since ,
This gives the stated factor . Neutrino oscillation in this approximation measures , not the absolute neutrino mass or its ordering.

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