Small neutrino masses from gravitational θ-term

Dvali, Gia und Funcke, Lena (2016): Small neutrino masses from gravitational θ-term. In: Physical Review D, Bd. 93, Nr. 11, 113002

Abstract

We present how a neutrino condensate and small neutrino masses emerge from a topological formulation of gravitational anomaly. We first recapitulate how a gravitational theta-term leads to the emergence of a new bound neutrino state analogous to the eta' meson of QCD. Then we show the consequent formation of a neutrino vacuum condensate, which effectively generates small neutrino masses. Afterwards we outline numerous phenomenological consequences of our neutrino mass generation model. The cosmological neutrino mass bound vanishes since we predict the neutrinos to be massless until the phase transition in the late Universe, T similar to meV. Coherent radiation of new light particles in the neutrino sector can be detected in prospective precision experiments. Deviations from an equal flavor rate due to enhanced neutrino decays in extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes can be observed in future IceCube data. These neutrino decays may also necessitate modified analyses of the original neutrino spectra of the supernova SN 1987A. The current cosmological neutrino background only consists of the lightest neutrinos, which, due to enhanced neutrino-neutrino interactions, either bind up, form a superfluid, or completely annihilate into massless bosons. Strongly coupled relic neutrinos could provide a contribution to cold dark matter in the late Universe, together with the new proposed particles and topological defects, which may have formed during neutrino condensation. These enhanced interactions could also be a source of relic neutrino clustering in our Galaxy, which possibly makes the overdense cosmic neutrino background detectable in the KATRIN experiment. The neutrino condensate provides a mass for the hypothetical B - L gauge boson, leading to a gravity-competing force detectable in short-distance measurements. Prospective measurements of the polarization intensities of gravitational waves can falsify our neutrino mass generation model.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 2470-0010
• Sprache: Englisch