Lyα forest bounds on sterile neutrino production via neutrino self-interactions
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866914339609378816 |
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| author | Parashari, Priyank Gluscevic, Vera Zhang, Yue Bird, Simeon Ivanov, Mikhail M. He, Adam |
| author_facet | Parashari, Priyank Gluscevic, Vera Zhang, Yue Bird, Simeon Ivanov, Mikhail M. He, Adam |
| contents | Sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range have long been considered a well-motivated dark matter (DM) candidate. In this work, we explore a sterile neutrino production mechanism through active neutrino self-interactions in the early universe, assuming that they constitute the full DM abundance. We implement a self-consistent treatment of the sterile-neutrino free streaming and the active-neutrino self-interactions on structure formation, which yield a unique scale-dependent modification to the linear matter power spectrum. We then set bounds on this scenario using a combination of the cosmic microwave background and Ly$α$ forest constraints. Specifically, we utilize the two recent likelihoods derived from eBOSS data: (i) an effective field theory (EFT) based full-shape likelihood and (ii) a compressed likelihood obtained from the PRIYA-simulation emulator. We produce some of the most stringent observational constraints to date on sterile neutrino DM, comparable to the bounds from the most stringent laboratory constraints. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_17821 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Lyα forest bounds on sterile neutrino production via neutrino self-interactions Parashari, Priyank Gluscevic, Vera Zhang, Yue Bird, Simeon Ivanov, Mikhail M. He, Adam Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range have long been considered a well-motivated dark matter (DM) candidate. In this work, we explore a sterile neutrino production mechanism through active neutrino self-interactions in the early universe, assuming that they constitute the full DM abundance. We implement a self-consistent treatment of the sterile-neutrino free streaming and the active-neutrino self-interactions on structure formation, which yield a unique scale-dependent modification to the linear matter power spectrum. We then set bounds on this scenario using a combination of the cosmic microwave background and Ly$α$ forest constraints. Specifically, we utilize the two recent likelihoods derived from eBOSS data: (i) an effective field theory (EFT) based full-shape likelihood and (ii) a compressed likelihood obtained from the PRIYA-simulation emulator. We produce some of the most stringent observational constraints to date on sterile neutrino DM, comparable to the bounds from the most stringent laboratory constraints. |
| title | Lyα forest bounds on sterile neutrino production via neutrino self-interactions |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17821 |