Coito, L., Faubel, C., Herrero-Garcia, J., Santamaria, A., & Titov, A. (2022). Sterile neutrino portals to Majorana dark matter: effective operators and UV completions. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 085–36pp.
Abstract: Stringent constraints on the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model suggest that dark matter does not take part in gauge interactions. In this regard, the possibility of communicating between the visible and dark sectors via gauge singlets seems rather natural. We consider a framework where the dark matter talks to the Standard Model through its coupling to sterile neutrinos, which generate active neutrino masses. We focus on the case of Majorana dark matter, with its relic abundance set by thermal freeze-out through annihilations into sterile neutrinos. We use an effective field theory approach to study the possible sterile neutrino portals to dark matter. We find that both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating operators are possible, yielding an interesting connection with the Dirac/Majorana character of active neutrinos. In a second step, we open the different operators and outline the possible renormalisable models. We analyse the phenomenology of the most promising ones, including a particular case in which the Majorana mass of the sterile neutrinos is generated radiatively.
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Arbelaez, C., Cepedello, R., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., & Kovalenko, S. (2022). How many 1-loop neutrino mass models are there? J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 023–29pp.
Abstract: It is well-known that at tree-level the d = 5 Weinberg operator can be generated in exactly three different ways, the famous seesaw models. In this paper we study the related question of how many phenomenologically consistent 1-loop models one can construct at d=5. First, we discuss that there are two possible classes of 1-loop neutrino mass models, that allow avoiding stable charged relics: (i) models with dark matter candidates and (ii) models with “exits”. Here, we define “exits” as particles that can decay into standard model fields. Considering 1-loop models with new scalars and fermions, we find in the dark matter class a total of (115+203) models, while in the exit class we find (38+368) models. Here, 115 is the number of DM models, which require a stabilizing symmetry, while 203 is the number of models which contain a dark matter candidate, which maybe accidentally stable. In the exit class the 38 refers to models, for which one (or two) of the internal particles in the loop is a SM field, while the 368 models contain only fields beyond the SM (BSM) in the neutrino mass diagram. We then study the RGE evolution of the gauge couplings in all our 1-loop models. Many of the models in our list lead to Landau poles in some gauge coupling at rather low energies and there is exactly one model which unifies the gauge couplings at energies above 10(15) GeV in a numerically acceptable way.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Alves, S., Calvo, D., Carretero, V., Gozzini, R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2022). Search for solar atmospheric neutrinos with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 018–17pp.
Abstract: Solar Atmospheric Neutrinos (SA nu s) are produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with the solar medium. The detection of SA nu s would provide useful information on the composition of primary cosmic rays as well as the solar density. These neutrinos represent an irreducible source of background for indirect searches for dark matter towards the Sun and the measurement of their flux would allow for a better assessment of the uncertainties related to these searches. In this paper we report on the analysis performed, based on an unbinned likelihood maximisation, to search for SA nu s with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. After analysing the data collected over 11 years, no evidence for a solar atmospheric neutrino signal has been found. An upper limit at 90% confidence level on the flux of solar atmospheric neutrinos has been obtained, equal to 7x10(-11) [TeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1)] b at E-nu = 1 TeV for the reference cosmic ray model assumed.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Alves, S., Calvo, D., Carretero, V., Gozzini, R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2022). Search for secluded dark matter towards the Galactic Centre with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 028–20pp.
Abstract: Searches for dark matter (DM) have not provided any solid evidence for the existence of weakly interacting massive particles in the GeV-TeV mass range. Coincidentally, the scale of new physics is being pushed by collider searches well beyond the TeV domain. This situation strongly motivates the exploration of DM masses much larger than a TeV. Secluded scenarios contain a natural way around the unitarity bound on the DM mass, via the early matter domination induced by the mediator of its interactions with the Standard Model. High-energy neutrinos constitute one of the very few direct accesses to energy scales above a few TeV. An indirect search for secluded DM signals has been performed with the ANTARES neutrino telescope using data from 2007 to 2015. Upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section for DM masses up to 6 PeV are presented and discussed.
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Figueroa, D. G., Raatikainen, S., Rasanen, S., & Tomberg, E. (2022). Implications of stochastic effects for primordial black hole production in ultra-slow-roll inflation. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 027–48pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of stochastic noise on the generation of primordial black hole (PBH) seeds in ultra-slow-roll (USR) inflation with numerical simulations. We consider the non-linearity of the system by consistently taking into account the noise dependence on the inflaton perturbations, while evolving the perturbations on the coarse-grained background affected by the noise. We capture in this way the non-Markovian nature of the dynamics, and demonstrate that non-Markovian effects are subleading. Using the Delta N formalism, we find the probability distribution P(R) of the comoving curvature perturbation R. We consider inflationary potentials that fit the CMB and lead to PBH dark matter with i) asteroid, ii) solar, or iii) Planck mass, as well as iv) PBHs that form the seeds of supermassive black holes. We find that stochastic effects enhance the PBH abundance by a factor of O(10)-O(10(8)), depending on the PBH mass. We also show that the usual approximation, where stochastic kicks depend only on the Hubble rate, either underestimates or overestimates the abundance by orders of magnitude, depending on the potential. We evaluate the gauge dependence of the results, discuss the quantum-to-classical transition, and highlight open issues of the application of the stochastic formalism to USR inflation.
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