Can Long Range Anomalous Neutrino Interactions Account for the Measured Tritium Beta Decay Spectrum ?

Recent experimental searches for neutrino mass in tritium beta decay yield a negative value for the mass-squared of the electron neutrino. If this effect is genuine, then it is hard to understand it using conventional particle physics ideas as embodied in the standard model or its simple extensions that have been widely discussed. We consider the possibility that there is a hidden anomalous long range interaction of neutrinos that is responsible for this effect and study the phenomenological consistency of this idea. We also discuss how such interactions may arise in extensions of the standard model.