Best-case scenarios for neutrino capture experiments

Autor(en)

Kyrylo Bondarenko, Alexey Boyarsky, Josef Pradler, Anastasia Sokolenko

Abstrakt

A direct discovery of the cosmic neutrino background would bring to a closure the searches for relic left-over radiation predicted by the Hot Big Bang cos- mology. Recently, the KATRIN experiment put a limit on the local relic neutrino overdensity with respect to the cosmological predicted average value at η ≲ 1011 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 011806 (2022)]. In this work, we first examine to what ex- tent such values of η are conceivable. We show that even under cavalier assumptions, a cosmic origin of η ≳ 104 seems out of reach (with the caveat of forming bound objects under a new force,) but find that a hypothetical local source of low-energy neutrinos could achieve η ∼ 1011. Second, when such values are considered, we point out that the experimental signature in KATRIN and other neutrino-capture experi- ments changes, contrary to what has hitherto been assumed. Our results are model- independent and maximally accommodating as they only assume the Pauli exclusion principle. As intermittent physics target in the quest for CνB detection, we identify an experimental sensitivity to η ∼ 104 for which conceivable sources exist; to resolve the effect of a degenerate Fermi gas for such overdensity an energy resolution of 10 meV is required.

Organisation(en)

Teilchenphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Università degli Studi di Trieste, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Leiden University, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), University of Chicago

Journal

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Band

2023

Anzahl der Seiten

15

ISSN

1475-7516

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2023/10/026

Publikationsdatum

10-2023

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103036 Theoretische Physik, 103041 Astroteilchenphysik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/dac71190-6f92-431f-b3a1-1600d753143d