Magnetic Moments of Astrophysical Neutrinos

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kopp, Joachim, Opferkuch, Toby, Wang, Edward
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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author Kopp, Joachim
Opferkuch, Toby
Wang, Edward
author_facet Kopp, Joachim
Opferkuch, Toby
Wang, Edward
contents We study the impact of neutrino magnetic moments on astrophysical neutrinos, in particular supernova neutrinos and ultra-high energy neutrinos from extragalactic sources. We show that magnetic moment-induced conversion of left-handed neutrinos into unobservable right-handed singlet states can substantially change the flux and flavour composition of these neutrinos at Earth. Notably, neutrinos from a supernova's neutronisation burst, whose flux can be predicted with O(10%) accuracy, offer a discovery reach to neutrino magnetic moments $\sim \text{few} \times 10^{-13} μ_B$, up to one order of magnitude below current limits. For high-energy neutrinos from distant sources, for which no robust flux prediction exists, we show how the flavour composition at Earth can be used as a handle to establish the presence of non-negligible magnetic moments, potentially down to $\text{few} \times 10^{-17} μ_B$ if the measurement can be performed on neutrinos from a single source. In both cases, the sensitivity strongly depends on the galactic resp. intergalactic magnetic field profiles along the line of sight. Therefore, while a discovery is possible down to very small values of the magnetic moment, the absence of a discovery does not imply an equally strong limit. We also comment on the dependence of our results on the right-handed neutrino mass, paying special attention to the transition from coherent deflection by a classical magnetic field to incoherent scattering on individual scattering targets. Finally, we show that a measurement of Standard Model Dirac neutrino magnetic moments, of order $10^{-19} μ_B$, could be possible under rather optimistic, but not completely outrageous, assumptions using flavour ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2212_11287
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetic Moments of Astrophysical Neutrinos
Kopp, Joachim
Opferkuch, Toby
Wang, Edward
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We study the impact of neutrino magnetic moments on astrophysical neutrinos, in particular supernova neutrinos and ultra-high energy neutrinos from extragalactic sources. We show that magnetic moment-induced conversion of left-handed neutrinos into unobservable right-handed singlet states can substantially change the flux and flavour composition of these neutrinos at Earth. Notably, neutrinos from a supernova's neutronisation burst, whose flux can be predicted with O(10%) accuracy, offer a discovery reach to neutrino magnetic moments $\sim \text{few} \times 10^{-13} μ_B$, up to one order of magnitude below current limits. For high-energy neutrinos from distant sources, for which no robust flux prediction exists, we show how the flavour composition at Earth can be used as a handle to establish the presence of non-negligible magnetic moments, potentially down to $\text{few} \times 10^{-17} μ_B$ if the measurement can be performed on neutrinos from a single source. In both cases, the sensitivity strongly depends on the galactic resp. intergalactic magnetic field profiles along the line of sight. Therefore, while a discovery is possible down to very small values of the magnetic moment, the absence of a discovery does not imply an equally strong limit. We also comment on the dependence of our results on the right-handed neutrino mass, paying special attention to the transition from coherent deflection by a classical magnetic field to incoherent scattering on individual scattering targets. Finally, we show that a measurement of Standard Model Dirac neutrino magnetic moments, of order $10^{-19} μ_B$, could be possible under rather optimistic, but not completely outrageous, assumptions using flavour ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.
title Magnetic Moments of Astrophysical Neutrinos
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.11287