English

Decaying neutrinos: The long way to isotropy

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2010-08-30 v4 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We investigate a scenario in which neutrinos are coupled to a pseudoscalar degree of freedom \ph\ph and where decays ν1ν2+\ph\nu_1 \to \nu_2+\ph and inverse decays are the responsible mechanism for obtaining equilibrium. In this context we discuss the implication of the invisible neutrino decay on the neutrino-pseudoscalar coupling constant and the neutrino lifetime. Assuming the realistic scenario of a thermal background of neutrinos and pseudoscalar we update the bound on the (off-diagonal) neutrino-pseudoscalar coupling constant to g<2.6×1013g<2.6\times10^{-13} and the bound on the neutrino lifetime to τ<1×1013s\tau<1\times10^{13}\,\rm{s}. Furthermore we confirm analytically that kinetic equilibrium is delayed by two Lorentz \ga\ga--factors -- one for time dilation of the (decaying) neutrino lifetime and one from the opening angle. We have also confirmed this behavior numerically.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0911.1771,
  title  = {Decaying neutrinos: The long way to isotropy},
  author = {Anders Basboll and Ole Eggers Bjaelde},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.1771},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

Updated to match published version in Phys. Rev. D