Atomic ionization by sterile-to-active neutrino conversion and constraints on dark matter sterile neutrinos with germanium detectors
Name
PhysRevD.93.093012.pdf
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Author(s)
Chen, Jiunn-Wei
Chi, Hsin-Chang
Lin, Shin-Ted
Liu, C.-P.
Singh, Lakhwinder
Wong, Henry T.
Wu, Chih-Liang
Wu, Chih-Pan
Date Issued
May 2016
Journal
Physical Review D
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Citation
Hsin-Chang Chi, Shin-Ted Lin, C.-P. Liu, Lakhwinder Singh,
Henry T. Wong, Chih-Liang Wu, and Chih-Pan Wu. "Atomic ionization by sterile-to-active neutrino conversion and constraints on dark matter sterile neutrinos with germanium detectors." Phys. Rev. D 93, 093012 (2016).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The transition magnetic moment of a sterile neutrino can give rise to its conversion to an active neutrino through radiative decay or nonstandard interaction (NSI) with matter. For sterile neutrinos of keV-mass as dark matter candidates, their decay signals are actively searched for in cosmic x-ray spectra. In this work, we consider the NSI that leads to atomic ionization, which can be detected by direct dark matter experiments. It is found that this inelastic scattering process for a nonrelativistic sterile neutrino has a pronounced enhancement in the differential cross section at energy transfer about half of its mass, manifesting experimentally as peaks in the measurable energy spectra. The enhancement effects gradually smear out as the sterile neutrino becomes relativistic. Using data taken with low-threshold low-background germanium detectors, constraints on sterile neutrino mass and its transition magnetic moment are derived and compared with those from astrophysical observations.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.093012
