We explore the parameter space of a variant of the SLIM model, which extends the SM with a singlet and a doublet of complex scalars and two generations of right-handed neutrinos, the lightest of which has a mass in the MeV to GeV region and plays the role of Dark Matter candidate. We impose the current collider and astrophysical constrains, as well as bounds from Lepton Flavour Violating experiments. We also consider the discovery potential in the XENON experiment exploiting the electron recoil as a possible direct detection signal. Despite the DM in this model being leptophilic, the predicted cross sections are too low due to the heavy charged mediator.
Recently a model has been proposed that links dark matter and neutrino masses. The dark matter candidate which is dubbed as SLIM has a mass of MeV scale and can show up at low energy experiments. The model also has a high energy sector which consists of a scalar doublet, $(ϕ^-, ϕ^0)$. We discuss the potential of the LHC for discovering the new scalars. We focus on the $ϕ^+ϕ^-$ and $ϕ^{\pm} ϕ^0$ production and the subsequent decay of the charged scalar to a charged lepton and the SLIM which appears as missing energy. Identifying the background, we estimate the signal significance and find that …
Recently a minimalistic scenario has been developed to explain dark matter and tiny but nonzero neutrino masses. In this scenario, a new scalar called SLIM plays the role of the dark matter. Neutrinos achieve Majorana mass through a one-loop diagram. This scenario can be realized for both real and complex SLIM. Simultaneously explaining the neutrino mass and dark matter abundance constrains the scenario. In particular for real SLIM, an upper bound of a few MeV on the masses of the new particles and a lower bound on their coupling are obtained which make the scenario testable. The low energy sc…
We study neutrinos gravitationally scattered off a rotating supermassive black hole which is surrounded by a thin accretion disk with a realistic magnetic field. Neutrinos are supposed to be Dirac particles having a nonzero magnetic moment. Neutrinos move along arbitrary trajectories, with the incoming flux being parallel to the equatorial plane. We exactly account for the influence of both gravity and the magnetic field on the neutrino motion and its spin evolution. The general statement that the helicity of an ultrarelativistic neutrino is constant in the particle scattering in an arbitrary …
We consider the radiative generation of neutrino mass through the interactions of neutrinos with MeV dark matter. We construct a realistic renormalizable model with one scalar doublet and one complex singlet together with three light singlet Majorana fermions, all transforming under a dark U(1) symmetry which breaks softly to Z_2. We study in detail the scalar sector which supports this specific scenario and its rich phenomenology.
Characteristic patterns of cosmic neutrino spectrum reported by the IceCube collaboration and long-standing inconsistency between theory and experiment in muon anomalous magnetic moment are simultaneously explained by an extra leptonic force mediated by a gauge field with a mass of the MeV scale. With different assumptions for redshift distribution of cosmic neutrino sources, diffuse neutrino flux is calculated with the scattering between cosmic neutrino and cosmic neutrino background through the new leptonic force. Our analysis sheds light on a relation among lepton physics at the three diffe…
A supersymmetric model which naturally accommodates MeV tau neutrino within the framework of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking is described. The lepton number violation is originally introduced in the messenger sector of the theory. A large slepton-Higgs mixing mass and a small lepton-higgsino mixing mass are generated at one-loop. Scalar tau neutrino has non-vanishing vacuum expectation value. These result in a non-zero ν_τ mass which is in the range of (1-10) MeV.
The effect of Majorana neutrinos in the MeV mass range on the double beta decay of various isotopes is studied on pure phenomenological arguments. By using only experimental half life data, limits on the mixing parameter $U_{eh}^2$ of the order 10$^{-7}$ can be derived. Also the possible achievements of upcoming experiments and some consequences are outlined.
If the cosmological limits on the sum of the neutrino masses are taken seriously we have first measurements of the masses of the neutrinos. Using the Planck experiment's limit $\sum_{i=1}^3{m_i} < 230 ~meV$ and some simple assumptions on measurement uncertainties the mass of the heaviest neutrino is $63\pm11 ~meV$ and the lightest $40\pm18 ~meV$ for either hierarchy.
The MiniBooNE collaboration has reported an excess of $460.5\pm 95.8$ electron-like events ($4.8σ$). We propose an explanation of these events in terms of a sterile neutrino decaying into a photon and a light neutrino. The sterile neutrino has a mass around 250 MeV and it is produced from kaon decays in the proton beam target via mixing with the muon or the electron in the range $10^{-11} \lesssim |U_{\ell 4}|^2 \lesssim 10^{-7}$ ($\ell = e,μ$). The model can be tested by considering the time distribution of the events in MiniBooNE and by looking for single-photon events in running or upcoming…
Annihilation of dark matter particles accumulated in the Sun would produce a flux of high-energy neutrinos whose prospects of detection in neutrino telescopes and detectors have been extensively discussed in the literature. However, for annihilations into Standard Model particles, there would also be a flux of neutrinos in the MeV range from the decays at rest of muons and positively charged pions. These low-energy neutrinos have never been considered before and they open the possibility to also constrain dark matter annihilation in the Sun into e+e-, mu+mu- or light quarks. Here we perform a …
An anomaly in the time behaviour of the signals observed by the KARMEN Collaboration may be interpreted as the possible decay signature of a 33.9 MeV/c$^2$ mainly sterile neutrino. This note discusses the parameter space still open for the mixing of this hypothetical particle with the neutrinos of known leptonic flavour, considering the experimental results which became available recently, as well as those to be expected from forthcoming measurements. It is concluded that if no positive signature is observed, the envisaged laboratory experiments are not expected to close enterily the parameter…
In this note, we analyze various constraints on the ``visible'' decay modes of a massive $τ$ neutrino, $ν_τ\rightarrowν^\prime\,γ$ and $ν_τ\rightarrowν^\prime\, e^+ e^-$, where $ν^\prime$ is a light neutrino. The BEBC beam dump experiment provides model-independent constraints on these modes. The lifetime for the $ν^\prime\, e^+e^-$ mode is constrained to be $τ_{ν^\prime\, e^+e^-} \ge 0.18~(m_{ν_τ}/MeV)~sec.$ We point out that the same experiment implies a similar constraint on the $ν^\prime\,γ$ mode. This results in a new upper limit on the transition magnetic moment of $ν_τ$, $μ_{\rm tran} \…
Adding right-handed neutrinos to the Standard Model is a natural and simple extension and is well motivated on both the theoretical and the experimental side. We extend the Standard Model by adding only one right-handed Majorana neutrino and study the sensitivity of the Near Detector of the DUNE experiment to the new physics parameters, namely the mixing parameters $|U_{e 4}|^2$ and $|U_{μ4}|^2$ and the mass $m_N$. The study relies on searches of the products of right-handed neutrino decays, which is possible thanks to an extremely intense beam and a state-of-the-art detection technology. This…
Present experimental data from neutrino oscillations have provided much information about the neutrino mixing angles. Since neutrino oscillations only determine the mass squared differences $Δm^2_{ij} = m^2_i - m^2_j$, the absolute values for neutrino masses $m_i$ can not be determined using data just from oscillations. In this work we study implications on neutrino masses from a geometric mean mass relation $m_2=\sqrt{m_1 m_3}$ which enables one to determined the absolute masses of the neutrinos. We find that the central values of the three neutrino masses and their $2σ$ errors to be $m_1 = (…
The existence of light sterile neutrinos in the eV mass range with relatively large mixing angles with the active neutrinos has been proposed for a variety of reasons, including to improve the fit to the LSND and MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation experiments, and reactor disappearance experiments. In ref. Phys. Rev. D 84, 053001 (2011), it was shown that neutrino mixing with a heavier sterile neutrino, in the mass range between 33 eV and several GeV, could significantly affect and improve the agreement between neutrino oscillation models with light sterile neutrinos and short baseline experimenta…
Nearly-sterile neutrinos with masses in the MeV range and below would be produced in the beam of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab. In this article, we study the potential for SBN to discover these particles through their subsequent decays in its detectors. We discuss the decays which will be visible at SBN in a minimal and non-minimal extension of the Standard Model, and perform simulations to compute the parameter space constraints which could be placed in the absence of a signal. We demonstrate that the SBN program can extend existing bounds on well constrained channels …
The influence of a massive Majorana tau-neutrino on primordial nucleosynthesis is rigorously calculated. The system of three integro-differential kinetic equations is solved numerically for the tau-neutrino mass in the interval from 0 to 20 MeV. It is found that the usual assumption of kinetic equilibrium is strongly violated and non-equilibrium corrections considerably amplify the effect. Even a very weak restriction from nucleosynthesis, allowing for one extra massless neutrino species, permits to conclude that m_ν_τ< 1 MeV. For a stricter bound, e.g. for dN < 0.3, the limit is m_ν_τ< 0.35 M…
Limits at 90 % c.l. on the square of the mixing strength |U_tau4|^2 between nu_tau and a mostly isosinglet heavy neutrino with mass in the range 10-290 MeV/c^2 are reported. The results were derived using the negative result of a search for neutral particles decaying into two electrons conducted by the CHARM collaboration in a neutrino beam dump experiment. Upper limits ~10^-4 were obtained for neutrino masses larger than 160 MeV/c^2.
The meV frontier of neutrinoless double beta decay in the JUNO era
INFN Sezione di Roma Tre（罗马第三大学INFN分部）；SISSA/INFN（的里雅斯特国际高等研究学校/意大利国家核物理研究所）；Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo（东京大学 Kavli宇宙粒子与天体物理前沿研究中心（WPI））；Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences（保加利亚科学院核研究与核能研究所）
A theoretical structure that involves neutrino mass eigenstates at non relativistic as well as relativistic energies is presented. Using this framework, we find that if the particle X, with mass 33.9 MeV, of the KARMEN collaboration anomaly is identified with the third neutrino mass eigenstate, then the present limit of 23 MeV upper bound on the tau neutrino mass implies |U_{τ3}| < 0.82.
We revise the bounds on heavy sterile neutrinos, especially in the case of their mixing with muon neutrinos in the charged current. We summarize the present experimental limits, and we reanalyze the existing data from the accelerator neutrino experiments and from Super-Kamiokande to set new bounds on a heavy sterile neutrino in the range of masses from 8 MeV to 390 MeV. We also discuss how the future accelerator neutrino experiments can improve the present limits.
Recently, the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has updated the results with increased data and reported an excess of $560.6 \pm 119.6$ electronlike events ($4.7σ$) in the neutrino operation mode. In this paper, we propose a scenario to account for the excess where a Dirac-type sterile neutrino, produced by a charged kaon decay through the neutrino mixing, decays into a leptophilic axionlike particle ($\ell$ALP) and a muon neutrino. The electron-positron pairs produced from the $\ell$ALP decays can be interpreted as electronlike events provided that their opening angle is sufficiently small. In…
Assuming that neutrinos are Majorana particles, in a three generation framework, current and future neutrino oscillation experiments can determine six out of the nine parameters which fully describe the structure of the neutrino mass matrix. We try to clarify the interplay among the remaining parameters, the absolute neutrino mass scale and two CP violating Majorana phases, and how they can be accessed by future neutrinoless double beta ($0νββ$) decay experiments, for the normal as well as for the inverted order of the neutrino mass spectrum. Assuming the oscillation parameters to be in the ra…
Here we consider faster-than-light neutrinos having $m_ν^2=-0.38$ $keV^2$ as the explanation of the Mont Blanc burst. It is shown that the Mont Blanc burst is consistent with the distinctive signature of that explanation i.e., an 8 MeV antineutrino line from SN 1987A. It is further shown that a model of core collapse supernovae involving dark matter particles of mass 8 MeV would in fact yield an 8 MeV antineutrino line. Moreover, that dark matter model predicts 8 MeV $ν,\barν$ and $e^+e^-$ pairs from the galactic center, a place where one would expect large amounts of dark matter to collect. T…
We take another look at ``Just-So'' solar neutrino oscillations, characterizing them by the energy $E_{π/2}$ at which the distance-varying angle is $π/2$, instead of the usual $Δm^2$. The rising spectrum recently observed by SuperKamiokande is consistent with $E_{π/2}\sim$ 6-9 MeV and marginally with 48 MeV. The pp neutrinos must then be reduced to one-half the standard solar model prediction, and $^7$Be neutrinos must make up a significant part of the SAGE and GALLEX gallium signal. For $E_{π/2}$ close to 9 and 48 MeV, the $^7$Be neutrinos will also show a large seasonal variation, emphasizin…
The emission of $\MeV$-mass tau neutrinos from newly formed neutron stars is considered in a simple, but accurate, model based upon the diffusion approximation. The tau-neutrinosphere temperature is found to increase with mass so that emission of massive tau neutrinos is not suppressed by the Boltzmann factor previously used, $(\mnu /T_ν)^{1.5}\exp(-\mnu/T_ν)$, where $T_ν\sim 4\MeV -8\MeV$. If the tau neutrino decays to electron neutrinos, then for short lifetimes ($\taunu\la10^{-3}\sec$) the location of both the tau and electron neutrinospheres can be affected, and, for very short lifetimes (…
Both cosmology and astrophysics suggest the possible existence of sterile neutrino which is a dark matter candidate. The interaction of sterile neutrinos with matter in keV energy scale has been studied in the literature. In this paper we study the interaction of sterile neutrinos with atoms and their role on ionization of atoms in MeV and GeV energy scale. We also study the interaction of sterile neutrinos with nuclei in the MeV and GeV energy scale. We obtain the relevant cross sections for both these two interactions. Finally we compare our results with the results of keV energy range.
We propose a universal form for quark and lepton mass matrices, which applies in a ``leading order'' approximation where $CP$-violating phases are ignored. Down-quark mass ratios are successfully predicted in our scheme using the measured CKM mixing angles as input. Assuming an additional discrete symmetry in the neutrino sector, we obtain the ``golden ratio'' pattern in the leading-order PMNS mixing matrix; in addition we predict an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy with $m_1\simeq m_2 \simeq74 meV$, $m_3\simeq 55 meV$, and neutrinoless double beta decay mass parameter $m_{0νββ}\simeq 33~ meV$…
In this paper we reconsider recently derived bounds on $MeV$ tau neutrinos, taking into account previously unaccounted for effects. We find that, assuming that the neutrino life-time is longer than $O(100~sec)$, the constraint $N_{eff}<3.6$ rules out $ν_τ$ masses in the range $0.5~(MeV)<m_{ν_τ}<35~(MeV)$ for Majorana neutrinos and $0.74~(MeV)<m_{ν_τ}<35~(MeV)$ for Dirac neutrinos. Given that the present laboratory bound is 35 MeV, our results lower the present bound to $0.5$ and $0.74$ for Majorana and Dirac neutrinos respectively.
In this paper, we emphasize why it is important for future neutrinoless double-beta ($0νββ$) decay experiments to reach the sensitivity to the effective neutrino mass $|m^{}_{ββ}| \approx 1~{\rm meV}$. Assuming such a sensitivity and the precisions on neutrino oscillation parameters after the JUNO experiment, we fully explore the constrained regions of the lightest neutrino mass $m^{}_1$ and two Majorana-type CP-violating phases $\{ρ, σ\}$. The implications for the neutrino mass spectrum, the effective neutrino mass $m^{}_β$ in beta decays and the sum of three neutrino masses $Σ\equiv m^{}_1 +…
If annihilating MeV-scale dark matter particles are responsible for the observed 511 keV emission from the Galactic bulge, then new light gauge bosons which mediate the dark matter annihilations may have other observable consequences. In particular, if such a gauge boson exists and has even very small couplings to Standard Model neutrinos, cosmic neutrinos with ~TeV energies will scatter with the cosmic neutrino background through resonant exchange, resulting in a distinctive spectral absorption line in the high-energy neutrino spectrum. Such a feature could potentially be detected by future h…
It is commonly assumed that the cosmological and astrophysical bounds on the mixings of sterile with active neutrinos are much more stringent than those obtained from laboratory measurements. We point out that in scenarios with a very low reheating temperature T_RH << 100 MeV at the end of (the last episode of) inflation or entropy creation, the abundance of sterile neutrinos becomes largely suppressed with respect to that obtained within the standard framework. Thus, in this case cosmological bounds become much less stringent than usually assumed, allowing sterile neutrinos to be ``visible'' …
Averaged neutrino masses defined by $\la m_ν\ra_{ab} \equiv\left| \sum_{j=1}^{3}U_{aj}U_{bj}m_j\right|$ ($a,b=e,μ,τ$) are reanalyzed using up-to-date observed MNS parameters and neutrino masses by the neutrino oscillation experiments together with the cosmological constraint on neutrino masses. The values of $\la m_ν\ra_{ab}$ are model-independently evaluated in terms of effective neutrino mass defined by $\overline{m_ν}\equiv\left(\sum |U_{ej}|^2m_j^2\right)^{1/2}$ which is observable in the single beta decay. We obtain lower bound for $\langle m_ν\rangle_{ee}$ in the inverted hierarchy(IH) c…
We study the effect of the MeV-scale asymmetric dark matter annihilation on the effective number of neutrinos $N_{\rm eff}$ at the epoch of the big bang nucleosynthesis. If the asymmetric dark matter $χ$ couples more strongly to the neutrinos $ν$ than to the photons $γ$ and electrons $e^-$, $Γ_{χγ, χe} \ll Γ_{χν}$, or $Γ_{χγ, χe} \gg Γ_{χν}$, the lower mass limit on the asymmetric dark matter is about $18$ MeV for $N_{\rm eff}\simeq 3.0$.
We compute the nucleosynthesis bounds on the masses of stable Dirac and Majorana neutrinos by solving an evolution equation network comprising of all neutrino species which in the Dirac case includes different helicity states as separate species. We will not commit ourselves to any particular value of the nucleosynthesis bound on effective number of light neutrino degrees of freedom $N_ν$, but present all our mass bounds as {\em functions} of $\dNu$. For example, we find that the excluded region in the mass of a Majorana $μ$- or $τ$- neutrino, $0.31$ MeV $< m_ν^M < 52$ MeV corresponding to a b…
General neutrino-scalar couplings appear in many extensions of Standard Model. We can probe these neutrino-scalar couplings by leptonic decay of mesons and from heavy neutrino search. Our analysis improves the present limits to $|g_e|^2<1.9\times 10^{-6}$ and $|g_μ|^2<1.9\times 10^{-7}$ at 90\% C.L. for massless scalars. For massive scalars we found for the first time the constraints for $g^2_α$ couplings to be $10^{-6}-10^{-1}$ respectively for scalar masses between below 1 MeV and for 300 MeV.
The exotic singlet fermions $χ$, with a mass $m_χ\lesssim 50$ MeV, could be produced at the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) experiments through the $ν{\mathcal N} \rightarrow χ{\mathcal N}$ process. Due to the coherent enhancement, it offers a unique way to study how $χ$ interacts with the Standard Model (SM) sector. Based on the most general dimension-6 effective Lagrangian, we perform a comprehensive study on the relevant interaction between $χ$ and the SM sector. From the current and future COHERENT and future CONUS experiments, we obtain the upper bounds on the Wilso…
The primordial abundance of long-lived heavy Majorana neutrinos is calculated from the full Boltzmann equation. Inclusion of scattering reactions drastically change the predicted abundance of a heavy neutrino species. This loosens the well known mass constraint on MeV neutrinos from Big Bang nucleosynthesis, and allows for the existence of a Majorana tau neutrino with mass m > 11 MeV. Further experimental efforts are therefore needed to investigate the range 11 MeV < m < 24 MeV. Some interesting cosmological consequences of an MeV nu_tau are also pointed out.
The existence of light sterile neutrinos, as predicted in several models, can help to explain a number of observations starting from dark mater to recent anomalies in short baseline experiments. In this paper we consider two models - Left-Right Symmetric Zee model and Extended Seesaw model, that can naturally accommodate the presence of light sterile neutrinos in the eV to MeV mass scale. We perform a detailed study on the neutrinoless double beta decay process which receives major contributions from diagrams involving these light sterile neutrinos. Considering a number of theoretical and expe…
We study possible contributions of heavy sterile neutrinos $ν_h$ to the decays $τ^-\to e^{\pm}(μ^{\pm})π^{\mp}π^-$. From the experimental upper bounds on their rates we derive new constraints on the $ν_h-ν_τ$ mixing in the mass region $140.5{MeV}\leq m_{ν_h}\leq 1637$ MeV. We discuss cosmological and astrophysical status of $ν_h$ in this mass region and compare our constraints with those recently derived by the NOMAD collaboration.
Recently an upper bound on the rate of the lepton number violating decay $K^+\to μ^+μ^+π^-$ has been significantly reduced by the E865 experiment at BNL and further improvement is expected in the near future. We study this process as a possible source of information on neutrino masses and mixings. We find that it is insensitive to the light(eV domain) and heavy(GeV domain) neutrinos. However due to the effect of a resonant enhancement this decay is very sensitive to neutrinos $ν_j$ in the mass region $245{MeV}\leq m_{ν_j}\leq 389$ MeV. At present experimental sensitivity we deduce new stringen…
We revisit a singlet Majoron model in which neutrino masses arise from the spontaneous violation of lepton number. If the Majoron obtains a mass of order MeV, it can play the role of dark matter. We discuss constraints on the couplings of the massive Majoron with masses of order MeV to neutrinos from supernova data. In the dense supernova core, Majoron-emitting neutrino annihilations are allowed and can change the signal of a supernova. Based on the observation of SN1987A, we exclude a large range of couplings from the luminosity and the deleptonization arguments, taking the effect of the back…
Dark matter and neutrinos provide the two most compelling pieces of evidence for new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics but they are often treated as two different sectors. In this paper, we consider how neutrino observables can be used to constrain the parameter space of different models where active neutrinos interact with DM via mediators of different spins. We study for the first time the sensitivity of the Hyper-Kamiokande detector to neutrinos produced from MeV Dark Matter annihilation. In particular, we find that thermally produced DM candidates with masses between 15…
The Super-Kamiokande (SK) and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiments are monitoring the flux of B solar neutrinos through the electron energy spectrum from the reactions nu_{e,mu,tau} + e --> nu_{e,mu,tau} + e and nu_e + d --> p + p + e, respectively. We show that the SK detector response to B neutrinos in each bin of the electron energy spectrum (above 8 MeV) can be approximated, with good accuracy, by the SNO detector response in an appropriate electron energy range (above 5.1 MeV). For instance, the SK response in the bin [10,10.5] MeV is reproduced (``equalized'') within 2 perc…
Thermal relics lighter than an MeV contribute to the energy density of the universe at the time of nucleosynthesis and recombination. Constraints on extra radiation degrees of freedom typically exclude even the simplest of such dark sectors. We explore the possibility that a sub-MeV dark sector entered equilibrium with the Standard Model after neutrino-photon decoupling, which significantly weakens these constraints and naturally arises in the context of neutrino mass generation through the spontaneous breaking of lepton number. Acquiring an adequate dark matter abundance independently motivat…
We investigate how sterile neutrinos with a range of masses influence cosmology in MeV-scale reheating temperature scenarios. By computing the production of sterile neutrinos through the combination of mixing and scattering in the early Universe, we find that light sterile neutrinos, with masses and mixings as inferred from short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, are consistent with big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation for the reheating temperature of ${\cal O}(1)$ MeV if the parent particle responsible for reheating decays into electromagneti…
Light cold dark matter consisting of weakly interacting slim (or sub-eV) particles (WISPs) has been in the focus of a large number of studies made over the past two decades. The QCD axion and axion-like particles with masses in the $0.1\,μ$eV--$100\,$meV are strong candidates for the dark matter particle, together with hidden photons with masses below $\lesssim 100\,$meV. This motivates several new initiatives in the field, including the WISP Dark Matter eXperiment (WISPDMX) and novel conceptual approaches for broad-band WISP searches using radiometry measurements in large volume chambers. Fir…
In the near future, the neutrinoless double-beta ($0νββ$) decay experiments will hopefully reach the sensitivity of a few ${\rm meV}$ to the effective neutrino mass $|m^{}_{ββ}|$. In this paper, we tentatively examine the sensitivity of future $0νββ$-decay experiments to neutrino masses and Majorana CP phases by following the Bayesian statistical approach. Provided experimental setups corresponding to the sensitivity of $|m^{}_{ββ}| \simeq 1~{\rm meV}$, the null observation of $0νββ$ decays in the case of normal neutrino mass ordering leads to a very competitive bound on the lightest neutrino …
We consider an extension of the Standard Model by two right-handed neutrinos, especially with masses lighter than charged $K$ meson. This simple model can realize the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses and also the baryogenesis by flavor oscillations of right-handed neutrinos. We summarize the constraints on right-handed neutrinos from direct searches as well as the big bang nucleosynthesis. It is then found that the possible range for the quasi-degenerate mass of right-handed neutrinos is $M_N \geq 163 \MeV$ for normal hierarchy of neutrino masses, while $M_N = 188 \text{--} 269 \MeV$ and $…
We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model with two singlet scalar fields and three heavy right-handed neutrinos. One of the scalar fields serves as an MeV scale dark matter and its stability is ensured by the introduction of an extra $Z_2$ symmetry. The second scalar (which is even under the $Z_2$ symmetry) generates the mass term of the scalar, contributes to the $3 \rightarrow 2$ annihilation process required for the correct relic density of the dark matter and it also contributes to the leptogenesis. The right-handed neutrinos are responsible for the generation of light neutrino …
We consider the possibility of having a MeV right-handed neutrino as a dark matter constituent. The initial reason for this study was the 511 keV spectral line observed by the satellite experiment INTEGRAL: could it be due to an interaction between dark matter and baryons? Independently of this, we find a number of constraints on the assumed right-handed interactions. They arise in particular from the measurements by solar neutrino experiments. We come to the conclusion that such particles interactions are possible, and could reproduce the peculiar angular distribution, but not the rate of the…
