Probing late neutrino mass properties with supernova neutrinos

Abstract

Models of late-time neutrino mass generation contain new interactions of the cosmic background neutrinos with supernova relic neutrinos (SRNs). Exchange of an on-shell light scalar may lead to significant modification of the differential SRN flux observed at earth. We consider an Abelian U(1) model for generating neutrino masses at low scales, and show that there are cases for which the changes induced in the flux allow one to distinguish the Majorana or Dirac nature of neutrinos, as well as the type of neutrino mass hierarchy (normal or inverted or quasi-degenerate).In some region of parameter space the determination of the absolute values of the neutrino masses is also conceivable. Measurements of the presence of these effects may be possible at the next-generation water Cerenkov detectors enriched with Gadolinium, or a 100 kton liquid argon detector.

The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background

“…Above, it is assumed that there is no variation in the supernova neutrino emission among different progenitor stars, which follows from the core-collapse criterion for massive stars and how supernova neutrino mixing effects work (both conditions are discussed in Section 4.2). It is also assumed that nothing except redshifting happens to the neutrinos between the supernovae and Earth because obscuration is always negligible, the neutrino mass eigenstates that propagate do not oscillate, and no exotic effects are expected [but such can be tested (19)(20)(21)(22)]. These are realistic assumptions at the precision of the expected counts and energy resolution, and they can be generalized with appropriate averages.…”

Cosmic neutrino spectrum and the muon anomalous magnetic moment in the gaugedLμ−Lτmodel

“…An attractive candidate for explanation is an attenuation process driven by an unknown interaction between the high-energy cosmic neutrino and the cosmic neutrino background (CrB). This type of interaction, the secret neutrino interaction [10], has been discussed particularly in the context of cosmology and astrophysics [11][12][13][14][15][16]. In this work, we introduce the gauged f/(l) leptonic interaction associated with the muon number minus the tau number Lfl -Lr, which is anomaly free within the Standard Model (SM) particle contents [17,18] and can naturally explain the large atmospheric mixing [19][20][21][22].…”

Cosmic neutrino cascades from secret neutrino interactions

“…[31,32] as well as the simplified treatment of regeneration considered in Refs. [13,14]. We improve upon these by using the propagation equation to describe the interaction of a neutrino beam with the CνB in the presence of strong νSI.…”

“…For very heavy mediators, one can use an effective theory to study the phenomenology of a class of models [6][7][8][9]. In between, the mediator mass is more moderate, and could induce resonances [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. In some models, the neutrinos also interact with dark matter [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”