Search

We argue that dielectric haloscopes like MADMAX, originally designed for detecting axion dark matter, are also very promising gravitational wave detectors. Operated in resonant mode at frequencies around $\mathcal{O}(10\,\text{GHz})$, these detectors benefit from enhanced gravitational wave to photon conversion at the surfaces of a stack of thin dielectric disks. Since the gravitational wave is relativistic, there is an additional enhancement of the signal compared to the axion case due to increased conversion probability of gravitational waves to photons in the vacuum between the disks. A gravitational wave search using a dielectric haloscope imposes stringent requirements on the disk thickness and placement, but relaxed requirements on the disk smoothness. An advantage is the possibility of a broadband or hybrid resonant/broadband operation mode, which extends the frequency range down to $\mathcal{O}(100\,\text{MHz})$. We show that strain sensitivities down to $10^{-21} \text{Hz}^{-1/2} \times (10\,\text{GHz}/f)$ will be possible in the coming years for the broadband setup, while a resonant setup optimized for gravitational waves could even reach $3\times 10^{-23} \text{Hz}^{-1/2} \times (10\,\text{GHz}/f)$ with current technology., Comment: 12 + 8 pages, 6 + 3 figures

The recent demonstration of laser excitation of the $\approx 8$ eV isomeric state of thorium-229 is a significant step towards a nuclear clock. The low excitation energy likely results from a cancellation between the contributions of the electromagnetic and strong forces. Physics beyond the Standard Model could disrupt this cancellation, highlighting nuclear clocks' sensitivity to new physics. Accurate predictions of the different contributions to nuclear transition energies, and therefore of the quantitative sensitivity of a nuclear clock, are challenging. We improve upon previous sensitivity estimates and assess a ''nightmare scenario'', where all binding energy differences are small and the new physics sensitivity is poor. A classical geometric model of thorium-229 suggests that fine-tuning is needed for such a scenario. We also propose a $d$-wave halo model, inspired by effective field theory. We show that it reproduces observations and suggests the ''nightmare scenario'' is unlikely. We find that the nuclear clock's sensitivity to variations in the effective fine structure constant is enhanced by a factor of order $10^4$. We finally propose auxiliary nuclear measurements to reduce uncertainties and further test the validity of the halo model., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

Increased interest in pushing the frontier of gravitational wave searches to higher frequencies (kHz and beyond) has resulted in a variety of different proposed experimental concepts. A significant fraction of them are based on the coupling between classical electromagnetism and gravity. We highlight some differences and similarities between different approaches, showcasing the rich phenomenology arising from this coupling. We use the opportunity to re-derive the response function of interferometers as the low-frequency limit of a broader picture. This article was prepared as proceedings for Moriond Cosmology 2024., Comment: Contribution to the 2024 Cosmology session of the 58th Rencontres de Moriond. 8 pages

Weyl fermions of spin $\frac12$ minimally coupled to Einstein's gravity in 4 dimensions cannot be produced purely gravitationally in an expanding Universe at tree level. Surprisingly, as we showed in a recent letter [1], this changes at gravitational 1-loop when cosmic perturbations, like a gravitational wave background, are present. Such a background introduces a new scale, thereby breaking the fermions' conformal invariance. This leads to a non-vanishing gravitational self-energy for Weyl fermions at 1-loop and induces their production. In this paper, we present an extended study of this new mechanism, explicitly computing this effect using the in-in formalism. We work in an expanding Universe in the radiation-dominated era as a fixed background. Gravitational wave-induced fermion production has rich phenomenological consequences. Notably, if Weyl fermions eventually acquire mass, and assuming realistic - and potentially detectable - gravitational wave backgrounds, the mechanism can explain the abundance of dark matter in the Universe. More generally, gravitational-wave induced freeze-in is a new purely gravitational mechanism for generating other feebly interacting fermions, e.g. right-handed neutrinos. We show that this loop level effect can dominate over the conventional - tree-level - gravitational production of superheavy fermions in a sizable part of the parameter space., Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures

Faithful energy reconstruction is foundational for precision neutrino experiments like DUNE, but is hindered by uncertainties in our understanding of neutrino--nucleus interactions. Here, we demonstrate that dense neural networks are very effective in overcoming these uncertainties by estimating inaccessible kinematic variables based on the observable part of the final state. We find improvements in the energy resolution by up to a factor of two compared to conventional reconstruction algorithms, which translates into an improved physics performance equivalent to a 10-30% increase in the exposure., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures

The minimal coupling of massless fermions to gravity does not allow for their gravitational production solely based on the expansion of the Universe. We argue that this changes in presence of realistic and potentially detectable stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds. We compute the resulting energy density of Weyl fermions at 1-loop using in--in formalism. If the initially massless fermions eventually acquire mass, this mechanism can explain the dark matter abundance in the Universe. Remarkably, it may be more efficient than conventional gravitational production of superheavy fermions., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

Neutrino physics is advancing into a precision era with the construction of new experiments, particularly in the few GeV energy range. Within this energy range, neutrinos exhibit diverse interactions with nucleons and nuclei. This study delves in particular into neutrino--nucleus quasi-elastic cross sections, taking into account both standard and, for the first time, non-standard interactions, all within the framework of effective field theory (EFT). The main uncertainties in these cross sections stem from uncertainties in the nucleon-level form factors, and from the approximations necessary to solve the nuclear many-body problem. We explore how these uncertainties influence the potential of neutrino experiments to probe new physics introduced by left-handed, right-handed, scalar, pseudoscalar, and tensor interactions. For some of these interactions the cross section is enhanced, making long-baseline experiments an excellent place to search for them. Our results, including tabulated cross sections for all interaction types and all neutrino flavors, can serve as the foundation for such searches., Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures; v2: Corrected typos, as appears in JHEP

A neutron star harbors of order $10^{56}$ electrons in its core, and almost the same number of muons, with muon decay prohibited by Pauli blocking. However, as macroscopic properties of the star such as its mass, rotational velocity, or magnetic field evolve over time, the equilibrium lepton abundances (dictated by the weak interactions) change as well. Scenarios where this can happen include spin-down, accretion, magnetic field decay, and tidal deformation. We discuss the mechanisms by which a star disrupted in one of these ways re-establishes lepton chemical equilibrium. In most cases, the dominant processes are out-of-equilibrium Urca reactions, the rates of which we compute for the first time. If, however, the equilibrium muon abundance decreases, while the equilibrium electron abundance increases (or decreases less than the equilibrium muon abundance), outward diffusion of muons plays a crucial role as well. This is true in particular for stars older than about 10,000 yrs whose core has cooled to $\lesssim 20$ keV. The muons decay in a region where Pauli blocking is lifted, and we argue that these decays lead to a flux of $\mathcal{O}$(10 MeV) neutrinos. Realistically, however, this flux will remain undetectable for the foreseeable future., Comment: 21 pages (+ 25 pages of appendices and bibliography), 13 figures, code available at https://github.com/koppj/muons-in-neutron-stars

Common-envelope evolution - where a star is engulfed by a companion - is a critical but poorly understood step in, e.g., the formation pathways for gravitational-wave sources. However, it has been extremely challenging to identify observable signatures of such systems. We show that for systems involving a neutron star, the hypothesized super-Eddington accretion onto the neutron star produces MeV-range, months-long neutrino signals within reach of present and planned detectors. While there are substantial uncertainties on the rate of such events (0.01-1/century in the Milky Way) and the neutrino luminosity (which may be less than the accretion power), this signal can only be found if dedicated new searches are developed. If detected, the neutrino signal would lead to significant new insights into the astrophysics of common-envelope evolution., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + Appendices. Comments are welcome

This document presents a summary of the 2023 Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop hosted by CERN. The workshop brought together experts from around the world to discuss the exciting developments in large-scale atom interferometer (AI) prototypes and their potential for detecting ultralight dark matter and gravitational waves. The primary objective of the workshop was to lay the groundwork for an international TVLBAI proto-collaboration. This collaboration aims to unite researchers from different institutions to strategize and secure funding for terrestrial large-scale AI projects. The ultimate goal is to create a roadmap detailing the design and technology choices for one or more km-scale detectors, which will be operational in the mid-2030s. The key sections of this report present the physics case and technical challenges, together with a comprehensive overview of the discussions at the workshop together with the main conclusions., Comment: Summary of the Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop held at CERN: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1208783/

High-frequency gravitational waves can be detected by observing the frequency modulation they impart on photons. We discuss fundamental limitations to this method related to the fact that it is impossible to construct a perfectly rigid detector. We then propose several novel methods to search for O(MHz-GHz) gravitational waves based on the frequency modulation induced in the spectrum of an intense laser beam, by applying optical frequency demodulation techniques, or by using optical atomic clock technology. We find promising sensitivities across a broad frequency range., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Clarifications around Eq. (13), including new Appendix B [on the propagation of electromagnetic waves in curved spacetime]. Results unchanged

A series of experiments studying neutrinos from intense radioactive sources have reported a deficit in the measured event rate which, in combination, has reached a statistical significance of $\sim 5\sigma$. In this paper, we explore avenues for explaining this anomaly, both within the Standard Model and beyond. First, we discuss possible biases in the predicted cross section for the detection reaction $\nu_e + ^{71}\text{Ga} \to e^- + ^{71}\text{Ge}$, which could arise from mismeasurement of the inverse process, $^{71}\text{Ge}$ decay, or from the presence of as yet unknown low-lying excited states of $^{71}\text{Ga}$. The latter would imply that not all $^{71}\text{Ge}$ decays go to the ground state of $^{71}\text{Ga}$, so the extraction of the ground state-to-ground state matrix element relevant for neutrino capture on gallium would be incorrect. Second, we scrutinize the measurement of the source intensity in gallium experiments, and we point out that a $\sim 2\%$ error in the branching ratios for $^{51}\text{Cr}$ decay would be enough to explain the anomaly. Third, we investigate the calibration of the radiochemical germanium extraction efficiency as a possible origin of anomaly. Finally, we outline several new explanations beyond the Standard Model, including scenarios with sterile neutrinos coupled to fuzzy dark matter or to dark energy, as well as a model with decaying sterile neutrinos. We critically assess the viability of these scenarios, and others that have been proposed, in a summary table., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, matches published version in JHEP

We study the impact of neutrino magnetic moments on astrophysical neutrinos, in particular supernova neutrinos and ultra-high energy neutrinos from extragalactic sources. We show that magnetic moment-induced conversion of left-handed neutrinos into unobservable right-handed singlet states can substantially change the flux and flavour composition of these neutrinos at Earth. Notably, neutrinos from a supernova's neutronisation burst, whose flux can be predicted with O(10%) accuracy, offer a discovery reach to neutrino magnetic moments $\sim \text{few} \times 10^{-13} \mu_B$, up to one order of magnitude below current limits. For high-energy neutrinos from distant sources, for which no robust flux prediction exists, we show how the flavour composition at Earth can be used as a handle to establish the presence of non-negligible magnetic moments, potentially down to $\text{few} \times 10^{-17} \mu_B$ if the measurement can be performed on neutrinos from a single source. In both cases, the sensitivity strongly depends on the galactic resp. intergalactic magnetic field profiles along the line of sight. Therefore, while a discovery is possible down to very small values of the magnetic moment, the absence of a discovery does not imply an equally strong limit. We also comment on the dependence of our results on the right-handed neutrino mass, paying special attention to the transition from coherent deflection by a classical magnetic field to incoherent scattering on individual scattering targets. Finally, we show that a measurement of Standard Model Dirac neutrino magnetic moments, of order $10^{-19} \mu_B$, could be possible under rather optimistic, but not completely outrageous, assumptions using flavour ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, numerical code available from https://github.com/koppj/mm-astro-nu, matches published version in JCAP

The MiniBooNE excess persists as a significant puzzle in particle physics. Given that the MiniBooNE detector cannot discriminate between electron-like signals and backgrounds due to photons, the goal of this work is to study photon backgrounds in MiniBooNE in depth. We first consider a novel single-photon background arising from multi-nucleon scattering with coherently enhanced initial or final state radiation. This class of processes, which we dub "2p2h$\gamma$" (two-particle--two-hole + photon) can explain ${\sim}40$ of the ${\sim}560$ excess events observed by MiniBooNE in neutrino mode. Second, we consider the background from neutral-current single-$\pi^0$ production, where two photons from $\pi^0\to\gamma\gamma$ decay are mis-identified as an electron-like shower. We construct a phenomenological likelihood that reproduces MiniBooNE's $\pi^0\to\gamma\gamma$ background faithfully. Even with data-driven background estimation techniques, we find there is a residual dependence on the Monte Carlo generator used. Our results motivate a reduction in the significance of the MiniBooNE excess by $0.4\sigma$., Comment: v2: revised the discussion of Monte Carlo statistics, with result now in better agreement with MiniBooNE's, and leaving the anomaly largely intact. Matches version accepted by JHEP

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has two scientific objectives of cosmological focus: to probe the expansion rate of the universe, and to understand stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds and their implications for early universe and particle physics, from the MeV to the Planck scale. However, the range of potential cosmological applications of gravitational wave observations extends well beyond these two objectives. This publication presents a summary of the state of the art in LISA cosmology, theory and methods, and identifies new opportunities to use gravitational wave observations by LISA to probe the universe.

The existence of non-zero neutrino masses points to the likely existence of multiple SM neutral fermions. When such states are heavy enough that they cannot be produced in oscillations, they are referred to as Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs). In this white paper we discuss the present experimental status of HNLs including colliders, beta decay, accelerators, as well as astrophysical and cosmological impacts. We discuss the importance of continuing to search for HNLs, and its potential impact on our understanding on key fundamental questions, and additionally we outline the future prospects for next-generation future experiments or upcoming accelerator run scenarios., Comment: 82 pages, 34 figures. Contribution to Snowmass 2021

We propose a new mechanism to simultaneously explain the observed dark matter abundance and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. The mechanism is based on the Filtered Dark Matter scenario, where dark matter particles acquire a large mass during a first-order phase transition. This implies that only a small fraction of them are energetic enough to enter the advancing true vacuum bubbles and survive until today, while the rest are reflected and annihilate away quickly. We supplement this scenario with a CP-violating interaction, which creates a chiral asymmetry in the population of dark matter particles. In the false vacuum phase, a portal interaction quickly converts the dark sector chiral asymmetry into a Standard Model lepton asymmetry. The lepton asymmetry is then partially converted to a baryon asymmetry by standard electroweak sphaleron processes. We discuss the dependence of the generated asymmetry on the parameters of the model for two different portal interactions and demonstrate successful baryogenesis for both. For one of the portals, it is also possible to simultaneously explain the observed dark matter abundance, over many orders of magnitude in the dark matter mass., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; v2: mistake in the source term corrected, which leads to larger allowed parameter region in v2; added citations

We recently presented a new mechanism for primordial black hole formation during a first-order phase transition in the early Universe, which relies on the build-up of particles which are predominantly reflected from the advancing bubble wall. In this companion paper we provide details of the supporting numerical calculations. After describing the general mechanism, we discuss the criteria that need to be satisfied for a black hole to form. We then set out the Boltzmann equation that describes the evolution of the relevant phase space distribution function, carefully describing our treatment of the Liouville operator and the collision term. Finally, we show that black holes will form for a wide range of parameters., Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures

We critically examine a number of theoretical uncertainties affecting the MiniBooNE short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in an attempt to better understand the observed excess of electron-like events. We re-examine the impact of fake charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) events, the background due to neutral current $\pi^0$ production, and the single-photon background. For all processes, we compare the predictions of different event generators (GENIE, GiBUU, NUANCE, and NuWro) and, for GENIE, of different tunes. Where MiniBooNE uses data-driven background predictions, we discuss the uncertainties affecting the relation between the signal sample and the control sample. In the case of the single-photon background, we emphasize the uncertainties in the radiative branching ratios of heavy hadronic resonances. We find that not even a combination of uncertainties in different channels adding up unfavorably (an "Altarelli cocktail") appears to be sufficient to resolve the MiniBooNE anomaly. We finally investigate how modified background predictions affect the fit of a $3+1$ sterile neutrino scenario. We carefully account for full four-flavor oscillations not only in the signal, but also in the background and control samples. We emphasize that because of the strong correlation between MiniBooNE's $\nu_e$ and $\nu_\mu$ samples, a sterile neutrino mixing only with $\nu_\mu$ is sufficient to explain the anomaly, even though the well-known tension with external constraints on $\nu_\mu$ disappearance persists., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, analysis codes available at https://github.com/koppj/MiniBooNE

In these brief lecture notes, we introduce sterile neutrinos as dark matter candidates. We discuss in particular their production via oscillations, their radiative decay, as well as possible observational signatures and constraints., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; submitted to SciPost Physics Lecture Notes, Les Houches Summer School Series; v2: minor additions and rewording based on the referees' comments

Neutrinos, being the only fermions in the Standard Model of Particle Physics that do not possess electromagnetic or color charges, have the unique opportunity to communicate with fermions outside the Standard Model through mass mixing. Such Standard Model-singlet fermions are generally referred to as "sterile neutrinos''. In this review article, we discuss the theoretical and experimental motivation for sterile neutrinos, as well as their phenomenological consequences. With the benefit of hindsight in 2020, we point out potentially viable and interesting ideas. We focus in particular on sterile neutrinos that are light enough to participate in neutrino oscillations, but we also comment on the benefits of introducing heavier sterile states. We discuss the phenomenology of eV-scale sterile neutrinos in terrestrial experiments and in cosmology, we survey the global data, and we highlight various intriguing anomalies. We also expose the severe tension that exists between different data sets and prevents a consistent interpretation of the global data in at least the simplest sterile neutrino models. We discuss non-minimal scenarios that may alleviate some of this tension. We briefly review the status of keV-scale sterile neutrinos as dark matter and the possibility of explaining the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe through leptogenesis driven by yet heavier sterile neutrinos., Comment: Submitted as an invited review for Physics Reports

We investigate the sensitivity of the FASER$\nu$ detector to new physics in the form of non-standard neutrino interactions. FASER$\nu$, which has recently been installed 480 m downstream of the ATLAS interaction point, will for the first time study interactions of multi-TeV neutrinos from a controlled source. Our formalism -- which is applicable to any current and future neutrino experiment -- is based on the Standard Model Effective Theory~(SMEFT) and its counterpart, Weak Effective Field Theory~(WEFT), below the electroweak scale. Starting from the WEFT Lagrangian, we compute the coefficients that modify neutrino production in meson decays and detection via deep-inelastic scattering, and we express the new physics effects in terms of modified flavor transition probabilities. For some coupling structures, we find that FASER$\nu$ will be able to constrain interactions that are two to three orders of magnitude weaker than Standard Model weak interactions, implying that the experiment will be indirectly probing new physics at the multi-TeV scale. In some cases, FASER$\nu$ constraints will become comparable to existing limits - some of them derived for the first time in this paper - already with $150~$fb${}^{-1}$ of data., Comment: 44 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, 2 babies

We discuss the possibility of forming primordial black holes during a first-order phase transition in the early Universe. As is well known, such a phase transition proceeds through the formation of true-vacuum bubbles in a Universe that is still in a false vacuum. When there is a particle species whose mass increases significantly during the phase transition, transmission of the corresponding particles through the advancing bubble walls is suppressed. Consequently, an overdensity can build up in front of the walls and become sufficiently large to trigger primordial black hole formation. We track this process quantitatively by solving a Boltzmann equation, and we determine the resulting black hole density and mass distribution as a function of model parameters., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; v2: modified BH formation criteria; focus is now on a slightly different region of parameter space, with larger bubbles; references added; conclusions unchanged

We discuss neutrino magnetic moments as a way of constraining physics beyond the Standard Model. In fact, new physics at the TeV scale can easily generate observable neutrino magnetic moments, and there exists a multitude of ways of probing them. We highlight in particular direct dark matter detection experiments (which are sensitive to neutrino magnetic moments because of the predicted modifications to the solar neutrino scattering rate), stellar cooling, and cosmological constraints., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; contribution to the Proceedings of the 2021 EW session of the 55th Rencontres de Moriond

This Report provides an extensive review of the experimental programme of direct detection searches of particle dark matter. It focuses mostly on European efforts, both current and planned, but does it within a broader context of a worldwide activity in the field. It aims at identifying the virtues, opportunities and challenges associated with the different experimental approaches and search techniques. It presents scientific and technological synergies, both existing and emerging, with some other areas of particle physics, notably collider and neutrino programmes, and beyond. It addresses the issue of infrastructure in light of the growing needs and challenges of the different experimental searches. Finally, the Report makes a number of recommendations from the perspective of a long-term future of the field. They are introduced, along with some justification, in the opening Overview and Recommendations section and are next summarised at the end of the Report. Overall, we recommend that the direct search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector target should be given top priority in astroparticle physics, and in all particle physics, and beyond, as a positive measurement will provide the most unambiguous confirmation of the particle nature of dark matter in the Universe., Comment: 106 pages

Next generation neutrino oscillation experiments like DUNE and T2HK are multi-purpose observatories, with a rich physics program beyond oscillation measurements. A special role is played by their near detector facilities, which are particularly well-suited to search for weakly coupled dark sector particles produced in the primary target. In this paper, we demonstrate this by estimating the sensitivity of the DUNE near detectors to the scattering of sub-GeV DM particles and to the decay of sub-GeV sterile neutrinos ("heavy neutral leptons"). We discuss in particular the importance of the DUNE-PRISM design, which allows some of the near detectors to be moved away from the beam axis. At such off-axis locations, the signal-to-background ratio improves for many new physics searches. We find that this leads to a dramatic boost in the sensitivity to boosted DM particles interacting mainly with hadrons, while for boosted DM interacting with leptons, data taken on-axis leads to marginally stronger exclusion limits. Searches for heavy neutral leptons perform equally well in both configurations., Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, 1 table; v2: minor clarifications, added references, slight improvement of projected HNL limits, updated comparison with external HNL limits to include recent literature

Dark matter can be captured by celestial objects and accumulate at their centers, forming a core of dark matter that can collapse to a small black hole, provided that the annihilation rate is small or zero. If the nascent black hole is big enough, it will grow to consume the star or planet. We calculate the rate of dark matter accumulation in the Sun and Earth, and use their continued existence to place novel constraints on high mass asymmetric dark matter interactions. We also identify and detail less destructive signatures: a newly-formed black hole can be small enough to evaporate via Hawking radiation, resulting in an anomalous heat flow emanating from Earth, or in a flux of high-energy neutrinos from the Sun observable at IceCube. The latter signature is entirely new, and we find that it may cover large regions of parameter space that are not probed by any other method., Comment: 40 pages, 12 figures, JCAP version

We revisit the physics of neutrino magnetic moments, focusing in particular on the case where the right-handed, or sterile, neutrinos are heavier (up to several MeV) than the left-handed Standard Model neutrinos. The discussion is centered around the idea of detecting an upscattering event mediated by a transition magnetic moment in a neutrino or dark matter experiment. Considering neutrinos from all known sources, as well as including all available data from XENON1T and Borexino, we derive the strongest up-to-date exclusion limits on the active-to-sterile neutrino transition magnetic moment. We then study complementary constraints from astrophysics and cosmology, performing, in particular, a thorough analysis of BBN. We find that these data sets scrutinize most of the relevant parameter space. Explaining the XENON1T excess with transition magnetic moments is marginally possible if conservative assumptions are adopted regarding the supernova 1987A and CMB constraints. Finally, we discuss model-building challenges that arise in scenarios that feature large magnetic moments while keeping neutrino masses well below 1 eV. We present a successful ultraviolet-complete model of this type based on TeV-scale leptoquarks, establishing links with muon magnetic moment, B physics anomalies, and collider searches at the LHC., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, matches version published in JCAP; in v3 updated terrestrial constraints/sensitivities (Fig. 2); our calculations unchanged

We explore a novel search strategy for dark matter in the form of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) such as primordial black holes or dense mini-halos in the mass range from $10^{-4}$ to 0.1 solar masses. These objects can gravitationally lens the signal of fast radio bursts (FRBs), producing a characteristic interference pattern in the frequency spectrum, similar to the previously studied femtolensing signal in gamma ray burst spectra. Unlike traditional searches using microlensing, FRB lensing will probe the abundance of MACHOs at cosmological distance scales (~Gpc) rather than just their distribution in the neighborhood of the Milky Way. The method is thus particularly relevant for dark mini-halos, which may be inaccessible to microlensing due to their finite spatial extent or tidal disruption in galaxies. We find that the main complication in FRB lensing will be interstellar scintillation in the FRB's host galaxy and in the Milky Way. Scintillation is difficult to quantify because it heavily depends on turbulence in the interstellar medium, which is poorly understood. We show that, nevertheless, for realistic scintillation parameters, FRB lensing can set competitive limits on compact dark matter object, and we back our findings with explicit simulations., Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures. code available at https://github.com/andrey-katz/FRB_lensing

We describe a new mechanism of dark matter production in the early Universe, based on the dynamics of a first order phase transition. We assume that dark matter particles acquire mass during the phase transition, making it energetically unfavourable for them to enter the expanding bubbles of the massive phase. Instead, most of them are reflected off the advancing bubble walls and quickly annihilate away in the massless phase. The bubbles eventually merge as the phase transition is completed, and only the dark matter particles which have entered the bubbles survive to constitute the observed dark matter today. This mechanism can produce dark matter with masses from the GeV scale to above the PeV scale, including a large region of viable parameter space beyond the Griest--Kamionkowski bound. Current and future direct detection and collider experiments can probe much of the viable parameter space., Comment: 5 pages + references & appendices, 4 figures; v2: references added, extended discussion in appendix, matches published version

The MiniBooNE experiment has observed a significant excess of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam at source-detector distances too short to be compatible with standard neutrino oscillations. The most straightforward explanation for this signal in terms of oscillations between Standard Model neutrinos and a new, sterile, neutrino, is disfavored by null results from experiments looking for muon neutrino disappearance. Here, we discuss the possibility that MiniBooNE data are instead explained by a sterile neutrino that decays quickly back into active neutrinos plus a light boson. The flavor composition of the secondary neutrinos is determined by the sterile neutrino mixing angles, and we show that the data is best explained if the sterile neutrino mixes mostly with electron neutrinos. The preferred range for the mass of the sterile neutrino is between 100 eV and 1 keV. We argue that the model can easily satisfy cosmological constraints because it has the "secret interactions" mechanism built-in. Accommodating in addition to the MiniBooNE anomaly also the LSND, reactor, and gallium anomalies is possible, but in this case the model needs to be extended to avoid cosmological limits., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + appendices. Matches published version

The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO) is a probe class mission concept that will provide essential contributions to multimessenger astrophysics in the late 2020s and beyond. AMEGO combines high sensitivity in the 200 keV to 10 GeV energy range with a wide field of view, good spectral resolution, and polarization sensitivity. Therefore, AMEGO is key in the study of multimessenger astrophysical objects that have unique signatures in the gamma-ray regime, such as neutron star mergers, supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. The order-of-magnitude improvement compared to previous MeV missions also enables discoveries of a wide range of phenomena whose energy output peaks in the relatively unexplored medium-energy gamma-ray band., Comment: Astro2020 APC White Paper Updated to make small change to author list in metadata

The era of precision cosmology has revealed that about 85% of the matter in the universe is dark matter. Two well-motivated candidates are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and weakly interacting sub-eV particles (WISPs) (e.g. axions). Both WIMPs and WISPs possess distinct {\gamma}-ray signatures. Over the last decade, data taken between 50 MeV to >300 GeV by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) have provided stringent constraints on both classes of dark matter models. Thus far, there are no conclusive detections. However, there is an intriguing {\gamma}-ray excess associated with the Galactic center that could be explained by WIMP annihilation. At lower energies, the poor angular resolution of the Fermi-LAT makes source identification challenging, inhibiting our ability to more sensitively probe both the Galactic center excess, as well as lower-mass WIMP and WISP models. Additionally, targeted WISP searches (e.g., those probing supernovae and blazars) would greatly benefit from enhanced energy resolution and polarization measurements in the MeV range. To address these issues, a new telescope that is optimized for MeV observations is needed. Such an instrument would allow us to explore new areas of dark matter parameter space and provide unprecedented access to its particle nature., Comment: White paper submitted to Astro2020 (Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey) on behalf of a subset of the AMEGO team

This document summarizes the conclusions of the Neutrino Town Meeting held at CERN in October 2018 to review the neutrino field at large with the aim of defining a strategy for accelerator-based neutrino physics in Europe. The importance of the field across its many complementary components is stressed. Recommendations are presented regarding the accelerator based neutrino physics, pertinent to the European Strategy for Particle Physics. We address in particular i) the role of CERN and its neutrino platform, ii) the importance of ancillary neutrino cross-section experiments, and iii) the capability of fixed target experiments as well as present and future high energy colliders to search for the possible manifestations of neutrino mass generation mechanisms., Comment: 10+6 pages; Summary Document of the European Neutrino Town Meeting, Oct 22-24 at CERN; editors: Alain Blondel, Albert De Roeck, Joachim Kopp; v2: references added

We explore gravitational wave signals arising from first-order phase transitions occurring in a secluded hidden sector, allowing for the possibility that the hidden sector may have a different temperature than the Standard Model sector. We present the sensitivity to such scenarios for both current and future gravitational wave detectors in a model-independent fashion. Since secluded hidden sectors are of particular interest for dark matter models at the MeV scale or below, we pay special attention to the reach of pulsar timing arrays. Cosmological constraints on light degrees of freedom restrict the number of sub-MeV particles in a hidden sector, as well as the hidden sector temperature. Nevertheless, we find that observable first-order phase transitions can occur. To illustrate our results, we consider two minimal benchmark models: a model with two gauge singlet scalars and a model with a spontaneously broken $U(1)$ gauge symmetry in the hidden sector., Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures. Noise and PLI sensitivity curves are included in the source directory

Femtolensing of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) has been put forward as an exciting possibility to probe exotic astrophysical objects with masses below $10^{-13}$ solar masses such as small primordial black holes or ultra-compact dark matter minihalos, made up for instance of QCD axions. In this paper we critically review this idea, properly taking into account the extended nature of the source as well as wave optics effects. We demonstrate that most GRBs are inappropriate for femtolensing searches due to their large sizes. This removes the previous femtolensing bounds on primordial black holes, implying that vast regions of parameter space for primordial black hole dark matter are not robustly constrained. Still, we entertain the possibility that a small fraction of GRBs, characterized by fast variability can have smaller sizes and be useful. However, a large number of such bursts would need to be observed to achieve meaningful constraints. We study the sensitivity of future observations as a function of the number of detected GRBs and of the size of the emission region., Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures. v2: very minor clarifications added and typos fix. Version accepted for publication at JCAP

We explore in detail the possibility that gravitational wave signals from binary inspirals are affected by a new force that couples only to dark matter particles. We discuss the impact of both the new force acting between the binary partners as well as radiation of the force carrier. We identify numerous constraints on any such scenario, ultimately concluding that observable effects on the dynamics of binary inspirals due to such a force are not possible if the dark matter is accrued during ordinary stellar evolution. Constraints arise from the requirement that the astronomical body be able to collect and bind at small enough radius an adequate number of dark matter particles, from the requirement that the particles thus collected remain bound to neutron stars in the presence of another neutron star, and from the requirement that the theory allows old neutron stars to exist and retain their charge. Thus, we show that any deviation from the predictions of general relativity observed in binary inspirals must be due either to the material properties of the inspiraling objects themselves, such as a tidal deformability, to a true fifth force coupled to baryons, or to a non-standard production mechanism for the dark matter cores of neutron stars. Viable scenarios of the latter type include production of dark matter in exotic neutron decays, or the formation of compact dark matter objects in the early Universe that later seed star formation or are captured by stars., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures; matches published version

Several long-standing anomalies from short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments -- most recently corroborated by new data from MiniBooNE -- have led to the hypothesis that extra, 'sterile', neutrino species might exist. Models of this type face severe cosmological constraints, and several ideas have been proposed to avoid these constraints. Among the most widely discussed ones are models with so-called 'secret interactions' in the neutrino sector. In these models, sterile neutrinos are hypothesized to couple to a new interaction, which dynamically suppresses their production in the early Universe through finite-temperature effects. Recently, it has been argued that the original calculations demonstrating the viability of this scenario need to be refined. Here, we update our earlier results from arXiv:1310.6337 [JCAP 1510 (2015) no.10, 011] accordingly. We confirm that much of the previously open parameter space for secret interactions is in fact ruled out by cosmological constraints on the sum of neutrino masses and on free-streaming of active neutrinos. We then discuss possible modifications of the vanilla scenario that would reconcile sterile neutrinos with cosmology., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

We discuss the possibility to explain the anomalies in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments in terms of sterile neutrinos. We work in a 3+1 framework and pay special attention to recent new data from reactor experiments, IceCube and MINOS+. We find that results from the DANSS and NEOS reactor experiments support the sterile neutrino explanation of the reactor anomaly, based on an analysis that relies solely on the relative comparison of measured reactor spectra. Global data from the $\nu_e$ disappearance channel favour sterile neutrino oscillations at the $3\sigma$ level with $\Delta m^2_{41} \approx 1.3$ eV$^2$ and $|U_{e4}| \approx 0.1$, even without any assumptions on predicted reactor fluxes. In contrast, the anomalies in the $\nu_e$ appearance channel (dominated by LSND) are in strong tension with improved bounds on $\nu_\mu$ disappearance, mostly driven by MINOS+ and IceCube. Under the sterile neutrino oscillation hypothesis, the p-value for those data sets being consistent is less than $2.6\times 10^{-6}$. Therefore, an explanation of the LSND anomaly in terms of sterile neutrino oscillations in the 3+1 scenario is excluded at the $4.7\sigma$ level. This result is robust with respect to variations in the analysis and used data, in particular it depends neither on the theoretically predicted reactor neutrino fluxes, nor on constraints from any single experiment. Irrespective of the anomalies, we provide updated constraints on the allowed mixing strengths $|U_{\alpha 4}|$ ($\alpha = e,\mu,\tau$) of active neutrinos with a fourth neutrino mass state in the eV range., Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables

The cosmological abundance of dark matter can be significantly influenced by the temperature dependence of particle masses and vacuum expectation values. We illustrate this point in three simple freeze-in models. The first one, which we call kinematically induced freeze-in, is based on the observation that the effective mass of a scalar temporarily becomes very small as the scalar potential undergoes a second order phase transition. This opens dark matter production channels that are otherwise forbidden. The second model we consider, dubbed vev-induced freeze-in, is a fermionic Higgs portal scenario. Its scalar sector is augmented compared to the Standard Model by an additional scalar singlet, $S$, which couples to dark matter and temporarily acquires a vacuum expectation value (a two-step phase transition or `vev flip-flop'). While $\langle S \rangle \neq 0$, the modified coupling structure in the scalar sector implies that dark matter production is significantly enhanced compared to the $\langle S \rangle = 0$ phases realised at very early times and again today. The third model, which we call mixing-induced freeze-in, is similar in spirit, but here it is the mixing of dark sector fermions, induced by non-zero $\langle S \rangle$, that temporarily boosts the dark matter production rate. For all three scenarios, we carefully dissect the evolution of the dark sector in the early Universe. We compute the DM relic abundance as a function of the model parameters, emphasising the importance of thermal corrections and the proper treatment of phase transitions in the calculation., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, v2: matches journal version, change to the value of a benchmark coupling in section II, impact of thermal masses increased

We propose a novel method utilizing stellar kinematic data to detect low-mass substructure in the Milky Way's dark matter halo. By probing characteristic wakes that a passing dark matter subhalo leaves in the phase space distribution of ambient halo stars, we estimate sensitivities down to subhalo masses $\sim 10^7\,M_\odot$ or below. The detection of such subhalos would have implications for dark-matter and cosmological models that predict modifications to the halo-mass function at low halo masses. We develop an analytic formalism for describing the perturbed stellar phase-space distributions, and we demonstrate through simulations the ability to detect subhalos using the phase-space model and a likelihood framework. Our method complements existing methods for low-mass subhalo searches, such as searches for gaps in stellar streams, in that we can localize the positions and velocities of the subhalos today., Comment: 6 + 3 pages, 1 + 2 figures, code available at: https://github.com/bsafdi/stellarWakes

A long time ago (in 2014), in galaxies and galaxy clusters far, far away, several groups have reported hints for a yet unidentified line in astrophysical X-ray signals at an energy of 3.5\,keV. While it is not unlikely that this line is simply a reflection of imperfectly modeled atomic transitions, it has renewed the community's interest in models of keV-scale dark matter, whose decay would lead to such a line. The alternative possibility of dark matter annihilation into monochromatic photons is far less explored, a lapse that we strive to amend in this paper. More precisely, we introduce a novel model of fermionic dark matter $\chi$ with $\mathcal{O}(\text{keV})$ mass, annihilating to a scalar state $\phi$ which in turn decays to photons, for instance via loops of heavy vector-like quarks. The resulting photon spectrum is box-shaped, but if $\chi$ and $\phi$ are nearly degenerate in mass, it can also resemble a narrow line. We discuss dark matter production via two different mechanisms -- misalignment and freeze-in -- which both turn out to be viable in vast regions of parameter space. We constrain the model using astrophysical X-ray data, and we demonstrate that, thanks to the velocity-dependence of the annihilation cross section, it has the potential to reconcile the various observations of the 3.5\,keV line. We finally address the $\phi$-mediated force between dark matter particles and its possible impact on structure formation., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. v2: reference added, version matched to journal

The $\sim 3\sigma$ discrepancy between the predicted and observed reactor anti-neutrino flux, known as the reactor anti-neutrino anomaly, continues to intrigue. The recent discovery of an unexpected bump in the reactor anti-neutrino spectrum, as well as indications that the flux deficit is different for different fission isotopes seems to disfavour the explanation of the anomaly in terms of sterile neutrino oscillations. We critically review this conclusion in view of all available data on electron (anti)neutrino disappearance. We find that the sterile neutrino hypothesis cannot be rejected based on global data and is only mildly disfavored compared to an individual rescaling of neutrino fluxes from different fission isotopes. The main reason for this is the presence of spectral features in recent data from the NEOS and DANSS experiments. If state-of-the-art predictions for reactor fluxes are taken at face value, sterile neutrino oscillations allow a consistent description of global data with a significance close to $3\sigma$ relative to the no-oscillation case. Even if reactor fluxes and spectra are left free in the fit, a $2\sigma$ hint in favour of sterile neutrinos remains, with allowed parameter regions consistent with an explanation of the anomaly in terms of oscillations., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures. 1 page and table 4 added. Published in JHEP

We discuss novel ways in which neutrino oscillation experiments can probe dark matter. In particular, we focus on interactions between neutrinos and ultra-light ("fuzzy") dark matter particles with masses of order $10^{-22}$ eV. It has been shown previously that such dark matter candidates are phenomenologically successful and might help ameliorate the tension between predicted and observed small scale structures in the Universe. We argue that coherent forward scattering of neutrinos on fuzzy dark matter particles can significantly alter neutrino oscillation probabilities. These effects could be observable in current and future experiments. We set new limits on fuzzy dark matter interacting with neutrinos using T2K and solar neutrino data, and we estimate the sensitivity of reactor neutrino experiments and of future long-baseline accelerator experiments. These results are based on detailed simulations in GLoBES. We allow the dark matter particle to be either a scalar or a vector boson. In the latter case, we find potentially interesting connections to models addressing various $B$ physics anomalies., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; v2: references added, matched to Journal version

Effects of decoherence by wave packet separation on collective neutrino oscillations in dense neutrino gases are considered. We estimate the length of the wave packets of neutrinos produced in core collapse supernovae and the expected neutrino coherence length, and then proceed to consider the decoherence effects within the density matrix formalism of neutrino flavour transitions. First, we demonstrate that for neutrino oscillations in vacuum the decoherence effects are described by a damping term in the equation of motion of the density matrix of a neutrino as a whole (as contrasted to that of the fixed-momentum components of the neutrino density matrix). Next, we consider neutrino oscillations in ordinary matter and dense neutrino backgrounds, both in the adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes. In the latter case we study two specific models of adiabaticity violation -- one with short-term and another with extended non-adiabaticity. It is demonstrated that, while in the adiabatic case a damping term is present in the equation of motion of the neutrino density matrix (just like in the vacuum oscillation case), no such term in general appears in the non-adiabatic regime., Comment: LaTeX, 38 pages. V2: typo in eq. (9) corrected; small changes in the text. Matches the published version

The flavor composition of astrophysical neutrinos observed in neutrino telescopes is a powerful discriminator between different astrophysical neutrino production mechanisms and can also teach us about the particle physics properties of neutrinos. In this paper, we investigate how the possible existence of light sterile neutrinos can affect these flavor ratios. We consider two scenarios: (i) neutrino production in conventional astrophysical sources, followed by partial oscillation into sterile states; (ii) neutrinos from dark matter decay with a primary flavor composition enhanced in tau neutrinos or sterile neutrinos. Throughout the paper, we constrain the sterile neutrino mixing parameters from a full global fit to short and long baseline data. We present our results in the form of flavor triangles and, for scenario (ii), as exclusion limits on the dark matter mass and lifetime, derived from a fit to IceCube high energy starting events and through-going muons. We argue that identifying a possible flux of neutrinos from dark matter decay may require analyzing the flavor composition as a function of neutrino energy., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; v2 matched to journal version

We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario "Impeded Dark Matter". We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden $SU(2)$ sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector., Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables; references added, v3: matched to Journal version; v4: corrected typos in Appendix B, numerical results are not affected