We explore the phenomenology of having a second epoch of dark matter annihilation into dark radiation long after the standard thermal freeze-out. Such a hidden reannihilation process could affect visible sectors only gravitationally. As a concrete realization we consider self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with a light force mediator coupled to dark radiation. We demonstrate how resonantly Sommerfeld enhanced cross sections emerge to induce the reannihilation epoch. The effect is a temporally local modification of the Hubble expansion rate and we show that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements -as well as other observations -have a high sensitivity to observe this phenomenon. Special attention is given to the model region where late kinetic decoupling and strong self-interactions can alleviate several small-scale problems in the cold dark matter paradigm at the same time. Interestingly, we find that reannihilation might here also simultaneously lower the tension between CMB and low-redshift astronomical observations of H0 and σ8. Moreover, we identify reannihilation as a clear signature to discriminate between the phenomenologically otherwise almost identical vector and scalar mediator realizations of SIDM.

At present, cosmological observations set the most stringent bound on the neutrino mass scale. Within the standard cosmological model (ΛCDM), the Planck collaboration reports ∑mv< 0.12 eV at 95 % CL. This bound, taken at face value, excludes many neutrino mass models. However, unstable neutrinos, with lifetimes shorter than the age of the universe τν ≲ tU, represent a particle physics avenue to relax this constraint. Motivated by this fact, we present a taxonomy of neutrino decay modes, categorizing them in terms of particle content and final decay products. Taking into account the relevant phenomenological bounds, our analysis shows that 2-body decaying neutrinos into BSM particles are a promising option to relax cosmological neutrino mass bounds. We then build a simple extension of the type I seesaw scenario by adding one sterile state ν4 and a Goldstone boson ϕ, in which νi→ ν4ϕ decays can loosen the neutrino mass bounds up to ∑mv ∼ 1 eV, without spoiling the light neutrino mass generation mechanism. Remarkably, this is possible for a large range of the right-handed neutrino masses, from the electroweak up to the GUT scale. We successfully implement this idea in the context of minimal neutrino mass models based on a U(1)μ−τ flavor symmetry, which are otherwise in tension with the current bound on ∑mv.

We revisit the generation of a matter-antimatter asymmetry in the minimal extension of the Standard Model with two singlet heavy neutral leptons (HNL) that can explain neutrino masses. We derive an accurate analytical approximation to the solution of the complete linearized set of kinetic equations, which exposes the non-trivial parameter dependencies in the form of parameterization-independent CP invariants. The identification of various washout regimes relevant in different regions of parameter space sheds light on the relevance of the mass corrections in the interaction rates and clarifies the correlations of baryogenesis with other observables. In particular, by requiring that the measured baryon asymmetry is reproduced, we derive robust upper or lower bounds on the HNL mixings depending on their masses, and constraints on their flavour structure, as well as on the CP-violating phases of the PMNS mixing matrix, and the amplitude of neutrinoless double-beta decay. We also find certain correlations between low and high scale CP phases. Especially emphasizing the testable part of the parameter space we demonstrate that our findings are in very good agreement with numerical results. The methods developed in this work can help in exploring more complex scenarios.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) has proven to be an invaluable tool for studying the properties and interactions of neutrinos, providing insight not only into the sum of neutrino masses but also the free streaming nature of neutrinos prior to recombination. The CMB is a particularly powerful probe of new eV-scale bosons interacting with neutrinos, as these particles can thermalize with neutrinos via the inverse decay process, $$\nu \bar{\nu } \rightarrow X$$ ν ν ¯ → X , and suppress neutrino free streaming near recombination – even for couplings as small as $$\lambda _{\nu } \sim {\mathcal {O}}(10^{-13})$$ λ ν ∼ O ( 10 - 13 ) . Here, we revisit CMB constraints on such bosons, improving upon a number of approximations previously adopted in the literature and generalizing the constraints to a broader class of models. This includes scenarios in which the boson is either spin-0 or spin-1, the number of interacting neutrinos is either $$N_{\textrm{int}} = 1,2 $$ N int = 1 , 2 or 3, and the case in which a primordial abundance of the species is present. We apply these bounds to well-motivated models, such as the singlet majoron model or a light $$U(1)_{L_{\mu }-L_{\tau }}$$ U ( 1 ) L μ - L τ gauge boson, and find that they represent the leading constraints for masses $$m_X\sim 1\, {\textrm{eV}}$$ m X ∼ 1 eV . Finally, we revisit the extent to which neutrino-philic bosons can ameliorate the Hubble tension, and find that recent improvements in the understanding of how such bosons damp neutrino free streaming reduces the previously found success of this proposal.