Electromagnetic Radiation from Cosmic-Ray Scatterings on Relic Neutrinos

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Herrera, Gonzalo, Loeb, Abraham
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Herrera, Gonzalo
Loeb, Abraham
author_facet Herrera, Gonzalo
Loeb, Abraham
contents Cosmic-ray scatterings on the cosmic neutrino background induce a flux of gamma-rays and X-rays from boosted meson decays and charged lepton processes. Here we present the first estimate of this flux and its cumulative cosmological contribution. Confronting expectations with Fermi-LAT diffuse gamma-ray data, we find a limit on the cosmic neutrino background overdensity at the level of $η\lesssim 2 \times 10^{4}$ for a lightest neutrino mass of $m_ν\gtrsim0.1$ eV, orders of magnitude stronger than current direct laboratory probes, and comparable to constraints on the cosmic neutrino background obtained with IceCube. We further show that X-ray synchrotron emission from cascade electron-positron pairs in intergalactic magnetic fields provides a complementary, albeit weaker, constraint. We discuss how anisotropic signatures and future gamma-ray data from CTA could further improve bounds on the relic neutrino overdensity, approaching in sensitivity the $Λ$CDM expected density.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_20255
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Electromagnetic Radiation from Cosmic-Ray Scatterings on Relic Neutrinos
Herrera, Gonzalo
Loeb, Abraham
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmic-ray scatterings on the cosmic neutrino background induce a flux of gamma-rays and X-rays from boosted meson decays and charged lepton processes. Here we present the first estimate of this flux and its cumulative cosmological contribution. Confronting expectations with Fermi-LAT diffuse gamma-ray data, we find a limit on the cosmic neutrino background overdensity at the level of $η\lesssim 2 \times 10^{4}$ for a lightest neutrino mass of $m_ν\gtrsim0.1$ eV, orders of magnitude stronger than current direct laboratory probes, and comparable to constraints on the cosmic neutrino background obtained with IceCube. We further show that X-ray synchrotron emission from cascade electron-positron pairs in intergalactic magnetic fields provides a complementary, albeit weaker, constraint. We discuss how anisotropic signatures and future gamma-ray data from CTA could further improve bounds on the relic neutrino overdensity, approaching in sensitivity the $Λ$CDM expected density.
title Electromagnetic Radiation from Cosmic-Ray Scatterings on Relic Neutrinos
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.20255