A major breakthrough connecting Particle Physics with Quantum Information Science has been reported by researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai, whose latest study on quantum entanglement in neutrinos has been published in the prestigious journal Physical Review D.

The research has been led by Prof. Sudhanwa Patra of IIT Bhilai and carried out by doctoral researcher Ms. Rajrupa Banerjee in collaboration with Prof. P. K. Panigrahi, Director of the Center of Quantum Science and Technology at Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, and Prof. Hiranmaya Mishra, Visiting Professor at National Institute of Science Education and Research and the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar.

The study explores novel measures of quantum entanglement in neutrino physics, including a new concept termed “Concurrence Fill,” which researchers say could provide deeper insights into one of the most fundamental questions in modern physics — why the Universe contains more matter than antimatter.

Neutrinos are among the smallest known subatomic particles and are known for their unusual ability to continuously change identity while travelling through space. In quantum physics, neutrinos exist in three “flavours” — electron neutrino, muon neutrino and tau neutrino. A neutrino produced in one flavour can transform into another as it propagates, a phenomenon known as neutrino oscillation.

This phenomenon was experimentally confirmed by Takaaki Kajita of the Super-Kamiokande collaboration in Japan and Arthur B. McDonald of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2015.

The IIT Bhilai-led research proposes that neutrino oscillation is not merely a transition between flavours, but a manifestation of quantum entanglement within a single particle across three quantum modes. According to the researchers, a neutrino behaves as a genuinely entangled quantum system in which all three flavours remain interconnected during propagation.

The team analysed different categories of multipartite quantum entanglement and found that neutrinos consistently exhibit what is known as “W-type” entanglement. Unlike fragile “all-or-nothing” entangled systems, W-type entanglement remains robust even if one component weakens, indicating that neutrino flavour states preserve quantum correlations in a resilient manner.

To quantify this behaviour, the researchers introduced a new entanglement measure called “Concurrence Fill.” The method provides a geometric interpretation of the strength and distribution of entanglement among neutrino flavours and tracks how these correlations evolve with neutrino energy and travel distance.

The study further demonstrates that these entanglement patterns are highly sensitive to the Charge-Parity violating phase, commonly referred to as CP violation, a key parameter that may explain the observed dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe.

According to the researchers, the findings could have direct implications for leading international neutrino experiments, including the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in the United States and the Tokai to Kamioka Experiment in Japan. These experiments are designed to investigate neutrino oscillations over long distances and probe the nature of CP violation with high precision.

The study suggests that quantum entanglement signatures may emerge as a new experimental tool for analysing neutrino behaviour and testing fundamental principles of particle physics.

Prof. Patra’s research group at IIT Bhilai is presently engaged in advanced studies on neutrino physics, including Charge-Parity and Time-Reversal violation, neutrino decay and decoherence effects, as well as multi-messenger astrophysics. The group has gained recognition for integrating concepts from high-energy physics and quantum information theory, an emerging interdisciplinary field with growing global significance.

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