Heavy Majorana neutrinos ($\textit{N}$) are predicted in many models of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we explore the production and detection prospects of TeV-scale heavy neutrinos ( $ m_N \gtrsim 1 $ TeV) at a future 3 TeV Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). We focus on two distinct decay topologies: (i) $ N \to \ell^\pm W^\mp $ with hadronic $\textit{W}$ boson decay, leading to a final state with one charged lepton and a hadronic fat jet $ J_W $ ; and (ii) $ N \to \nu h $ with subsequent Higgs decay $ h \to b\bar{b} $ , yielding a Higgs-tagged fat jet $ J_h $ and $\not {E}_T$ . Based on comprehensive detector-level simulations and background analysis, we present both $ 2\sigma $ exclusion limits and $ 5\sigma $ discovery reaches in the $ m_N $ – $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ plane. We further extract 95% confidence level upper limits on the mixing parameter $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ and perform a detailed comparison with existing constraints from direct searches at future colliders and indirect global fits. Our findings demonstrate that a 3 TeV CLIC can improve the sensitivity to $ |V_{\ell N}|^2 $ by about two orders of magnitude compared with the projected reaches of future hadron colliders while remaining competitive with other CLIC search channels.

China

Yao-Bei Liu

Jing-Wei Lian

Searches for heavy neutrinos at a 3 TeV CLIC in fat jet final states * Yao-Bei Liu is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, China (252300421988), Jing-Wei Lian is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12447140) and the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, China (252300421771)

We present an investigation on cosmological implications resulting from spontaneous dark $ S U(2)_d $ symmetry breaking in conjunction with the Witten effect. Furthermore, we examine the mass of hidden monopoles generated by phase transition as well as the impact of axion-monopole interactions on the axion mass. Following spontaneous breaking of the PQ symmetry, axions emitted by cosmic strings or domain walls as well as hidden monopoles generated during this transition may collectively contribute to the observed dark matter relic density. Additionally, the stochastic gravitational wave background generated by sub-GeV phase transitions and by the decay of axionic domain walls formed during sub-ZeV phase transitions could account for the low-frequency gravitational wave signals detected by PTA experiments.

Ruiyu Zhou

Ligong Bian

Gravitational waves and dark matter with Witten effect * Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2203004). Ruiyu Zhou is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12305109, 12147102), Chongqing Natural Science Foundation project (CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX0534), and Science and Technology Research Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (KJQN202300614). Ligong Bian is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12322505, 12347101). Ligong Bian also acknowledges Chongqing Natural Science Foundation (CSTB2024NSCQ-JQX0022) and Chongqing Talents: Exceptional Young Talents Project (cstc2024ycjhbgzxm0020).

<p>Neutrino self-interactions beyond the standard model have profound implications in astrophysics and cosmology. In this Letter, we study an uncharted scenario in which one of the three neutrino species has a mass smaller than the temperature of the cosmic neutrino background. This results in a relativistic component that significantly broadens the absorption feature on the astrophysical neutrino spectra, in contrast to the sharply peaked absorption expected in the extensively studied scenarios assuming a fully nonrelativistic cosmic neutrino background. By solving the Boltzmann equations for neutrino absorption and regeneration, we demonstrate that this mechanism provides novel sensitivity to sub-keV mediator masses, well below the traditional <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mo>∼</mo><mn>1</mn><mi>–</mi><mn>100</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>MeV</mi></mrow></math> range. Future observations of the diffuse supernova neutrino background with Hyper-Kamiokande could probe coupling strengths down to <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>g</mi><mo>∼</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>8</mn></mrow></msup></math>, surpassing existing constraints by orders of magnitude. These findings open new directions for discoveries and offer crucial insights into the interplay between neutrinos and the dark sector.</p>

United States

Isaac R. Wang

Xun-Jie Xu

Bei Zhou

Probing a New Regime of Neutrino Self-Interactions with Astrophysical Neutrinos and the Relativistic Cosmic Neutrino Background

The neutrino floor, a theoretical sensitivity limit for dark matter (DM) direct detection, is being redefined as the boundary of a dynamic ''neutrino fog,'' where neutrino signals become inevitable, obscuring DM detection due to statistical and systematic uncertainties. This study provides the first site-specific analysis of the neutrino floor at China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), leveraging its unique geographic and environmental characteristics. We quantify how CJPL’s suppressed atmospheric neutrino flux (approximately 30% lower than that of Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS)) reshapes the neutrino floor, thereby enabling improved sensitivity to high-mass WIMPs (mass > 10 GeV). Using a gradient-based framework, we derive the CJPL’s neutrino floor and estimate the detection prospects for the PandaX-xT experiment. Our results demonstrate that a 500 tonne-year exposure with PandaX-xT could reach the floor, probing spin independent cross-sections down to $ \sigma_{n}\sim 3\times 10^{-49}\; {\rm{cm}}^2$ at a DM mass of 70 GeV/$\textit{c}$ $^{2}$.

Yingjie Fan

Xuewen Liu

Ning Zhou

Characterizing the CJPL’s site-specific neutrino floor as the neutrino fog boundary * Xuewen Liu is supported by the Project of Shandong Province Higher Educational Science and Technology Program (2022KJ271). Ning Zhou is supported by National Science Foundation of China (12325505)

In this study, we investigate the $R^2$ corrections to the dissociation of heavy quarkonium in the Gauss-Bonnet gravitational background. We analyze the impact of the Gauss-Bonnet parameter $\lambda_{\rm GB}$ on the spectral function of charmonium and bottomonium and examine the effect of $\lambda_{\rm GB}$ on the dissociation of heavy quarkonium. Our results show that $\lambda_{\rm GB}$ reduces the peak height and increases the peak width of the spectral function, suggesting that $\lambda_{\rm GB}$ enhances the dissociation of heavy quarkonium. We also discuss the variation in the dissociation of heavy quarkonium with the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density and observe that the dissociation is easier in more perfect plasma. Additionally, we observe that the temperature decreases the peak height and widens the peak, thereby accelerating the dissociation.

Zhou-Run Zhu

Manman Sun

Rui Zhou

Jinzhong Han

$\textit{R}$ $^{2}$ corrections to holographic heavy quarkonium dissociation * Rui Zhou supported by the Science and Technology Development Plan Project of Henan Province, China (242102230085), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12404470), the High Level Talents Research and Startup Foundation Projects for Doctors of Zhoukou Normal University, China (ZKNUC2023017). Manman Sun supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12305076). Zhou-Run Zhu supported by the High Level Talents Research and Startup Foundation Projects for Doctors of Zhoukou Normal University, China (ZKNUC2023018)

<p>Charged leptons produced by high-energy and ultrahigh-energy neutrinos have a substantial probability of emitting prompt internal bremsstrahlung <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>ν</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>ℓ</mo></mrow></msub><mo>+</mo><mi>N</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mo>ℓ</mo><mo>+</mo><mi>X</mi><mo>+</mo><mi>γ</mi></mrow></math>. This can have important consequences for neutrino detection. We discuss observable consequences at high- and ultrahigh-energy neutrino telescopes and the Large Hadron Collider’s (LHC’s) Forward Physics Facility. Logarithmic enhancements can be substantial (e.g., <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mo>∼</mo><mn>20</mn><mo>%</mo></math>) when either the charged lepton’s energy or the rest of the cascade is measured. We comment on final state radiation’s impacts on measuring the inelasticity distribution, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi>ν</mi><mo>/</mo><mover accent="true"><mi>ν</mi><mo stretchy="false">¯</mo></mover></math> flux ratio, throughgoing muons, and double-bang signatures for high-energy neutrino observation. Furthermore, for ultrahigh-energy neutrino observation, we find that final state radiation increases the overall detectable energy by as much as 20%, affects flavor measurements, and decreases the energy of both Earth-emergent tau leptons and regenerated tau neutrinos. Many of these have significant impacts on measuring neutrino fluxes and spectra. Finally, for the LHC’s Forward Physics Facility, we find that final state radiation will impact future extractions of strange quark parton distribution functions. Final state radiation should be included in future analyses at neutrino telescopes and the Forward Physics Facility.</p>

Ryan Plestid

Final state radiation from high and ultrahigh energy neutrino interactions

Neutrino trident production of dilepton pairs is well recognized as a sensitive probe of both electroweak physics and physics beyond the Standard Model. Although a rare process, it could be significantly boosted by such new physics, and it also allows the electroweak theory to be tested in a new regime. We demonstrate that the forward neutrino physics program at the Large Hadron Collider offers a promising opportunity to measure for the first time, dimuon neutrino tridents with a statistical significance exceeding <math><mn>5</mn><mi>σ</mi></math>, improving on the previous claims at the <math><mo>∼</mo><mn>3</mn><mi>σ</mi></math> level by the CHARM-II and CCFR collaborations while accounting for additional backgrounds later identified by the NuTeV collaboration. We present predictions for various proposed experiments and outline a specific experimental strategy to identify the signal and mitigate backgrounds, based on “reverse tracking” dimuon pairs in the <math><mrow><mi>FASER</mi><mi>ν</mi><mn>2</mn></mrow></math> detector. We also discuss prospects for constraining beyond Standard Model contributions to neutrino trident rates at high energies.

Wolfgang Altmannshofer

Poland

Toni Mäkelä

United Kingdom

Subir Sarkar

Sebastian Trojanowski

Keping Xie

Discovering neutrino tridents at the Large Hadron Collider

The diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB)—a probe of the core-collapse mechanism and the cosmic star-formation history—has not been detected, but its discovery may be imminent. A significant obstacle for DSNB detection in Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) is detector backgrounds, especially due to atmospheric neutrinos (more precisely, these are foregrounds), which are not sufficiently understood. We perform the first detailed theoretical calculations of these foregrounds in the range 16–90 MeV in detected electron energy, taking into account several physical and detector effects, quantifying uncertainties, and comparing our predictions to the 15.9 live time years of pre-gadolinium data from Super-K stages I–IV. We show that our modeling reasonably reproduces this low-energy data as well as the usual high-energy atmospheric-neutrino data. To accelerate progress on detecting the DSNB, we outline key actions to be taken in future theoretical and experimental work. In a forthcoming paper, we use our modeling to detail how low-energy atmospheric-neutrino events register in Super-K and suggest new cuts to reduce their impact.

John F. Beacom

First detailed calculation of atmospheric neutrino foregrounds to the diffuse supernova neutrino background in Super-Kamiokande

In this work, we complete our CT18qed study with the neutron’s photon parton distribution function (PDF), which is essential for the nucleus scattering phenomenology. Two methods, CT18lux and CT18qed, based on the LUXqed formalism and the DGLAP evolution, respectively, to determine the neutron’s photon PDF have been presented. Various low-Q 2 non-perturbative variations have been carefully examined, which are treated as additional uncertainties on top of those induced by quark and gluon PDFs. The impacts of the momentum sum rule as well as isospin symmetry violation have been explored and turned out to be negligible. A detailed comparison with other neutron’s photon PDF sets has been performed, which shows a great improvement in the precision and a reasonable uncertainty estimation. Finally, two phenomenological implications are demonstrated with photon-initiated processes: neutrino-nucleus W-boson production, which is important for the near-future TeV–PeV neutrino observations, and the axion-like particle production at a high-energy muon beam-dump experiment.

T. Hobbs

The photon content of the neutron

In this work, we present UV completions of the recently proposed number-changing Co-SIMP freeze-out mechanism. In contrast to the standard cannibalistic-type dark matter picture that occurs entirely in the dark sector, the 3 → 2 process setting the relic abundance in this case requires one Standard Model particle in the initial and final states. This prevents the dark sector from overheating and leads to rich experimental signatures. We generate the Co-SIMP interaction with a dark sector consisting of two scalars, with the mediator coupling to either nucleons or electrons. In either case, the dark matter candidate is naturally light : nucleophilic interactions favor the sub-GeV mass range and leptophilic interactions favor the sub-MeV mass range. Viable thermal models in these lighter mass regimes are particularly intriguing to study at this time, as new developments in low-threshold detector technologies will begin probing this region of parameter space. While particles in the sub-MeV regime can potentially impact light element formation and CMB decoupling, we show that a late-time phase transition opens up large fractions of parameter space. These thermal light dark matter models can instead be tested with dedicated experiments. We discuss the viable parameter space in each scenario in light of the current sensitivity of various experimental probes and projected future reach.