Axion-assisted production of sterile neutrino dark matter
Sterile neutrinos can be generated in the early universe through oscillations with active neutrinos and represent a popular and well-studied candidate for our universe's dark matter. Stringent constraints from X-ray and gamma-ray line searches, however, have excluded the simplest of such models. In this letter, we propose a novel alternative to the standard scenario in which the mixing angle between the sterile and active neutrinos is a dynamical quantity, induced through interactions with a light axion-like field. As the energy density of the axion-like particles is diluted by Hubble expansion, the degree of mixing is reduced at late times, suppressing the decay rate and easily alleviating any tension with X-ray or gamma-ray constraints. We present a simple model which illustrates the phenomenology of this scenario, and also describe a framework in which the QCD axion is responsible for the production of sterile neutrinos in the early universe.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1331769
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB--16-423-A; SLAC-PUB--16838; arXiv:1610.03849; 1491919
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review D, Journal Name: Physical Review D Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 95; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 2470-0010
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
| Thermalizing sterile neutrino dark matter | text | January 2017 |
Thermalizing Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
|
journal | December 2017 |
Self-interacting sterile neutrino dark matter: The heavy-mediator case
|
journal | July 2019 |
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