Speaker
Description
Sterile neutrinos with masses around a few keV have been postulated to be viable dark matter candidates. This is, however, mostly in tension with various astrophysical observations, the most stringent being the X-ray bounds. In this poster, I would like to present a testable sterile neutrino dark matter production mechanism in the early universe. The idea is to introduce a light scalar particle that mediates self interactions among the Standard Model neutrinos. Such interactions enable the sterile neutrinos to be more efficiently produced in the early universe, thus alleviating the tensions. These new interactions are stronger than the weak interactions, and hence can be tested at future neutrino experiments like DUNE.
Mini-abstract
Secret interactions of neutrinos provides an experimentally feasible solution for dark matter puzzle