Abstract: Cosmological observables show a dependence with the neutrino mass, which is partially degenerate with parameters of extended models of gravity. We study and explore this degeneracy in Horndeski generalized scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Using forecasted cosmic microwave background and galaxy power spectrum datasets, we find that a single parameter in the linear regime of the effective theory dominates the correlation with the total neutrino mass. For any given mass, a particular value of this parameter approximately cancels the power suppression due to the neutrino mass at a given redshift. The extent of the cancellation of this degeneracy depends on the cosmological large-scale structure data used at different redshifts. We constrain the parameters and functions of the effective gravity theory and determine the influence of gravity on the determination of the neutrino mass from present and future surveys.

Abstract: We compute a new generation of standard solar models (SSMs) that includes recent updates on some important nuclear reaction rates and a more consistent treatment of the equation of state. Models also include a novel and flexible treatment of opacity uncertainties based on opacity kernels, required in. light of recent theoretical and experimental works on radiative opacity. Two large sets of SSMs, each based on a different canonical set of solar abundances with high and low metallicity (Z), are computed to determine model uncertainties and correlations among different observables. We present detailed comparisons of high-and low-Z models against different ensembles of solar observables,. including solar neutrinos, surface helium abundance, depth of the. convective envelope, and sound speed profile. A global comparison, including all observables, yields a p-value of 2.7 sigma for the high-Z model and 4.7 sigma for the low-Z one. When the sound speed differences in the narrow region of 0.65 < r/R-circle dot < 0.70 are excluded from the analysis, results are 0.9 sigma and 3.0 sigma for high-and low-Z models respectively. These results show that. high-Z models agree well with solar data but have a systematic problem right below the bottom of the convective envelope linked to steepness of molecular weight and temperature gradients, and that low-Z models lead to a much more general disagreement with solar data. We also show that, while simple parametrizations of opacity uncertainties can strongly alleviate the solar abundance problem, they are insufficient to substantially improve the agreement of SSMs with helioseismic data beyond that obtained for high-Z models due to the intrinsic correlations of theoretical predictions.

Abstract: Massive neutrinos demand to ask whether they are Dirac or Majorana particles. Majorana neutrinos are an irrefutable proof of physics beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinoless double electron capture is not a process but a virtual Delta L = 2 mixing between a parent (A)Z atom and a daughter (A)(Z – 2) excited atom with two electron holes. As a mixing between two neutral atoms and the observable signal in terms of emitted two-hole X-rays, the strategy, experimental signature and background are different from neutrinoless double beta decay. The mixing is resonantly enhanced for almost degeneracy and, under these conditions, there is no irreducible background from the standard two-neutrino channel. We reconstruct the natural time history of a nominally stable parent atom since its production either by nature or in the laboratory. After the time periods of atom oscillations and the decay of the short-lived daughter atom, at observable times the relevant 'stationary" states are the mixed metastable long-lived state and the non-orthogonal short-lived excited state, as well as the ground state of the daughter atom. We find that they have a natural population inversion which is most appropriate for exploiting the bosonic nature of the observed atomic transitions radiation. Among different observables of the atom Majorana mixing, we include the enhanced rate of stimulated X-ray emission from the long-lived metastable state by a high-intensity X-ray beam: a gain factor of 100 can be envisaged at current XFEL facilities. On the other hand, the historical population of the daughter atom ground state can be probed by exciting it with a current pulsed optical laser, showing the characteristic absorption lines: the whole population can be excited in a shorter time than typical pulse duration.

Abstract: We calculate neutrino emissivities from self-annihilating dark matter (DM) (chi) in the dense and hot stellar interior of a (proto)neutron star. Using a model where DM interacts with nucleons in the stellar core through a pseudoscalar boson (a) we find that the neutrino production rates from the dominant reaction channels chi -> nu(nu) over bar or chi chi -> aa, with subsequent decay of the mediator a -> nu(nu) over bar, could locally match and even surpass those of the standard neutrinos from the modified nuclear URCA processes at early ages. We find that the emitting region can be localized in a tiny fraction of the star (less than a few percent of the core volume) and the process can last its entire lifetime for some cases under study. We discuss the possible consequences of our results for stellar cooling in light of existing DM constraints.

Abstract: Astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, such as binary neutron star and black hole mergers or core-collapse supernovae, can drive relativistic outflows, giving rise to non-thermal high-energy emission. High-energy neutrinos are signatures of such outflows. The detection of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos from common sources could help establish the connection between the dynamics of the progenitor and the properties of the outflow. We searched for associated emission of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical transients with minimal assumptions using data from Advanced LIGO from its first observing run O1, and data from the ANTARES and IceCube neutrino observatories from the same time period. We focused on candidate events whose astrophysical origins could not be determined from a single messenger. We found no significant coincident candidate, which we used to constrain the rate density of astrophysical sources dependent on their gravitational-wave and neutrino emission processes.