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Superluminal constraints from ultra-high-energy neutrino events

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-03-13 v2 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

The 220100+570220^{+570}_{-100}\,PeV neutrino detected by KM3NeT marks the beginning of ultra-high-energy neutrino astronomy and provides a powerful probe of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV). In superluminal scenarios, neutrinos can decay through vacuum ee+e^-e^+ pair emission or neutrino splitting. Previous analyses of the KM3-230213A event relied on simplified survival-probability estimates and, in some cases, used inaccurate decay-width expressions or neglected redshift and threshold effects. In this work we present a unified and self-consistent framework that corrects these issues and applies to both the energy-independent (n=0n=0) and quadratic (n=2n=2) superluminal cases. We collect and recast the decay-width and threshold expressions, clarify their flavor dependence, and include a consistent treatment of cosmological propagation. We also assess the impact of cascade regeneration and show that cascade effects are negligible for the purpose of setting LIV bounds. The survival-probability approximation adopted in previous works is therefore justified, while our framework provides a coherent basis for future analyses of superluminal neutrino constraints, which should consistently include possible time-delay signatures.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.08523,
  title  = {Superluminal constraints from ultra-high-energy neutrino events},
  author = {J. M. Carmona and J. L. Cortés and M. A. Reyes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.08523},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

12 pages, 4 figures