• Open Access

Cosmology-friendly time-varying neutrino masses via the sterile neutrino portal

Guo-yuan Huang, Manfred Lindner, Pablo Martínez-Miravé, and Manibrata Sen
Phys. Rev. D 106, 033004 – Published 9 August 2022

Abstract

We investigate a consistent scenario of time-varying neutrino masses, and discuss its impact on cosmology, beta decay, and neutrino oscillation experiments. Such time-varying masses are assumed to be generated by the coupling between a sterile neutrino and an ultralight scalar field, which in turn affects the light neutrinos by mixing. We demonstrate how various cosmological bounds, such as those coming from big bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, as well as large scale structures, can be evaded in this model. This scenario can be further constrained using multiple terrestrial experiments. In particular, for beta-decay experiments like KATRIN, nontrivial distortions to the electron spectrum can be induced, even when time-variation is fast and it gets averaged. Furthermore, the presence of time-varying masses of sterile neutrinos will alter the interpretation of light sterile neutrino parameter space in the context of the reactor and gallium anomalies. In addition, we also study the impact of such time-varying neutrino masses on results from the BEST collaboration, which have recently strengthened the gallium anomaly. If confirmed, we find that the time-varying neutrino mass hypothesis could give a better fit to the recent BEST data.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
2 More
  • Received 2 June 2022
  • Accepted 19 July 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.033004

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Guo-yuan Huang1,*, Manfred Lindner1,†, Pablo Martínez-Miravé2,‡, and Manibrata Sen1,§

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2Departament de Física Teórica, Universitat de València, and Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC-Universitat de València, 46980 Paterna, Spain

  • *guoyuan.huang@mpi-hd.mpg.de
  • manfred.lindner@mpi-hd.mpg.de
  • pamarmi@ific.uv.es
  • §manibrata@mpi-hd.mpg.de

Article Text

Click to Expand

References

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 3 — 1 August 2022

Reuse & Permissions
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

×

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×