Neutrino forces and the Sommerfeld enhancement

Abstract

The Sommerfeld enhancement plays an important role in dark matter (DM) physics, and can significantly enhance the annihilation cross section of non-relativistic DM particles. In this paper, we study the effect of neutrino forces, which are generated by the exchange of a pair of light neutrinos, on the Sommerfeld enhancement. We demonstrate that in certain cases, a neutrino force can cause a significant correction to the Sommerfeld enhancement. Models that can realise DM-neutrino interactions and sizeable Sommerfeld enhancement are also briefly discussed, together with the impacts on DM phenomenology of neutrino forces.