Viable secret neutrino interactions with ultralight dark matter
J. Cline. (2019)cite arxiv:1908.02278Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; submitted to PLB (not PRL).
Abstract
Several anomalies in neutrino oscillation experiments point to the existence
of a $1\,$eV sterile neutrino $\nu_s$ mixing with $\nu_e$ at the level of
$U_e40.1$, but such a neutrino is strongly disfavored by constraints on
additional light degrees of freedom ($N_eff$) and total neutrino
mass ($\sum_m_\nu$) from cosmology. ``Secret neutrino interactions'' that
have been invoked to suppress the cosmological production of $\nu_s$ typically
falter, but recently it was pointed out that $\nu_s$ could get a large mass in
the early universe by coupling to ultralight dark matter $\phi$, which can
robustly suppress its production. The model has essentially two free
parameters: $m_\phi$, and $m_s,0$, the mass of the sterile neutrino at early
times, enhanced by its coupling to $\phi$. I determine the parameter regions
allowed by limits on $N_eff$ and $\sum_m_\nu$ from the cosmic
microwave background and big bang nucleosynthesis, using a simplified yet
accurate treatment of neutrino oscillations in the early universe. This
mechanism could have an important impact on laboratory experiments that suggest
oscillations with sterile neutrinos.
Description
Viable secret neutrino interactions with ultralight dark matter
%0 Generic
%1 cline2019viable
%A Cline, James M.
%D 2019
%K dark interaction matter neutrino secret sterile
%T Viable secret neutrino interactions with ultralight dark matter
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1908.02278
%X Several anomalies in neutrino oscillation experiments point to the existence
of a $1\,$eV sterile neutrino $\nu_s$ mixing with $\nu_e$ at the level of
$U_e40.1$, but such a neutrino is strongly disfavored by constraints on
additional light degrees of freedom ($N_eff$) and total neutrino
mass ($\sum_m_\nu$) from cosmology. ``Secret neutrino interactions'' that
have been invoked to suppress the cosmological production of $\nu_s$ typically
falter, but recently it was pointed out that $\nu_s$ could get a large mass in
the early universe by coupling to ultralight dark matter $\phi$, which can
robustly suppress its production. The model has essentially two free
parameters: $m_\phi$, and $m_s,0$, the mass of the sterile neutrino at early
times, enhanced by its coupling to $\phi$. I determine the parameter regions
allowed by limits on $N_eff$ and $\sum_m_\nu$ from the cosmic
microwave background and big bang nucleosynthesis, using a simplified yet
accurate treatment of neutrino oscillations in the early universe. This
mechanism could have an important impact on laboratory experiments that suggest
oscillations with sterile neutrinos.
@preprint{cline2019viable,
abstract = {Several anomalies in neutrino oscillation experiments point to the existence
of a $\sim 1\,$eV sterile neutrino $\nu_s$ mixing with $\nu_e$ at the level of
$U_{e4}\cong 0.1$, but such a neutrino is strongly disfavored by constraints on
additional light degrees of freedom ($\delta N_{\rm eff}$) and total neutrino
mass ($\sum_\nu m_\nu$) from cosmology. ``Secret neutrino interactions'' that
have been invoked to suppress the cosmological production of $\nu_s$ typically
falter, but recently it was pointed out that $\nu_s$ could get a large mass in
the early universe by coupling to ultralight dark matter $\phi$, which can
robustly suppress its production. The model has essentially two free
parameters: $m_\phi$, and $m_{s,0}$, the mass of the sterile neutrino at early
times, enhanced by its coupling to $\phi$. I determine the parameter regions
allowed by limits on $\delta N_{\rm eff}$ and $\sum_\nu m_\nu$ from the cosmic
microwave background and big bang nucleosynthesis, using a simplified yet
accurate treatment of neutrino oscillations in the early universe. This
mechanism could have an important impact on laboratory experiments that suggest
oscillations with sterile neutrinos.},
added-at = {2019-08-07T06:05:22.000+0200},
author = {Cline, James M.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b33f20bb24b0d7357c5546198dc0f78d/bdasgupta},
description = {Viable secret neutrino interactions with ultralight dark matter},
interhash = {6197ba9f8cf7067c32d7ae7abf1929fe},
intrahash = {b33f20bb24b0d7357c5546198dc0f78d},
keywords = {dark interaction matter neutrino secret sterile},
note = {cite arxiv:1908.02278Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; submitted to PLB (not PRL)},
timestamp = {2019-08-07T06:05:22.000+0200},
title = {Viable secret neutrino interactions with ultralight dark matter},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1908.02278},
year = 2019
}