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Results for “COSMIC NEUTRINOS”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential

We study the physics potential of the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background via neutrino capture on tritium, taking the proposed PTOLEMY experiment as a case study. With the projected energy resolution of Δ ∼ 0.15 eV, the experiment will be sensitive to neutrino masses with degenerate spectrum, m{sub 1} ≅ m{sub 2} ≅ m{sub 3} = m{sub ν} ∼> 0.1 eV. These neutrinos are non-relativistic today; detecting them would be a unique opportunity to probe this unexplored kinematical regime. The signature of neutrino capture is a peak in the electron spectrum that is displaced by 2 m{sub ν} above the beta decay endpoint. The signal would exceed the background from beta decay if the energy resolution is Δ ∼< 0.7 m{sub ν} . Interestingly, the total capture rate depends on the origin of the neutrino mass, being Γ{sup D} ≅ 4 and Γ{sup M} ≅ 8 events per year (for a 100 g tritium target) for unclustered Dirac and Majorana neutrinos, respectively. An enhancement of the rate of up to O(1) is expected due to gravitational clustering, with the unique potential to probe the local overdensity of neutrinos. Turning to more exotic neutrino physics, PTOLEMY could be sensitive to a lepton asymmetry, and reveal the eV-scale sterile neutrino that is favored by short baseline oscillation searches. The experiment would also be sensitive to a neutrino lifetime on the order of the age of the universe and break the degeneracy between neutrino mass and lifetime which affects existing bounds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dark photons as fractional cosmic neutrino masquerader

Recently, Weinberg proposed a Higgs portal model with a spontaneously broken global U(1) symmetry in which Goldstone bosons may be masquerading as fractional cosmic neutrinos. We extend the model by gauging the U(1) symmetry. This gives rise to the so-called dark photon and dark Higgs. The dark photons can constitute about 0.912 (0.167) to the effective number of light neutrino species if they decouple from the thermal bath before the pions become non-relativistic and after (before) the QCD transition. Restriction on the parameter space of the portal coupling and the dark Higgs mass is obtained from the freeze-out condition of the dark photons. Combining with the collider data constraints on the invisible width of the standard model Higgs requires the dark Higgs mass to be less than a few GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Cosmic microwave background constraints on secret interactions among sterile neutrinos

Secret contact interactions among eV sterile neutrinos, mediated by a massive gauge boson X (with M X &NestedLessLess; M W ), and characterized by a gauge coupling gX, have been proposed as a mean to reconcile cosmological observations and short-baseline laboratory anomalies. We constrain this scenario using the latest Planck data on Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies, and measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). We consistently include the effect of secret interactions on cosmological perturbations, namely the increased density and pressure fluctuations in the neutrino fluid, and still find a severe tension between the secret interaction framework and cosmology. In fact, taking into account neutrino scattering via secret interactions, we derive our own mass bound on sterile neutrinos and find (at 95 % CL) m s < 0.82 eV or m s < 0.29 eV from Planck alone or in combination with BAO, respectively. These limits confirm the discrepancy with the laboratory anomalies. Moreover, we constrain, in the limit of contact interaction, the effective strength G X to be < 2.8 (2.0) × 10 10 G F from Planck (Planck+BAO). This result, together with the mass bound, strongly disfavours the region with M X ~ 0.1 MeV and relatively large coupling g X ~ 10 -1 , previously indicated as a possible solution to the small scale dark matter problem.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A tidal disruption event coincident with a high-energy neutrino

Cosmic neutrinos provide a unique window into the otherwise hidden mechanism of particle acceleration in astrophysical objects. The IceCube Collaboration recently reported the likely association of one high-energy neutrino with a flare from the relativistic jet of an active galaxy pointed towards the Earth. However a combined analysis of many similar active galaxies revealed no excess from the broader population, leaving the vast majority of the cosmic neutrino flux unexplained. Here we present the likely association of a radio-emitting tidal disruption event, AT2019dsg, with a second high-energy neutrino. AT2019dsg was identified as part of our systematic search for optical counterparts to high-energy neutrinos with the Zwicky Transient Facility. The probability of finding any coincident radio-emitting tidal disruption event by chance is 0.5%, while the probability of finding one as bright in bolometric energy flux as AT2019dsg is 0.2%. Our electromagnetic observations can be explained through a multizone model, with radio analysis revealing a central engine, embedded in a UV photosphere, that powers an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow. This provides an ideal site for petaelectronvolt neutrino production. Assuming that the association is genuine, our observations suggest that tidal disruption events with mildly relativistic outflows contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of the cosmic neutrino background on long-range force searches

Light bosons can mediate long-range forces. We show that light bosonic mediators interacting with a background medium, in particular, with the cosmic neutrino background (CνB), may induce medium-dependent masses which could effectively screen long-range forces from detection. This leads to profound implications for long-range force searches in e.g. the Eöt-Wash, MICROSCOPE, and lunar laser-ranging (LLR) experiments. For instance, we find that when the coupling of the mediator to neutrinos is above 3 × 10 −10 or 5 × 10 −13 , bounds from LLR and experiments employing the Sun as an attractor, respectively, would be entirely eliminated. Larger values of the coupling can also substantially alleviate bounds from searches conducted at shorter distances.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Imprints of light dark matter on the evolution of cosmic neutrinos

Neutrinos are often considered as a portal to new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) and might possess phenomenologically interesting interactions with dark matter (DM). Here, this paper examines the cosmological imprints of DM that interacts with and is produced from SM neutrinos at temperatures below the MeV scale. We take a model-independent approach to compute the evolution of DM in this framework and present analytic results which agree well with numerical ones. Both freeze-in and freeze-out regimes are included in our analysis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the thermal evolution of neutrinos might be substantially affected by their interaction with DM. We highlight two distinctive imprints of such DM on neutrinos: (i) a large, negative contribution to N eff , which is close to the current experimental limits and will readily be probed by future experiments; (ii) spectral distortion of the cosmic neutrino background (CνB) due to DM annihilating into neutrinos, a potentially important effect for the ongoing experimental efforts to detect CνB.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1985

Detection of 10 (10) GeV Cosmic Neutrinos with a Space Station

The potential value of SOCRAS (Space Observatory of Cosmic Ray Air Showers) for studying the highest energy cosmic rays, including the neutrinos produced in collisions of cosmic ray protons with photons of the 3 deg background radiation is examined. This instrument would look down at the atmosphere from a space station orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 500 to 600 km. During the night portion of each orbit, air showers would be imaged in the fluorescent light they produce. Progress toward the eventual realization of this scheme is described, including a suggestion by Torii for improving the vertical resolution, measurements of the terrestrial background light by Halverson, and especially an application of the LPM effect, expected to increase the sensitivity for upward moving neutrinos by several orders of magnitude.

Linsley, J.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Radio detection of ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos

Ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrino astronomy constitutes a new window of observation onto the UHE universe. The detection and characterization of astrophysical neutrinos at the highest energies (E> 10{sup 18} eV) would reveal the sources of high-energy cosmic rays, the highest energy particles ever seen, and would constrain the evolution of such sources over time. UHE neutrino astrophysics also allows us to probe weak interaction couplings at energies much greater than those available at particle colliders. One promising way of detecting the highest energy neutrinos is through the radio emission created when they interact in a large volume of dielectric, such as ice. Here I discuss current results and future efforts to instrument large volumes of detector material with radio antennas to detect, point back, and characterize the energy of UHE astrophysical neutrinos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2020

POEMMA’s Target-of-Opportunity Sensitivity to Cosmic Neutrino Transient Sources

We investigate the capability of the Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA)in performing Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) neutrino observations. POEMMA is a proposed space-based probe-class mission for ultra high-energy cosmic ray and very-high-energy neutrino detection using two spacecraft, each equipped with a large Schmidt telescope to detect optical and near-ultraviolet signals generated by extensive air showers (EASs). POEMMA will be sensitive to Cherenkov radiation from upward-moving EASs initiated by tau neutrinos interacting in the Earth. POEMMA will be able to quickly re-point (90◦in 500 s) each of the two spacecraft to the direction of an astrophysical source, which in combination with its orbital speed will provide it with unparalleled capability to follow up transient alerts. We calculate POEMMA’s transient sensitivity for two observational configurations for the satellites (ToO-stereo and ToO-dual for smaller and larger satellite separations, respectively) and investigate the impact of variations arising due to POEMMA’s orbital characteristics on its sensitivity to tau neutrinos in various regions of the sky. We explore separate scenarios for long (∼105−6s) and short (∼103s) duration events, accounting for intrusion from the Sun and the Moon in the long-duration scenario. We compare the sensitivity and sky coverage of POEMMA for ToO observations with those for existing experiments (e.g., IceCube, ANTARES, and the Pierre Auger Observatory) and other proposed future experiments (e.g., GRAND200k).For long bursts, we find that POEMMA will provide a factor of&7 improvement in average neutrino sensitivity above 300 PeV with respect to existing experiments, reaching the level of model predictions for neutrino fluences at these energies and above from several types of long-duration astrophysical transients (e.g., binary neutron star mergers and tidal disruption events). For short bursts, POEMMA will improve the sensitivity over existing experiments by at least an order of magnitude forEν∼>100 PeV in the “best-case” scenario. POEMMA’s orbital characteristics and rapid re-pointing capability will provide it access to the full celestial sky, including regions that will not be accessible to ground-based neutrino experiments. Finally, we discuss the prospects for POEMMA to detect neutrinos from candidate astrophysical neutrino sources in the nearby universe. Our results demonstrate that with its improved neutrino sensitivity at ultra-high energies and unique full-sky coverage, POEMMA will be an essential, complementary component in a rapidly expanding multi-messenger network.

Tonia M Venters↗
DOE OSTI2018

Differential limit on the extremely-high-energy cosmic neutrino flux in the presence of astrophysical background from nine years of IceCube data

We report a quasidifferential upper limit on the extremely-high-energy (EHE) neutrino flux above 5×10 6 GeV based on an analysis of nine years of IceCube data. The astrophysical neutrino flux measured by IceCube extends to PeV energies, and it is a background flux when searching for an independent signal flux at higher energies, such as the cosmogenic neutrino signal. We have developed a new method to place robust limits on the EHE neutrino flux in the presence of an astrophysical background, whose spectrum has yet to be understood with high precision at PeV energies. A distinct event with a deposited energy above 106 GeV was found in the new two-year sample, in addition to the one event previously found in the seven-year EHE neutrino search. These two events represent a neutrino flux that is incompatible with predictions for a cosmogenic neutrino flux and are considered to be an astrophysical background in the current study. The obtained limit is the most stringent to date in the energy range between 5×10 6 and 2×10 10 GeV. This result constrains neutrino models predicting a three-flavor neutrino flux of E$2\atop{ν}$φ ν$_e$ + ν$_μ$ + ν$_τ$ ≃2×10 -8 GeV/cm 2 sec sr at 10 9 GeV. Finally, a significant part of the parameter space for EHE neutrino production scenarios assuming a proton-dominated composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is disfavored independently of uncertain models of the extragalactic background light which previous IceCube constraints partially relied on.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as axions or sterile neutrinos) or gravitational waves. The gravitational effects of any such light relics can be observed through their unique imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the large-scale structure, and the primordial light element abundances, and are important in determining the initial conditions of the universe. We argue that future cosmological observations, in particular improved maps of the CMB on small angular scales, can be orders of magnitude more sensitive for probing the thermal history of the early universe than current experiments. These observations offer a unique and broad discovery space for new physics in the dark sector and beyond, even when its effects would not be visible in terrestrial experiments or in astrophysical environments. A detection of an excess light relic abundance would be a clear indication of new physics and would provide the first direct information about the universe between the times of reheating and neutrino decoupling one second later.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as axions or sterile neutrinos) or gravitational waves. The gravitational effects of any such light relics can be observed through their unique imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the large-scale structure, and the primordial light element abundances, and are important in determining the initial conditions of the universe. We argue that future cosmological observations, in particular improved maps of the CMB on small angular scales, can be orders of magnitude more sensitive for probing the thermal history of the early universe than current experiments. These observations offer a unique and broad discovery space for new physics in the dark sector and beyond, even when its effects would not be visible in terrestrial experiments or in astrophysical environments. A detection of an excess light relic abundance would be a clear indication of new physics and would provide the first direct information about the universe between the times of reheating and neutrino decoupling one second later.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗