Axion-assisted production of sterile neutrino dark matter

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.95.075017

Axion-assisted production of sterile neutrino dark matter

Journal Article · Wed Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physical Review D

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.075017· OSTI ID:1360757

^[1]; ^[2]

SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Enrico Fermi Inst.
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States). Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics; Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Kavli Inst. for Cosmological Physics (KICP)

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. Here in this paper, 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 axionlike field. As the energy density of the axionlike 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. Lastly, 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.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; AC02-07CH11359

OSTI ID:: 1360757

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1331769
OSTI ID: 1351688

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)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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