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This study investigates how secret neutrino self-interactions could affect the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB), a cumulative signal from all stellar core-collapse events throughout cosmic history. Researchers modeled how DSNB neutrinos might interact with the cosmic neutrino background through scalar-mediated interactions, finding that these interactions would create distinctive spectral patterns that depend on neutrino flavor coupling and mass ordering. The analysis shows that next-generation neutrino detectors like JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande, and DUNE could probe these interactions at coupling strengths as small as 10^-8 for mediator masses around 100-300 eV, improving sensitivity by several orders of magnitude over existing constraints.
Why it matters
If detected, these measurements would provide the first flavor-specific constraints on new neutrino physics and could reveal fundamental interactions beyond the Standard Model. Unlike current cosmological bounds that are flavor-blind, DSNB observations would enable scientists to identify which neutrino flavors participate in these secret interactions, offering unique insights into particle physics at energy scales inaccessible to terrestrial experiments.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
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Abstract: The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB), an isotropic flux arising from the cumulative neutrino emission of all stellar core-collapse events throughout cosmic history, is expected to be detected by next-generation neutrino observatories. As DSNB neutrinos propagate over cosmological distances through the cosmic neutrino background (C$nu$B), they may undergo non-standard neutrino self-interactions ($nu$SI), leaving distinct spectral imprints on the observed flux. In this work, we investigate the impact of scalar ($phi$)-mediated $nu$SI on the DSNB within a full three-flavor framework that retains the complete PMNS structure. We consider four representative flavor-diagonal coupling structures–universal, $e$-, $mu$-, and $tau$-specific. The resonant scattering $nu_inu_ktophitonu_jnu_l$ off the lightest, relativistic C$nu$B state produces broad spectral depletion whose pattern depends on the coupling structure and the neutrino mass ordering, generating distinctive signatures across the six flavor fluxes. We compute the resulting event spectra at JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande with gadolinium loading, and DUNE, and derive projected $3sigma$ sensitivities in the $(m_{phi},~g)$ parameter plane. We find that these experiments can probe couplings as low as $gsim10^{-8}$ for $m_phisim100$–$300$ eV, surpassing existing bounds by up to a few orders of magnitude in the sub-100 eV mass range. Moreover, unlike the flavor-blind cosmological and supernova bounds, the DSNB sensitivity is flavor-discriminating, offering a unique opportunity to identify the underlying flavor structure of $nu$SI in the event of a detection.
Source: Diffuse Supernova Neutrinos with Secret Neutrino Interactions