Search for the radiative decay of the cosmic neutrino background through spectral measurements of the cosmic infrared background using PRIMA

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Takeuchi, Yuji, Matsuura, Shuji, Kim, Shinhong, Iida, Takashi
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909752856936448
author Takeuchi, Yuji
Matsuura, Shuji
Kim, Shinhong
Iida, Takashi
author_facet Takeuchi, Yuji
Matsuura, Shuji
Kim, Shinhong
Iida, Takashi
contents We propose to search for a faint yet distinguishable contribution to the cosmic infrared background (CIB) spectrum arising from the radiative decay of the cosmic neutrino background (C$ν$B). In the Standard Model of particle physics, neutrino decay is highly suppressed, with a predicted lifetime on the order of $10^{43}$ years. However, non-standard models suggest the possibility of significantly shorter lifetimes, ranging from $10^{12}$ to $10^{17}$ years. Observations to date, however, only provide a lower limit of approximately $10^{12}$ years for the neutrino lifetime. In PRIMA's low-resolution mode ($R \sim 100$), a diffuse background analysis, combined with the removal of point sources associated with known galaxies in a wide-field ($\sim 1$ square degree) spectroscopic survey covering in the 24-240 $μ$m range could facilitate a search for neutrino decay lifetimes up to $O(10^{15})$ years. The expected signal from C$ν$B decay at 50 $μ$m for a neutrino lifetime of $O(10^{15})$ years is more than an order of magnitude fainter than the CIB and over three orders of magnitude fainter than the zodiacal emission foreground. Taking advantage of the characteristic spectral features of C$ν$B decay, this level of sensitivity can be achieved with approximately 100 hours of total observation time, based on estimated surface brightness sensitivity. Searching for neutrino decay at this sensitivity could place strong constraints on several non-standard theories. A positive detection would provide compelling evidence for non-standard contributions to neutrino decay and could directly reveal the cosmic neutrino background. Furthermore, the decay photon spectrum could offer insights into the absolute mass of neutrinos, and key cosmological parameters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_18590
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Search for the radiative decay of the cosmic neutrino background through spectral measurements of the cosmic infrared background using PRIMA
Takeuchi, Yuji
Matsuura, Shuji
Kim, Shinhong
Iida, Takashi
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Experiment
We propose to search for a faint yet distinguishable contribution to the cosmic infrared background (CIB) spectrum arising from the radiative decay of the cosmic neutrino background (C$ν$B). In the Standard Model of particle physics, neutrino decay is highly suppressed, with a predicted lifetime on the order of $10^{43}$ years. However, non-standard models suggest the possibility of significantly shorter lifetimes, ranging from $10^{12}$ to $10^{17}$ years. Observations to date, however, only provide a lower limit of approximately $10^{12}$ years for the neutrino lifetime. In PRIMA's low-resolution mode ($R \sim 100$), a diffuse background analysis, combined with the removal of point sources associated with known galaxies in a wide-field ($\sim 1$ square degree) spectroscopic survey covering in the 24-240 $μ$m range could facilitate a search for neutrino decay lifetimes up to $O(10^{15})$ years. The expected signal from C$ν$B decay at 50 $μ$m for a neutrino lifetime of $O(10^{15})$ years is more than an order of magnitude fainter than the CIB and over three orders of magnitude fainter than the zodiacal emission foreground. Taking advantage of the characteristic spectral features of C$ν$B decay, this level of sensitivity can be achieved with approximately 100 hours of total observation time, based on estimated surface brightness sensitivity. Searching for neutrino decay at this sensitivity could place strong constraints on several non-standard theories. A positive detection would provide compelling evidence for non-standard contributions to neutrino decay and could directly reveal the cosmic neutrino background. Furthermore, the decay photon spectrum could offer insights into the absolute mass of neutrinos, and key cosmological parameters.
title Search for the radiative decay of the cosmic neutrino background through spectral measurements of the cosmic infrared background using PRIMA
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.18590