Interpretation of the XENON1T excess in the model with decaying sterile neutrinos

Abstract

The phenomenological model with three active and three sterile neutrinos is used for interpretation of the observed XENON1T excess of electronic recoil events in the 1 -7 keV energy region. Assuming two sterile neutrinos with appropriate mass values decay while the third sterile neutrino is stable it is possible to explain the observed energy spectrum of electronic recoil events. Moreover using this approach three peaks in the 1 -7 keV energy region are predicted. Dark bosons have to mix to only a small extent with photons which can emit the energy in this region. The possible existence of the three massive sterile neutrinos may have perceptible influence on some phenomena in neutrino physics, astrophysics and cosmology.

Solar Active-Sterile Neutrino Conversion with Atomic Effects at Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments

“…Another possibility is sterile neutrino as DM in our galaxy. Either the sterile neutrino DM inelastically scatters with electron into active neutrino and releases its mass as energy in electron recoil [43,44] or sterile neutrino decays inside the detector to produce a photon signal [45].…”