Dark matter imprint onB8neutrino spectrum

Abstract

The next generation of solar neutrino detectors will provide a precision measure of the 8 B electron-neutrino spectrum in the energy range from 1-15 MeV. Although the neutrino spectrum emitted by 8 B β-decay reactions in the Sun's core is identical to the neutrino spectrum measured in the laboratory, due to vacuum and matter flavor oscillations, this spectrum will be very different from that measured on Earth by the different solar neutrino experiments. We study how the presence of dark matter (DM) in the Sun's core changes the shape of the 8 B electron-neutrino spectrum. These modifications are caused by local variations of the electronic density and the 8 B neutrino source, induced by local changes of the temperature, density and chemical composition. Particularly relevant are the shape changes at low and medium energy range (E ν ≤ 10 MeV), for which the experimental noise level is expected to be quite small. If such a distortion in the 8 Bν e spectrum were to be observed, this would strongly hint in favor of the existence of DM in the Sun's core. The 8 B electron-neutrino spectrum provides a complementary method to helioseismology and total neutrino fluxes for constraining the DM properties. In particular, we study the impact of light asymmetric DM on solar neutrino spectra. Accurate neutrino spectra measurements could help to determine whether light asymmetric DM exists in the Sun's core, since it has been recently advocated that this type of DM might resolve the solar abundance problem.

The Sun: Light Dark Matter and Sterile Neutrinos

“…relates to the neutrino ν i . This V corresponds to a generalization of the Wolfenstein potentials found in the literature, for which most neutrino flavor models only take into account the scattering of the sterile neutrinos on heavy dark matter (Capozzi et al 2017;Lopes 2018a;Lopes and Silk 2019).…”

Asymmetric Dark Matter Imprint on Low-mass Main-sequence Stars in the Milky Way Nuclear Star Cluster

“…Differing from standard WIMPs with a non-negligible annihilation cross section, ADM particles will not self-annihilate, and through interactions with matter in the stellar plasma, will provide an extra way to carry energy from hotter to colder regions of the star. If the number of ADM particles captured in the star is sufficiently high, the extra transport of energy can have a non-negligible impact on the structure of the star (Lopes & Silk 2010a, 2019Taoso et al 2010).…”

“…Amongst these, the search for manifestations of DM in stars arose as an ingenious and inexpensive indirect detection strategy, taking advantage of the rich diversity of physics found within stars, allied with the extensive understanding we currently possess on the standard picture of stellar evolution. Naturally, in this context, most indirect searches have been focused in the Sun, yielding fruitful results that are competitive and complementary to direct detection experiments (Lopes et al 2002;Lopes & Silk 2010b;Vincent et al 2015;Lopes & Lopes 2016;Albert et al 2018). A remarkable example is the absence of a neutrino signal from DM annihilation in the Sun, which has placed the strongest limits to date for the spin-dependent interactions of low-mass DM (Aartsen et al 2013;Choi et al 2015).…”

The Effects of Asymmetric Dark Matter on Stellar Evolution I: Spin-Dependent Scattering

“…If the dark matter interacts with standard model particles, it can be captured by stars moving through dark matter halos Krauss et al 1985;Gaisser et al 1986;Griest & Seckel 1987). Once captured, continued scattering within the stellar interior contributes to energy transport within the star, potentially altering its evolution Taoso et al 2010;Zentner & Hearin 2011;Iocco et al 2012;Lopes & Silk 2012;Casanellas & Lopes 2013;Casanellas et al 2015;Vincent et al 2015;Murase & Shoemaker 2016;Lopes & Silk 2019;Vincent 2020). The significance of this energy transport depends on the following properties (in addition to the properties of the star): (1) the DM mass, mDM; (2) the DM-nucleon scattering cross section, σn; and (3) the total number of DM particles captured by a star, NDM, which itself depends on mDM and σn as well as the local DM environment from which the particles are captured (see § 2).…”

“…These features of ADM have already motivated research into the possibility that ADM may alter stellar evolution (e.g. Taoso et al 2010;Zentner & Hearin 2011;Iocco et al 2012;Lopes & Silk 2012;Casanellas & Lopes 2013;Casanellas et al 2015;Vincent et al 2015;Murase & Shoemaker 2016;Lopes & Silk 2019;Vincent 2020). In this paper we undertake a study of the properties and evolution of stellar populations within halos of ADM.…”