Abstract. We present a comprehensive review of keV-scale sterile neutrino Dark Matter, collecting views and insights from all disciplines involved -cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear, and particle physics -in each case viewed from both theoretical and experimental/observational perspectives. After reviewing the role of active neutrinos in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, we focus on sterile neutrinos in the context of the Dark Matter puzzle. Here, we first review the physics motivation for sterile neutrino Dark Matter, based on challenges and tensions in purely cold Dark Matter scenarios. We then round out the discussion by critically summarizing all known constraints on sterile neutrino Dark Matter arising from astrophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. In this context, we provide a balanced discourse on the possibly positive signal from X-ray observations. Another focus of the paper concerns the construction of particle physics models, aiming to explain how sterile neutrinos of keV-scale masses could arise in concrete settings beyond the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The paper ends with an extensive review of current and future astrophysical and laboratory searches, highlighting new ideas and their experimental challenges, as well as future perspectives for the discovery of sterile neutrinos.

Sterile neutrinos in the mass range of a few keV are candidates for both cold and warm dark matter. An ad-mixture of a heavy neutrino mass eigenstate to the electron neutrino would result in a minuscule distortion -a 'kink' -in a β-decay spectrum. In this paper we show that a wavelet transform is a very powerful shape analysis method to detect this signature. For a tritium source strength, similar to what is expected from the KATRIN experiment, a statistical sensitivity to active-to-sterile neutrino mixing down to sin 2 θ = 10 −6 (90% CL) can be obtained after 3 years of measurement time. It is demonstrated that the wavelet approach is largely insensitive to systematic effects that result in smooth spectral modifications. To make full use of this analysis technique a high resolution measurement (FWHM of ∼ 100 eV) of the tritium β-decay spectrum is required.

BackgroundTime-resolved volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (4DMRI) offers the potential to analyze 3D motion with high soft-tissue contrast without additional imaging dose. We use 4DMRI to investigate the interplay effect for pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy of pancreatic cancer and to quantify the dependency of residual interplay effects on the number of treatment fractions.MethodsBased on repeated 4DMRI datasets for nine pancreatic cancer patients, synthetic 4DCTs were generated by warping static 3DCTs with 4DMRI deformation vector fields. 4D dose calculations for scanned proton therapy were performed to quantify the interplay effect by CTV coverage (v95) and dose homogeneity (d5/d95) for incrementally up to 28 fractions. The interplay effect was further correlated to CTV motion characteristics. For quality assurance, volume and mass conservation were evaluated by Jacobian determinants and volume-density comparisons.ResultsFor the underlying patient cohort with CTV motion amplitudes < 15 mm, we observed significant correlations between CTV motion amplitudes and both the length of breathing cycles and the interplay effect. For individual fractions, tumor underdosage down to v95 = 70% was observed with pronounced dose heterogeneity (d5/d95 = 1.3). For full × 28 fractionated treatments, we observed a mitigation of the interplay effect with increasing fraction numbers. On average, after seven fractions, a CTV coverage with 95–107% of the prescribed dose was reached with sufficient dose homogeneity. For organs at risk, no significant differences were found between the static and accumulated dose plans for 28 fractions.ConclusionIntrafractional organ motion exhibits a large interplay effect for PBS proton therapy of pancreatic cancer. The interplay effect correlates with CTV motion, but can be mitigated efficiently by fractionation, mainly due to different breathing starting phases in fractionated treatments. For hypofractionated treatments, a further restriction of motion may be required. Repeated 4DMRI measurements are a viable tool for pre- and post-treatment evaluations of the interplay effect.