Ultrahigh energy neutrino absorption by neutrino dark matter
Author(s) -
Esteban Roulet
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
physical review. d. particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/physical review. d. particles and fields
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1089-4918
pISSN - 0556-2821
DOI - 10.1103/physrevd.47.5247
Subject(s) - physics , neutrino , redshift , dark matter , annihilation , astrophysics , galaxy , particle physics , absorption (acoustics) , dark matter halo , halo , acoustics
If the dark matter in the Universe consists of massive neutrinos (${m}_{{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{i}}\ensuremath{\simeq}30\ensuremath{-}100$ eV, $i=\ensuremath{\mu}, \ensuremath{\tau}$), a cosmic ray ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{i}$ of ultrahigh energies may be absorbed at large redshifts, or even while crossing galactic halos, due to their annihilation with the dark matter neutrinos. These processes can become very important for ${E}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}\ensuremath{\simeq}\frac{{M}_{Z}^{2}}{2{m}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}}\ensuremath{\simeq}5\ensuremath{-}10\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{19}$ eV, for which the $Z$-exchange cross section is resonant, and may lead to a dip in the cosmic ray neutrino spectrum. I compute all the relevant contributions to the $\ensuremath{\nu}$ cross section and use them to evaluate the absorption redshift at ultrahigh energies and to analyze the absorption probability at large redshifts as well as in halos of galaxies. If the determination of the neutrino spectrum at those energies were to become experimentally feasible, the observation of the features discussed here would provide a clear indication of the nature of the dark matter.
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