Quantum decoherence and relaxation in neutrinos using long-baseline data

We investigate the effect of quantum decoherence and relaxation in neutrino oscillations using MINOS and T2K data. The formalism of open quantum systems is used to describe the interaction of a neutrino system with the environment, where the strength of the interaction is regulated by a decoherence parameter $\Gamma$. We assume an energy dependence parameterized by $\Gamma = \gamma_0 (E/\mbox{GeV})^n$, with $n=-2,0,+2$, and study three different scenarios. The MINOS and T2K data present a complementary behavior, with regard to our theoretical model, resulting in a better sensitivity for $n = +2$ and $n = -2$, respectively. We perform a combined analysis of both experimental data and include a reactor constraint on $\sin^2 \theta_{13}$. The results of our combined analyses improve significantly the previous bounds on $\gamma_0$ for $n = -2$, reporting an upper bound of $1.7 \times 10^{-23}$~GeV, at the 90\% confidence level.Comment: Corrected typo