Phasing out of Darkness: From Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter to Neutrino Masses via Time-Dependent Mixing
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2024
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| _version_ | 1866909596259450880 |
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| author | Goertz, Florian Hager, Maya Laverda, Giorgio Rubio, Javier |
| author_facet | Goertz, Florian Hager, Maya Laverda, Giorgio Rubio, Javier |
| contents | Sterile neutrinos are a compelling candidate for generating neutrino masses and for elucidating the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical X-ray constraints on sterile neutrino dark matter decays, however, largely exclude the active-sterile mixing required to produce simultaneously the correct left-handed neutrino spectrum and keV-scale right-handed neutrino dark matter within a type-I seesaw framework. In this study, we demonstrate how these X-ray constraints can be circumvented through a time-dependent approach, thereby reviving a broad range of active-sterile mixing scenarios. Our minimal model incorporates two right-handed neutrinos, which form a two-component dark matter candidate, and an auxiliary scalar field that experiences a very late and still ongoing phase transition, leading to the spontaneous breaking of a global $ U(1)_N $ symmetry. Prior to this phase transition, only the right-handed neutrinos are massive, while the left-handed neutrinos remain massless because of the scalar field's vanishing expectation value. As the phase transition develops, the growing expectation value of the scalar field increases the active-sterile mixing, thereby opening dark matter decay channels and inducing neutrino masses. The time dependence allows the scenario to be consistent with X-ray constraints as well as current measurements of left-handed neutrino masses. The anticipated level of active-sterile mixing today is within the detection capabilities of the forthcoming TRISTAN (KATRIN) tritium-beta decay project. Additionally, cosmological surveys such as DESI or EUCLID and supernova neutrino observations can test the prediction of massless left-handed neutrinos prior to the phase transition. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_04778 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Phasing out of Darkness: From Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter to Neutrino Masses via Time-Dependent Mixing Goertz, Florian Hager, Maya Laverda, Giorgio Rubio, Javier High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment Sterile neutrinos are a compelling candidate for generating neutrino masses and for elucidating the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical X-ray constraints on sterile neutrino dark matter decays, however, largely exclude the active-sterile mixing required to produce simultaneously the correct left-handed neutrino spectrum and keV-scale right-handed neutrino dark matter within a type-I seesaw framework. In this study, we demonstrate how these X-ray constraints can be circumvented through a time-dependent approach, thereby reviving a broad range of active-sterile mixing scenarios. Our minimal model incorporates two right-handed neutrinos, which form a two-component dark matter candidate, and an auxiliary scalar field that experiences a very late and still ongoing phase transition, leading to the spontaneous breaking of a global $ U(1)_N $ symmetry. Prior to this phase transition, only the right-handed neutrinos are massive, while the left-handed neutrinos remain massless because of the scalar field's vanishing expectation value. As the phase transition develops, the growing expectation value of the scalar field increases the active-sterile mixing, thereby opening dark matter decay channels and inducing neutrino masses. The time dependence allows the scenario to be consistent with X-ray constraints as well as current measurements of left-handed neutrino masses. The anticipated level of active-sterile mixing today is within the detection capabilities of the forthcoming TRISTAN (KATRIN) tritium-beta decay project. Additionally, cosmological surveys such as DESI or EUCLID and supernova neutrino observations can test the prediction of massless left-handed neutrinos prior to the phase transition. |
| title | Phasing out of Darkness: From Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter to Neutrino Masses via Time-Dependent Mixing |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.04778 |