A New Light Higgs Boson and Short-Baseline Neutrino Anomalies

Abstract

The low-energy excesses observed by the MiniBooNE experiment have, to date, defied a convinc- ing explanation under the standard model even with accommodation for non-zero neutrino mass. In this paper we explore a new oscillation mechanism to explain these anomalies, invoking a light neu- trinophilic Higgs boson, conceived to induce a low Dirac neutrino mass in accord with experimental limits. Beam neutrinos forward-scattering off of a locally over-dense relic neutrino background give rise to a novel matter-effect with an energy-specific resonance. An enhanced oscillation around this resonance peak produces flavor transitions which are highly consistent with the MiniBooNE neutrino- and antineutrino-mode data sets. The model provides substantially improved ${\chi }^2$ values beyond either the no-oscillation hypothesis or the more commonly explored 3+1 sterile neutrino hy- pothesis. This mechanism would introduce distinctive signatures at each baseline in the upcoming SBN program at Fermilab, presenting opportunities for further exploration.

11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRD

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• White Paper on New Opportunities at the Next-Generation Neutrino Experiments (Part 1: BSM Neutrino Physics and Dark Matter)
• Testing New Physics Explanations of MiniBooNE Anomaly at Neutrino Scattering Experiments
• Searching for eV-scale sterile neutrinos with eight years of atmospheric neutrinos at the IceCube neutrino telescope
• Probing Secret Interactions of Astrophysical Neutrinos in the High-Statistics Era
• Unveiling Hidden Physics at the LHC
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• First constraints on light sterile neutrino oscillations from combined appearance and disappearance searches with the MicroBooNE detector
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• Multimessenger Astronomy and New Neutrino Physics
• Two-Higgs doublet solution to the LSND, MiniBooNE and muon $g-2$ anomalies
• Sterile Neutrino Searches with MicroBooNE: Electron Neutrino Disappearance
• Solutions to the MiniBooNE Anomaly from New Physics in Charged Meson Decays
• Model Independent Bounds on the Non-Oscillatory Explanations of the MiniBooNE Excess
• Resonance refraction and neutrino oscillations
• Requirements on common solutions to the LSND and MiniBooNE excesses: a post-MicroBooNE study
• A 17 MeV pseudoscalar and the LSND, MiniBooNE and ATOMKI anomalies
• Neutrino Flavor Transformations from New Short-Range Forces
• Quasi-Sterile Neutrinos from Dark Sectors I. BSM matter effects in neutrino oscillations and the short-baseline anomalies
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