We study the kinetic cooling (heating) of old neutron stars due to coherent scattering with relic neutrinos (sterile neutrino dark matter) via Standard Model neutral-current interactions. We take into account several important physical effects, such as gravitational clustering, coherent enhancement, neutron degeneracy and Pauli blocking. We find that the anomalous cooling of nearby neutron stars due to relic neutrino scattering might actually be observable by current and future telescopes operating in the optical to near-infrared frequency band, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), provided there is a large local relic overdensity that is still allowed. Similarly, the anomalous heating of neutron stars due to coherent scattering with keV-scale sterile neutrino dark matter, could also be observed by JWST or future telescopes, which would probe hitherto unexplored parameter space in the sterile neutrino mass-mixing plane.
In this paper, we calculate the relic abundance of the dark matter particles when they can annihilate into sterile neutrinos with the mass $\lesssim 100 \text{ GeV}$ in a simple model. Unlike the usual standard calculations, the sterile neutrino may fall out of the thermal equilibrium with the thermal bath before the dark matter freezes out. In such a case, if the Yukawa coupling $y_N$ between the Higgs and the sterile neutrino is small, this process gives rise to a larger $Ω_{\text{DM}} h^2$ so we need a larger coupling between the dark matter and the sterile neutrino for a correct relic abun…
Both active and sterile sub-eV neutrinos can form the cosmic neutrino background in the early Universe. We consider the beta-decaying (e.g., $^3$H) and EC-decaying (e.g., $^{163}$Ho) nuclei as the promising targets to capture relic neutrinos in the laboratory. We calculate the capture rates of relic electron neutrinos and antineutrinos against the corresponding beta decay or electron capture (EC) decay backgrounds in the (3+$N_{\rm s}$) flavor mixing scheme, and discuss the future prospect in terms of the PTOLEMY project. We stress that such direct measurements of hot DM might not be hopeless …
In a model with an extra $U(1)$ gauge to SM gauge group, we have shown the allowed region of masses of extra gauge boson and the dark matter which is the lightest one among other right-handed Majorana fermions present in the model. To obtain this region, we have used bounds coming from constraints on active-sterile neutrino masses and mixing from various oscillation experiments, constraint on dark matter relic density obtained by PLANCK together with the constraint on the extra gauge boson mass and its gauge coupling recently obtained by ATLAS Collaboration at LHC. From the allowed regions, it…
We explore the implications of the existence of heavy neutral fermions (i.e., sterile neutrinos) for the thermal history of the early universe. In particular, we consider sterile neutrinos with rest masses in the 100 MeV to 500 MeV range, with couplings to ordinary active neutrinos large enough to guarantee thermal and chemical equilibrium at epochs in the early universe with temperatures T > 1 GeV, but in a range to give decay lifetimes from seconds to minutes. Such neutrinos would decouple early, with relic densities comparable to those of photons, but decay out of equilibrium, with conseque…
A relic lepton asymmetry orders of magnitude bigger than the baryon one may hide in the relic neutrino background. No direct theoretical or experimental limitations on its magnitude and sign are known. Indirect cosmological constraints exist ranging from $|L|<0.01$ to $L<10$. We discuss a BBN model with late electron-sterile neutrino oscillations which is a fine leptometer - it is capable of feeling extremely small relic lepton asymmetry - $|L|>10^{-8}$. This sensitivity is achieved through the influence of such small $L$ on the neutrino oscillations, suppressing or enhancing them, and thus ch…
Capturing low-energy electron antineutrinos on radioactive Ho-163 nuclei, which decay into Dy-163 via electron capture (EC), is a noteworthy opportunity to detect relic sterile antineutrinos. Such hypothetical particles are more or less implied by current experimental and cosmological data, and they might be a part of hot dark matter or a candidate for warm dark matter in the Universe. Using the isotope Ho-163 as a target and assuming reasonable active-sterile antineutrino mixing angles, we calculate the capture rate of relic electron antineutrinos against the corresponding EC-decay background…
A laboratory detection of a sterile neutrino could provide the first indication of the evolution of the Universe before Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), an epoch yet untested. Such "visible" sterile neutrinos are observable in upcoming experiments such as KATRIN/TRISTAN and HUNTER in the keV mass range and PTOLEMY and others in the eV mass range. A set of standard assumptions is typically made about cosmology before the temperature of the Universe was 5 MeV. However, non-standard pre-BBN cosmologies based on alternative assumptions could arise in motivated theoretical models and are equally in …
A sterile neutrino with mass of several keV is a well-motivated dark-matter candidate, and it can also explain the observed velocities of pulsars via anisotropic emission of sterile neutrinos from a cooling neutron star. We discuss the interactions of such relic particles with matter and comment on the prospects of future direct detection experiments. A relic sterile neutrino can interact, via sterile-active mixing, with matter fermions by means of electroweak currents, with the final state containing a relativistic active neutrino. The recoil momentum impacted onto a matter fermion is determi…
Novel neutrino self-interaction can open up viable parameter space for the relic abundance of sterile-neutrino dark matter (S$ν$DM). In this work, we constrain the relic target using core-collapse supernova which features the same fundamental process and a similar environment to the early universe era when S$ν$DM is dominantly produced. We present a detailed calculation of the effects of a massive scalar mediated neutrino self-interaction on the supernova cooling rate, including the derivation of the thermal potential in the presence of non-zero chemical potentials from plasma species. Our res…
We study the effects of kination and scalar-tensor pre-Big Bang Nucleosynthesis cosmologies on the non-resonant production of sterile neutrinos. We show that if the peak of the production rate of sterile neutrinos occurs during the non-standard cosmological phase, the relic number density of sterile neutrinos could be reduced with respect to the number expected in the standard cosmology. Consequently, current bounds on active-sterile neutrino mixing derived from the relic energy density of sterile neutrinos could be greatly relaxed. In particular, we show that the sterile neutrinos which could…
In this article we propose a class of extremely light feebly interacting massive particle, FI$m$Ps. They are combination of feebly interacting massive particle with scale invariance, by which DM stability, mass origin and relic density are inherently related. In the scale invariant version of the Standard Model (SM) with three right-handed neutrinos ($ν$SISM), the lightest $N_1$ realizes the FI$m$P scenario. In this example scalar singlets, which are intrinsic to the $ν$SISM, generate mass and relic density for this FI$m$P simultaneously. Moreover, they are badly needed for electroweak symmetr…
The discovery of neutrino masses suggests the likely existence of gauge singlet fermions that participate in the neutrino mass generation via the seesaw mechanism. The masses of the corresponding degrees of freedom can range from well below the electroweak scale to the Planck scale. If some of the singlet fermions are light, the sterile neutrinos appear in the low-energy effective theory. They can play an important role in astrophysics and cosmology. In particular, sterile neutrinos with masses of several keV can account for cosmological dark matter, which can be relatively warm or cold, depen…
The discovery of neutrino masses implies the existence of new particles, the sterile neutrinos. These particles can have important implications for cosmology and astrophysics. A sterile neutrino with mass of a few keV can account for the dark matter of the universe. Its relic abundance can be produced via different mechanisms. A minimal extension of the Higgs sector of the Standard Model, with a gauge-singlet boson coupled to sterile neutrinos, can provide a consistent framework for the theory of neutrino masses, and can produce relic keV sterile neutrinos via decays of the singlet Higgs. This…
We solve coupled momentum-dependent Boltzmann equations for the phase space distribution of cosmic relic particles, without resorting to approximations of assuming kinetic equilibrium or neglecting backscattering or elastic interactions. Our method is amendable to precision numerical computations. To test it, we consider two benchmark models where the momentum dependence of dark matter distribution function is potentially important: a real singlet scalar extension near the Higgs resonance and a sterile neutrino dark matter model with a singlet scalar mediator. The singlet scalar example shows …
The noble-alkali comagnetometer, developed in recent years, has been shown to be a very accurate measuring device of anomalous magnetic-like fields. An ultra-light relic axion-like particle can source an anomalous field that permeates space, allowing for its detection by comagnetometers. Here we derive new constraints on relic axion-like particles interaction with neutrons and electrons from old comagnetometer data. We show that the decade-old experimental data place the most stringent terrestrial constraints to date on ultra-light axion-like particles coupled to neutrons. The constraints are …
We consider the possibility of the lightest sterile neutrino dark matter which has dipole interaction with heavier sterile neutrinos. The lifetime can be long enough to be a dark matter candidate without violating other constraints and the correct amount of relic abundance can be produced in the early Universe. We find that a sterile neutrino with the mass of around MeV and the dimension-five non-renormalisable dipole interaction suppressed by $Λ_5 \gtrsim 10^{15}$ GeV can be a good candidate of dark matter, while heavier sterile neutrinos with masses of the order of GeV can explain the active…
We present a model where sterile neutrinos with rest masses in the range ~ keV to ~ MeV can be the dark matter and be consistent with all laboratory, cosmological, large-scale structure, as well as x-ray constraints. These sterile neutrinos are assumed to freeze out of thermal and chemical equilibrium with matter and radiation in the very early Universe, prior to an epoch of prodigious entropy generation ("dilution") from out-of-equilibrium decay of heavy particles. In this work, we consider heavy, entropy-producing particles in the ~ TeV to ~ EeV rest-mass range, possibly associated with new …
We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model (SM) by a complex scalar doublet and a singlet along with three sterile neutrinos. The sterile neutrinos mix with the SM neutrinos to produce three light neutrino states consistent with the oscillation data and three heavy sterile states. The lightest sterile neutrino has lifetime longer than the age of the Universe and can provide correct dark matter relic abundance. Utilizing tree-level flavor changing interactions of a light scalar with mass~$\sim\mathcal{O}(100)$~MeV along with sterile neutrinos, we can explain the anomalous magnetic mom…
We show that active neutrino masses and a keV-GeV mass sterile neutrino dark matter candidate can result from a modified, low energy seesaw mechanism if right-handed neutrinos are charged under a new symmetry broken by a scalar field vacuum expectation value at the PeV scale. The dark matter relic abundance can be obtained through active-sterile oscillation, freeze-in through the decay of the heavy scalar, or freeze-in via non-renormalizable interactions at high temperatures. The low energy effective theory maps onto the widely studied nuMSM framework.
We study the mechanism of generation of 7 keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter (DM) in the model with light inflaton $χ$, which serves as a messenger of scale invariance breaking. In this model the inflaton, in addition to providing reheating to the Standard Model (SM) particles, decays directly into sterile neutrinos. The latter are responsible for the active neutrino oscillations via seesaw type I like formula. While the two sterile neutrinos may also produce the lepton asymmetry in the primordial plasma and hence explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, the third one being the lightest may…
While three flavors of "active" neutrinos are consistent with mixing angle results within error bars, there are anomalies may be hints of physics beyond the standard model that can accommodate a fourth mostly "sterile" neutrino species with an eV-scale mass and a mixing angle with active neutrinos of order $θ_0\simeq 0.1$. We describe a scenario with eV-scale sterile neutrinos that have self-interactions via a new gauge vector boson, a "secret" mediator $ϕ$. We show that their production in the early Universe via mixing with active neutrinos is consistent with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and free…
The self-interacting neutrino hypothesis is well motivated for addressing the tension between the origin of sterile neutrino dark matter and indirect detection constraints. It can also result in a number of testable signals from the laboratories to the cosmos. We explore a model of neutrino self-interaction mediated by a Majoron-like scalar with sub-MeV mass, and show that explaining the relic density of sterile neutrino dark matter implies a lower bound on the amount of extra radiation in early universe, in particular $ΔN_{\rm eff}>0.12$ at the CMB epoch. This lower bound will be further stre…
Sterile neutrinos with mass in the eV-scale and large mixings of order $θ_0\simeq 0.1$ could explain some anomalies found in short-baseline neutrino oscillation data. Here, we revisit a neutrino portal scenario in which eV-scale sterile neutrinos have self-interactions via a new gauge vector boson $ϕ$. Their production in the early Universe via mixing with active neutrinos can be suppressed by the induced effective potential in the sterile sector. We study how different cosmological observations can constrain this model, in terms of the mass of the new gauge boson, $M_ϕ$, and its coupling to s…
Sterile neutrinos have been invoked to explain the observed neutrino masses, but they can also have significant implications for cosmology and accelerator experiments. We explore the collider signatures of a simple extension of the Standard Model, where sterile neutrinos acquire their mass after electroweak symmetry breaking, via their coupling to a real singlet Higgs. In this model, heavy sterile neutrinos can be produced in accelerators from decays of the Higgs bosons. Their own decay can yield distinct signals, suggesting both the presence of an extended Higgs sector and the coupling of the…
Current cosmological data drop an interesting hint about the existence of sub-eV sterile neutrinos, which should be a part of the cosmic neutrino background (C$ν$B). We point out that such light sterile neutrinos may leave a distinct imprint on the electron energy spectrum in the capture of relic electron neutrinos by means of radioactive beta-decaying nuclei. We examine possible signals of sterile neutrinos relative to active neutrinos, characterized by their masses and sensitive to their number densities, in the reaction $ν^{}_e + ~^3{\rm H} \to ~^3{\rm He} + e^-$ against the corresponding t…
We consider a scenario where the dark matter candidate is a sterile neutrino with sizable self-interactions, described by a dimension-six operator, and with negligible interactions with the Standard Model. The relic abundance is set by the freeze-out of 4-to-2 annihilations in the dark sector plasma and reproduces the observed dark matter abundance when the sterile neutrino mass is in the range $\sim 500\,{\rm keV} - 20\,\,{\rm GeV}$. The feeble interactions with the Standard Model may lead to observable signals from dark matter decay. Furthermore, the self-interactions can affect the formatio…
We investigate the sensitivity of tritium $β$-decay experiments for keV-scale sterile neutrinos. Relic sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range can contribute both to the cold and warm dark matter content of the universe. This work shows that a large-scale tritium beta-decay experiment, similar to the KATRIN experiment that is under construction, can reach a statistical sensitivity of the active-sterile neutrino mixing of $\sin^2θ\sim 10^{-8}$. The effect of uncertainties in the known theoretical corrections to the tritium $β$-decay spectrum were investigated, and found not to affect the sensit…
We present up to date cosmological bounds on the sum of active neutrino masses as well as on extended cosmological scenarios with additional thermal relics, as thermal axions or sterile neutrino species. Our analyses consider all the current available cosmological data in the beginning of year 2014, including the very recent and most precise Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. In the minimal three active neutrino scenario, we find Sum m_nu < 0.22 eV at 95% CL from the combination of CMB, BAO and Hubble Space Telescope measurements of…
We point out a correlation between the effective number of relativistic degrees of species $ΔN_\text{eff}$, the cosmologically measured $m_{ν,\text{sterile}}^{\text{eff}}$, and the terrestrially measured neutrino mass sum and effective electron neutrino mass, $Σm_ν$ and $m_{ν_e}$, which arises in the Dirac neutrino hypothesis. If the neutrinos are Dirac particles, and if the active neutrinos' sterile partners were once thermalized in the early universe, then this new cosmological relic would simultaneously contribute to the effective number of relativistic species, $ΔN_\text{eff}$, and also le…
Resonantly produced sterile neutrinos are considered an attractive dark matter (DM) candidate only requiring a minimal, well motivated extension to the standard model of particle physics. With a particle mass restricted to the keV range, sterile neutrinos are furthermore a prime candidate for warm DM, characterised by suppressed matter perturbations at the smallest observable scales. In this paper we take a critical look at the validity of the resonant scenario in the context of constraints from structure formation. We compare predicted and observed number of Milky-Way satellites and we introd…
We explore the possibility of a single generation of $keV$ scale sterile neutrino ($m_S$) as a dark matter candidate within the minimal extended seesaw (MES) framework and it's influence in neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) study. Three hierarchical right-handed neutrinos were considered to explain neutrino mass. We also address baryogenesis via the mechanism of thermal leptogenesis considering the decay of the lightest RH neutrino to a lepton and Higgs doublet. A generic model based on $A_4\times Z_4\times Z_3$ flavor symmetry is constructed to explain both normal and inverted hierarchy…
Sterile neutrinos could provide a link between the Standard Model particles and a dark sector, besides generating active neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism type I. We show that, if dark matter annihilation into sterile neutrinos determines its observed relic abundance, it is possible to explain the Galactic Center $γ$-ray excess reported by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration as due to an astrophysical component plus dark matter annihilations. We observe that sterile neutrino portal to dark matter provides an impressively good fit, with a p-value of 0.78 in the best fit point, to the Galactic Ce…
